Bought a new heater

That's a good idea, I might try that as well

 

I'm finding this thread very interesting as I have a new greenhouse on order which will be about 9ft by 15 ft which will have electricity and water and been pondering on what heating to have.

 

I have found that having small fans operating works well to keep the hot air circulating. I use server fans which are about 9" and they are run from solar fed battery system. So after the initial layout of money for the equipment, there is zero cost.

Electricity is far too expensive here to use for heating so my little natural gas heater is put into use for spring and fall.

 

I was thinking of getting one of these for next winter, just to keep the GH frost free whilst growing winter lettuce and overwintering brassicas and broad beans. They were all frozen solid last week. I was thinking of setting up on a temp plug at about 3-5 degrees.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/dimplex-ecot2ft-wall-mounted-tubular-heater-80w-713-x-81mm/1796f

Rusty

 

@rustyroots that looks quite interesting! How does it operate? Seems mysterious to me.

 

It is electric and it has a built in thermostat (so I wouldn't need a plug). The reviews seem pretty good and I have seen the same type of thing on other sites, with similar reviews. I am going to get one for the shed where I have set up my propagation are, just to keep the ambient temp a little higher.

I love to hear if anyone has/does use one like this and their opinions.
Rusty

 

Took one down the tip last week.

No, it was an older type, 5 ft long that I had rigged up to a room thermostat, was pretty useless regarding holding a decent temperature via that method so hadn't used it for years.

 

Have used a non thermostat one (Toolstations) for about 3-4 years in our little 4x2 ft orchid enclosure within the greenhouse.
Its a 180W one and as you can see, keep it high up so the fan can take the heat from it quicky and circulate it around; being up there it stay away from the watering etc .

Use our own electronic themostat to keep the area at very close 15c as most heaters use mechanical thermostats which can drop 3-4c below the desired temperature before switching back on.

The fan is a cheapish 6" usb desktop type, been surpised how its also run non stop since 2017 !

 

Hi,

As mentioned in the previous entry we have a 4x2ft enclosure for our orchids ,half of which is now turned over to propagation of flowers etc.

Its lid is currently pulled opened via a string from the greenhouses auto roof vent, but that can be rather slow to react and the temp in the frame can quickly go above 30c.

Was chatting to an old workmate and he suggested one of these linear actuators, not something we really knew about.
He said because of its power it would open and close the lid and also the front door of the frame, so allowing a good airflow though.
He posted one on to me as he had several in his car stock and its just arrived, looks quiet a neat device.

Wondered if anyone had used such a device in the greenhouse ?

Have got to add some temperature control electronics so looks like an interesting little project.