Greenhouse insulation

yewtreemob · « **Reply #15 on:** October 01, 2006, 21:06 »

All this talk of heating greenhouses doesn't make any sense to me, on an amateur scale it puts the cost of veg into the stratosphere and negates all of the environmental credits you build up in the summer. And of course parrafin is now difficult to get.

To go back to the original question, insulate only what you need to keep warm. I use plastic mini greenhouses (3 shelve jobs usually cost £12 to £15) inside the main structure - that takes the overall tmperature quite high and, if necessary I put small unheated propagators inside the mini greenhouse. To help I grow all of the salads in polystyrene boxes which are about 15" by 12" with 12" of soil in - they just sit in the main greenhouse unless a heavy frost is forecast when I cover them with fleece.

If youve got an exposed site you can put bubble wrap on the walls of the main structure.

John · « **Reply #16 on:** October 01, 2006, 23:58 »

Often it's a matter of just keeping a frost off so running a small paraffin heater overnight isn't too bad. Remember that electricity is 100% efficient to the end user but has generation and transmission overheads that reduce this to around 30% of the primary fuel.

Also, in terms of the enviironment, the amount needed to keep a domestic greenhouse is minute. Let's get rid of foodmiles before we purge the home growers

You can get paraffin but it isn't as easy as when esso blue was on the telly - in black and white. A lot of allotment associations sell it as well as obscure tradtional ironmongers - if you can find them amongst the wine bars, building societies and charity shops.

noshed · « **Reply #17 on:** October 03, 2006, 00:03 »

I'll let you know if my heat sinks work.

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