greenhouse heater / camping battery?

Hi Folks,

I have a new greenhouse and am new to gardening (one year). I have no electricity to my greenhouse as its too far from the house.

It has suddenly just occured to me that people who are out camping/caravaning use batteries (at least I assume they do).

So, is there such a thing as a large (rechargeable) battery that you can plug a greenhouse heater into or am I living in la-la land?

 

Using a battery is not practical for heating Auntpol , to much power is needed.
The majority of people do not heat the GH through winter , as it would be quite costly. When I move my seedlings into the GH in late March , I use a paraffin heater as shown in the link , you can get double burner versions of this. The next step up would be a bottled gas heater. There have been a few threads on this, I am sure some kind soul can find the link .

http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/a...aters/paraffin_superwarm_4_greenhouse_heater/

 

As Harry says a battery just can't provide sufficient power to produce enough heat.
We have a leisure battery in our motor home and all it can do is provide lighting, power the fan on the gas heater and ignition for the gas cooker.

 

Hi Harry and Dave,

Thanks for that info ... It might have worked lol

 

If you have a gas bottle (for a BBQ or similar) then go for a gas heater: thermostatically controlled, doesn't have to be lit manually every day.

if you don't have a gas bottle then you can buy one, of course, but you do have to pay the "deposit" on the first bottle you buy.

I'm not keen on Paraffin for greenhouse heating. It produces a lot more condensation than Gas, and you have to light it and adjust the wick. No thermostat either (unless you get a fancy one) so you will be using more fuel by lighting it on nights when it might not have been cold enough to be needed (or when it was not required for the whole night).

 

Hi Kristen,
I have searched the internet for a thermostatically controlled gas heater but cannot find one. Can you recommend one for my greenhouse which is only 6 x 8

 

Typical model is the "Lifestyle" one (which used to be called "Eden" - if you are looking for a used one on eBay search for both names )

http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/a...heaters/lifestyle_gas_greenhouse_heater_19kw/

beware that the thermostat is "crude" (as is the case with the cheaper end of the electric greenhouse heaters too). This means that the "hysteresis" is wide - the range between the temperature when it cuts in, and the temperature when it cuts out again, is quite wide, and this makes it more expensive to run that one with a narrower temperature range as cycling widely between low/high temperatures uses a lot more fuel than keeping within a very narrow range.

But for a 6x8 it probably won't make a lot of difference, and more so if you are just using it for emergency use for late frosts in April/May.

If you are going to heat it all Winter, rather than just emergency heating for late Spring frosts, then insulating the greenhouse with Bubble Wrap will significantly reduce the fuel you use (it doubles the thermal efficiency / insulation-effect of the greenhouse so should reduce fuel usage by at least half)

 

Hi Kirsten,
After seeing the price of heaters I think I'll stick to late spring sowing.
What I thought would be a cheap hobby and get me outside is turning out to be so expensive. I love my garden but I think at this rate its going to break the bank!

 

I managed to get one for 20-quid off eBay .... worth setting up a search (and on Freecycle) and if one comes up then you can consider it

 

Calor gas charge £30 each for the cyclinders plus a further charge for the gas, so it's cheaper to them from ebay at around £10.00. I got a 3rd cyclinder a while ago for £7.99 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160836819761&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123 (now ended).

If you only have one cylinder you wont be heating your greenhouse whilst out exchanging it for a full cylinder, plus you'll keep losing the last bit of gas unless it runs out at a time suitable for heading off to the nearest stockist.

A third one might appear a little excessive, but I can now take 2 at a time to somewhere where refills are over £8 cheaper than locally (charges can vary substantially), so I save on fuel and time. It's also handy to juggle the cylinders around to use every last drop of gas in them, swapping to a fuller one overnight - another saving.

 

When I bought my gas heater, off eBay, the previous owner threw in the three gas bottles they had, which I wasn't expecting and was a great bonus, and for which I remain grateful to them

 

Auntpol , the majority of us sow on windowsills and move some out to the GH in April. I use a paraffin heater when the temp is 6° or below . If you are just starting growing from seed 3 or four plastic propagators from Wilkos a bag of seed compost and some easy to grow packet seeds will get you going

 

This year for the first time ever, I had a heated propagator. This enabled me to sow seeds in february. Then by the time my new seedlings needed more space, we were at the beginning of april and I'd erected my new blowaway greenhouse for them

 

Hi all had a bad experience with a paraffin heater 2 weeks ago. Bought brand new one arrived sat lunchtime. We set it up left it for 4 hrs kept checking on it seemed fine, did not leave on overnight. On the Sunday put on again didnt trust it to be truthful. First hr checked on it twice.Half an hr later the whole greenhse full of black smoke I opened up windows & doors to air all the plants get rid of smoke. Switched the heater off let it cool down.The glass had cracked the wick had burnt completely. I had cut the wick from previous use and have used paraffin heaters sometime ago so was not the first time. We looked into the problems with the heater Not good as there were a few.
Two people mentioned 2 foot flames coming out of the top another said their heater blew up I guess I was lucky never again back to using electric heater.

 

Who can actually afford parafin.
Saw some locally at £9.99 for 4 litres