Greenhouse Heating

the_greed

My husband has a natural gas heater in his greenhouse and our gas bill came today for £230 for ten weeks, this includes or two bedroomed house central heating which I think is absolutely ridiculous considering we live on benefits because my husband is disabled. We were thinking of getting a small 400w electric frost protection heater instead. How much does this cost to run approximately per hour, we also are considering a halogen heater but do not know if they are suitable for greenhouses. Can anybody advise. Thanks from the poor people in advance

Sid's_a_gardener

As you might guess from my "title" I'm a keen gardener.Can I ask how big is hubby's greenhouse. Is he heating too much of it, does he have bubble wrap to help with the insulation. Can he turn the thermostat down a touch on the heater? All these things could help reduce your energy bill.;)
PS. A frost free heater wouldn't germinate seeds, the temperature would probably be too low.

the_greed

The greenhouse is 8 x 6 and the heater is 2.2 kw. The plants have already been germinated through propagators. We do have bubble wrap, we were thinking of getting two of these 400 watt heaters. Can you use any low wattage heater in a greenhouse or does it have to be made for a greenhouse especially. Looked at several on ebay which might be suitable.

Sid's_a_gardener

I don't really know much about electric greenhouse heaters, although there are many on the market. Make sure whatever type you get that it has a thermostat control. None are cheap to run nowadays. Good luck to you both.;)

navig8r

If you are paying 10 pence per unit of lecky.. 1 unit = 1000 watts then your 400watt heater would run for 2 1/2 hours for 10 pence. It sould not be on all the time as the thermostat should cut in from time to time if you have it insulated with bubble wrap..otherwise you are heating the great outdoors:D

Dave

Lord_Gardener

Do you need all that heat? Should normally only need to use for frost protection unless you have some very special plants!

the_greed

Has anybody had any experience of this, you see my husband starts planting in January, so our greenhouse is full and I would love it if the gas heating could be reduced.

http://www.insulitepanels.co.uk/

jennifernil

We heat 2 10' x 8' greenhouses to grow bedding plants , tomatoes etc that we sell for charity. We use 2 2kw electric fan heaters but only usually have them on the 1 kw setting. They are special moisture resistant greenhouse heaters and cost about £30 each. We also have 4 heated benches in one greenhouse, warmed by soil warming cables that use 70w each. This is a very efficient way of keeping seedlings warm. Each heated bench takes about 8 seed trays.

We start using the first greenhouse / heated benches about the beginning of February, although we start the first seeds in mid January in the house and they go under a growing light first, this costs about 50p per day to run for 16 hours. We heat to mid May if required, depending on the weather.

We have benches on 3 sides and 2 tiers of shelves above, so pack lots in!! Each greenhouse holds 103 seed trays. As more seedlings emerge and we need to use the unheated benches and shelves, we turn on the fan heaters. We heat to about 12 degrees C. The heaters have thermostats, and we monitor the temperature with thermometers.

For the last 2 years we have recorded the electricity usage in the greenhouses through one of those Lidl plug-in things, and we have used about £180 of electricity each year. It does of course depend on how cold it is and how high we set the thermostats.

Our heaters also have a "fan only" setting which is ideal for keeping the air buoyant, and for extra cooling on hot days.

We do not use "bubble" in the greenhouses as it cuts out too much light.

cordial

At the moment I have a plastic-covered, four-tier, mini greenhouse parked in my dining room next to the patio doors for maximum light. I am using this to try to bring on seeds which need BOTH a continuous, moderate/high (25C) temperature AND light to germinate.

I am finding it a real pain to keep the continuity of heat. During the night when the house heating goes off, there's a considerable drop off below the necessary temp.

As far as I know, there is no device on the market which copes with this scenario - but I'd love to hear differently.

Any suggestions? Please bear in mind that there is a high moisture content to the air inside. Ad hoc, mains-connected electricals are out.

nodwah

Are you saying this is inside? if so why aren't electrical things okay? you could maybe use a low powered lamp , say a 40 watt bulb to keep the air warmer, the heat would build up pretty quick, there must be something that's suitable for the bathroom on the market.
Are you sure you really need it, coz I germanate things that need heat in the airing cupboard - like toms and peppers - and as soon as they've sprouted take them down to the windowsill.
I now have a consevatory which gets chilly at night after the heating goes off and my seedlings seem to be fine, and I gradually move them outside to my plastic green house as spring comes in.

lynzpower

I having this prob at the mo Ive got all my seeds starting off in trays on my window sill but the kitchen is freezing- and theres no where else I could use I dont think. I just hope the cooking & tumble drying pushes them on a bit.