Almost every summer cottage and private garden has a greenhouse. They are mainly used in the spring-summer period for growing seedlings and summer heat-loving vegetables. And sooner or later, each owner of the greenhouse begins to think about its profitability. You can increase its efficiency only when you use it all year round, or when growing very early products, when everything is very expensive in the market and in the store. Now it has become fashionable to create winter gardens and grow greens, radishes, cucumbers for the New Year and flowers on March 8 in the cold season. Of course, it’s great to have fresh products from your greenhouse in the winter on holiday, but for this you need to make it heated, because we have long and harsh winters.
To heat a greenhouse means to increase its efficiency
But for early or year-round use of the greenhouse, heating is necessary, because there are severe frosts on the street in winter, and minus indicators of air temperature are also frequent in early spring . And then the question arises of what kind of heating to choose, which is personally acceptable for your household, because any of them requires financial investment. Here you need to figure out what is enough money and what kind of heating will be less expensive to maintain. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the durability and efficiency of the selected type of heating.
Greenhouse heating is the most important part of the microclimate in plant life, as is irrigation. Think about what it will be, preferably before the start of construction. It is better to do right away, so as not to redo it later. Consider the different methods of heating, the pros and cons of the selected options and choose what is most convenient and least expensive.
How to heat a greenhouse in early spring?
In order to grow seedlings and early summer products, it is not necessary to use any heating. To do this, it is enough to make the greenhouse beds on overheating manure. It is necessary to remove the fertile soil layer; instead of beds, trenches will be obtained. It is advisable to make boards for future warm beds from boards or other improvised materials. At the bottom lay a thick layer of overheating manure mixed with straw or peat. Pour a fertile layer of soil on top. Manure overheating at the bottom will generate heat and moisture. Plants planted on high, warm ridges will feel comfortable.
When it is still cold outside, you can pull the film over the greenhouse with a second layer. Between the main layer and the additional, an air plug forms, which will also retain heat. The greenhouse must be positioned so that it is in the sun for as long as possible. The sun's rays will penetrate through the film or cellular polycarbonate and heat the surface of the earth in the greenhouse. Thus, it will condense natural heat. This is how you can “naturally” heat a greenhouse, just don’t need to make the roof too high, then it will warm up more. Experience has shown that the highest efficiency with respect to heat conservation in greenhouses with an arched design.
But there are some disadvantages. If you do not have your own manure, then you have to buy it, and this is now quite an expensive pleasure. In addition, it must be stocked in the fall. And ridges do every spring anew. This is a very time consuming process. It is not easy to make heated greenhouses with your own hands. And in the winter such "heating" will be few.
Stove heating
How to heat a greenhouse without gas and electricity? One of these methods is stove heating. An ordinary stove is made, a chimney is launched horizontally from it along the walls of the greenhouse. It should gradually rise up and finally be brought out. Thus, the greenhouse will be heated. The furnace must be made so that it opens outside the greenhouse, because it is impossible for soot and smoke to penetrate into it. Then the quality of vegetables will suffer.
You can install a furnace with a boiler in which water will be heated, and then it will circulate through pipes that will be laid on the ground along the length of the greenhouse. Hot water will heat the air.
If the efficiency of such systems can satisfy the user, then the complexity of the process is very tiring. The fact is that you need to constantly monitor the temperature, often throw up solid fuel. Not everyone can quit work and be a stoker in their greenhouse all winter. And is it worth it?
When constructing heated greenhouses with your own hands, it should be borne in mind that the film and glass do not hold heat well, and therefore they need to be better heated. Cellular polycarbonate, due to its design, keeps heat well, and therefore the cost of heating will be less.
Heating with heat-generating boilers is also a good view. Unlike simple furnaces, a solid fuel heat generator needs to be charged no more than 2 times a day. There are diesel systems. The efficiency of such heating is not the highest.
Gas heating
Gardeners are interested in how to make a heated greenhouse for gas. If it is small, balloon gas can be used. If the greenhouse has an industrial scale, then you need to take permission and use natural. For gas heating , burners of conventional heating and infrared are used. A conventional water heating system based on AGV is also used. Gas, of course, is beneficial because it is cheaper than electricity.
Using such heating with burners, it is necessary to make ventilation, and this already reduces the heating efficiency. If you make water heating based on gas heating of water, the system can be fully automated. Without constant human control, the microclimate in the greenhouse will be maintained. The main thing is that it be financially advantageous, and the costs could soon pay off.
Heating by heating air
How to heat a polycarbonate greenhouse with air heating? This heating can work on liquid fuel and on electricity. Most often used in large greenhouses. The unit heats the air, which is directly blown out in the center of the greenhouse and circulates along the perforated polyethylene sleeves laid out along the length of the building. Thus, the air inside is heated.
Convectors will also fit
You can heat the greenhouse with electric convectors. They are installed on the walls of the structure and on the floor. Convectors warm the air well, they have timers that can be set to a specific temperature, and they themselves will turn on and off. One drawback is that they are quite energy intensive, and electricity is now expensive.
Hot air heating
Much more can be done than heating a greenhouse in winter. Some heat portable heat guns (fans), heaters. These devices actively blow hot air, quickly heating the room. The main thing is to arrange them so that they do not dry and burn the plants. It is good if they are equipped with temperature regulators. Then you do not need to monitor them constantly, just set the desired temperature, which they will maintain.
Underfloor heating in a greenhouse
Do-it-yourself polycarbonate heated greenhouse can be made with integrated heating. After all, it is necessary to heat not only the air, but also the soil in which the plants grow. To do this, some use the design of "warm floors". They lay a sand cushion, on it - a protective net, then a heating element or cable, then again a protective net and a sand cushion on top. Then the soil is poured with a layer of up to 20 cm. It is necessary to install a temperature regulator so that the soil does not warm up more than 45 degrees, otherwise the roots of the plants may suffer. This method of electric heating is very economical, with high efficiency. The sun warms up from above the greenhouse, cellular polycarbonate retains heat. From below, the soil is also warmed up, and the heat from it rises.
The most efficient way to heat
There is another way to heat a polycarbonate greenhouse in winter. These are infrared electric lamps and heaters. These devices are good in that they do not dry the air and act like solar energy. The sun's rays, as you know, reaching the surface of the Earth, heat objects and are reflected by heat. There are also lamps and infrared heaters. If they are placed along the entire length of the greenhouse, under the ceiling, they will heat the soil, plants, walls, and, reflected, the heat will accumulate in the room. They are absolutely harmless, with very high efficiency. Because they give a lot of heat, and energy costs are small at the same time. Such heating can be very easily adjusted to create the desired microclimate in the greenhouse.
Perhaps today it is the safest and most profitable method to heat the greenhouse in winter.
It is important not only to heat the greenhouse, but also to save heat
In order to make greenhouse business profitable, you need to not only heat the greenhouse well, but also use all possible means to keep this heat as best as possible.
To do this, it is good to apply all the knowledge in combination. A well-chosen place for building a greenhouse, no shade, all day under sunlight. The greenhouse should be located so that the wind does not blow heat. Good, warm foundation. Greenhouse cover is better from cellular polycarbonate. There should be no gaps in the design: in the winter in the cold, any draft is fatal.
You can use warm high beds with manure, which will also accumulate heat. You can grow seedlings on shelves. It is good to combine heating of the greenhouse: to increase the temperature of air and soil. By the way, for the effect of underfloor heating, you can use waterproof mats. They are convenient to use in greenhouses with racks, placing heating mats under them. Heat always rises from below, heating pallets with plants and air.
Make heating yourself or order ready-made?
You do not need to invent a bicycle at all, but when ordering a greenhouse, immediately buy a heating system and fully maintain the microclimate. Specialists will deliver the design and install it as soon as possible. They equip it with all the necessary options, which is called a "turnkey", and they will also give a guarantee.
Everything, of course, depends on your financial capabilities and desire. Every year, new products appear on the market that will help make the greenhouse payback all year round. What kind of heating you want to make, of course, depends on how you want to use it: grow something all year round or in the early spring and summer.