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Has anyone used a greenhouse heater powered by a solar panel setup?
What are to calling a greenhouse heater? I owned/ran a commercial greenhouse and the extremely large amount of solar power needed to actually make even a very small difference in heating is extremely cost prohibitive.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by sam812
What are to calling a greenhouse heater? I owned/ran a commercial greenhouse and the extremely large amount of solar power needed to actually make even a very small difference in heating is extremely cost prohibitive.
Yes, I looked into it for mine. The problem is the number of batteries required to store enough power for a 1,500+ watt heater. For a small one like mine an oil-filled radiator type heater with a heavy duty extension cord worked. No moving parts or exposed elements.
You might look into the New Alchemy Institute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Alchemy_Institute
They hold the information on experiments done during the "Energy Crisis".
Some of their experiments were solar powered in novel ways.
Ex: They had vertical fish tanks made from Kalwall, that were heated by reflected sunlight from frozen ponds.
Unlike regular ponds, the "light enhanced" fish tanks did not freeze in winter, thus protecting their fish stock. When the sun angle was higher, the ponds did not reflect into the fish tanks so didn't overheat them in summer.
If you do this, you want to go with solar water heating panels, not solar photovoltaic. It will be more efficient and less expensive but it still won't be cheap.
The absolute best thing is to plant things that need little light and can take cold temperatures during the winter months. It all sounds neat and cool to go green but the reality is adding lights and electric heat in a small green house is by far the best/cheapest solution.
Solar energy doesn't really translate to any type of resistance space heating due to the inefficiencies involved. If you live in a moderate climate a heat pump would make a lot more sense, but since you just need to heat the plants and not the entire greenhouse you could use infrared heat lamps or heated mats depending on what types of plants you are growing. It's a strategy you could try using grid or a generator first to prove the concept in your climate before investing in a bunch of panels and batteries. Infrared lights probably won't create the type of light that affects the photoperiod of plants that use daylight hours to determine flowering, but it's something you may want to rule out. If you are growing something where you WANT light during the night hours you can use regular heat lamps instead of infrared.
The greenhouses I have seen were heated with propane heaters. If you time it right you can also setup chick brooders near the heaters and "double dip" on the energy usage.
Solar energy doesn't really translate to any type of resistance space heating due to the inefficiencies involved.
You are such a comedian.
I was there - during the Energy Crisis. I was a charter subscriber to RODALE'S NEW SHELTER magazine. I saw month after month of "solar powered" houses - active, passive, direct, indirect. They even published plans for solar heated SUNSPACES (chic speak for "greenhouses").
I saw double envelope, Trombe wall, louvered, Earthships, etc, etc.
. . .
However, it was true that the overall BEST performing solution was SUPERINSULATION. See the Saskatchewan Conservation House of 1979, IIRC.
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