you can keep your OWB but mine is going!!!

[windthrown]

Run radiant heat under your tables!!!! Why heat the whole place when only the plants need it? If you are undersized for an OWB you must use a little Yankee ingenuity. Radiant? Coal? Thermal Mass? Electronic T-Stats? Insert or stove in house? It's all about trial and error. The folks here want to help.

Yah, that is the secret that several Russians that I know figured out when dealing with heating greenhouses. You do not heat the air, you heat the soil, and let that heat radiate up to the plants. Or you run heating coils and mats on benches if you have them, and that warms the pots and plants. I found that I had to move my plants in the greenhouse to the soil level, and not keep them on benches. They did a lot better being close to the ground, and the thermal mass that the ground provides.

 

[thejdman04]

Have you ever tried a corn furnace? That is what I use. I sell all of the wood. Mine has a hopper in the basment (where the furnace is) a tube running outside and a wagon parked outside. Once every 3 days open the door on the gravity wagon, corn flows down the chute into the hopper in the basement and once a week pull a 5 gal bucket of ashes out of the pan.

 

[CrappieKeith]

ok.




But filling 3 times a day doesn't seem bad compared to us indoor furnace and wood stove guys... 24 cords? Will you post back with your gas bill...?

I load my indoor furnace twice a day with 4 pieces of wood 2 foot long.
Burns 24/7.

 

[fourfivefour]

Got any cows up there?:greenchainsaw:

 

[GlennG]

Not really relevant to the OP but Wow! 24 cords would heat my house for 8 years in western PA.

 

[Jeske 962]

get over it

BTU calculations are bull.

It is all about insulation and outside temp.

example. last night it was 0c with no wind and my last fill was at 12am , this morning my firebox was still half full and that was keeping the greenhouse at +20c all night.

2 weeks ago it was -27c with a 40k wind and my 12am fill was done at 4am and that was setting the greenhouse to 12c ..

the thing with a gas bill is that you pay a bill every month and if 1 month you use 5 times the gas they bill you over a year so its not that bad.

Putting my boiler IN my greenhouse ????? what would that help??

any suggestion other than gas just seems to cost soo much more.

I was looking at a waste oil burner and they are 6 grand for a 150 000 btu model and then I will be hauling cheap to free waste oil home to put into tanks and then housing a boiler and the tanks in a small building that I have to spend more money on......

people on here say my boiler is sized too small so are they saying if I had the biggest wood boiler there is that I would go thriough less wood??? or that I would go longer befor the next fill??

anyway you look at it more money is needed to buy one and that means longer to pay it off!!

the pipe dream of 5 years and it will pay for itself is bull as well.

unless you live in a smaller well insulated house and cut your own wood a boiler will never pay for itself and if you think your time is not worth anything think again.

even in a small well insulated house I would rather pay a small gas or propane bill and to save cash put in a good woodstove and cut my own 3 to 5 cords of wood.

It sounds like you have your mind made up, get rid of it to someone that wants one and be done with it. I burn around 30 cords of junk wood a year to heat my house and 40x50 garage and hot water, all without a complaint by me. I enjoy cutting and burning wood, if you don't or don't have the time then spend your money at the gas company instead of locally with some neighbor loggers.

Joe

 

[Nuzzy]

I load my indoor furnace twice a day with 4 pieces of wood 2 foot long.
Burns 24/7.

Yo fuwnace is biggewr dan minez



I could do prolly eek out three loads over 24 hours but it would be filling to capacity with larger splits and rounds and would constantly be smoldering. Basically a creosote juggernaut


Hey, at least I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to fill it like some of these poor saps!!

 

[Blazin]

LOL! I ain't one of them poor bastid's, I get an easy 14hr burn in -10 weather. Hell it's finally 40's here, I should get like 48hrs on the twigs I threw in there tonight.

 

[bassman]

BTU calcs bull????...I've been designing/installing/servicing HVAC systems for almost 40 yrs. now.....that attitude itself is bull!!!

how many wood boilers have you installed into greenhouses??

designing a heating system for a house or building is alot different than a greenhouse and here is why..

a greenhouse that I have has 2 layers of poly that is inflated and has an r value of 1.43 and you can see a huge differance in burn times when it is windy or calm.

so if I needed a 100 000 btu furnace and that furnace ran for 6 hours a night and kept the greenhouse at +20c on a calm night then on a windy night it ran steady all night what does that say??

 

[KsWoodsMan]

how many wood boilers have you installed into greenhouses??

designing a heating system for a house or building is alot different than a greenhouse and here is why..

a greenhouse that I have has 2 layers of poly that is inflated and has an r value of 1.43 and you can see a huge differance in burn times when it is windy or calm.

so if I needed a 100 000 btu furnace and that furnace ran for 6 hours a night and kept the greenhouse at +20c on a calm night then on a windy night it ran steady all night what does that say??

It's inflated ?!?

Are you pumping cold air into the greenhouse in the dead of Winter?
That could be a problem.

The amount of surface area and low R-value has a definite impact on the BTU requirement.

Is it possible to install the heating system in a smaller greenhouse?

I am curious what the (gas) heating bills were for the greenhouse before the OWB was installed.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

how many wood boilers have you installed into greenhouses??

designing a heating system for a house or building is alot different than a greenhouse and here is why..

a greenhouse that I have has 2 layers of poly that is inflated and has an r value of 1.43 and you can see a huge differance in burn times when it is windy or calm.

so if I needed a 100 000 btu furnace and that furnace ran for 6 hours a night and kept the greenhouse at +20c on a calm night then on a windy night it ran steady all night what does that say??

Actually, I'm working on a design right now for one, using radiant matting, 2 Modine hydronic space heaters, as well as tying into the radiant system in an ajoining garage that I installed 10 yrs. ago. Lemme see...what are some of the more unique projects that I've tackled in my life......

1. Installed a bathroom in a railroad caboose.
2. Installed HVAC in a mausoleum
3. Installed/designed hydronic radiant floor heat in a large dog kennel. That was my first radiant job.
4. Installed solar hot water systems in the mid-late 70's for Reynolds Metals

And...I've been working with an OWB dealer that I bought my boiler from with design/install issues.

What's your heat loss on that there greenhouse?

:deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:

 

[sdt7618]

Bassman, here is an idea simplistic for a small g/house but would work on a larger scale

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Greenhouse-Heat-Sink.htm

hope your venture works out

 

[BryanSchamber]

Can't help but think he could get some good info here. It's time for some good input and listen for some help. My brother and I both installed OWB's last winter. I'm heating approx. 1800sq ft. and he is heating 1500 and a pole barn that is 40x60 with14' ceiling. He's keeping it 60 and cranks it up if need be. It is well insulated. I spent $2000 on propane year ago. I have a good supply of quality wood. Never dealt with a greenhouse but I'm sure with it not being insulated you are pushing that birch up in the air. I'm sure someone can help you with this. Please don't bash OWB's. Mine is quite efficient and serves it's purpose well.

 

[Paso One]

Bassman I too am in Saskatchewan this winter was brutal Weeks of -35 and high winds. I'm sure that contributed to the high wood usage.

I have a WMO project that am am bringing on stream for next winter however from what I have gleaned from the waste oil burners on Yahoo is our Saskatchewan tempetures are far colder than the guys successfully burning WMO.
Be careful which way you go on that one, as the tempeture of the oil in the tank before it gets to the oil burner may prevent ignition.

I'm using a primary loop and both the OWB and the oil burner will be dumping hot water into the loop this should keep the system up to tempeture.

Hang in there

 

[cjcocn]

Bassman I too am in Saskatchewan this winter was brutal Weeks of -35 and high winds. I'm sure that contributed to the high wood usage.

I have a WMO project that am am bringing on stream for next winter however from what I have gleaned from the waste oil burners on Yahoo is our Saskatchewan tempetures are far colder than the guys successfully burning WMO.
Be careful which way you go on that one, as the tempeture of the oil in the tank before it gets to the oil burner may prevent ignition.

I'm using a primary loop and both the OWB and the oil burner will be dumping hot water into the loop this should keep the system up to tempeture.

Hang in there

Paso

There is a guy burning waste oil here in The Pas and he seems to have done okay with it. I only spoke to him for a few minutes, but he didn't seem too dissatisfied with his system.

 

[Paso One]

Hi cjcocn I agree it can be burnt successfiully it is just sometimes people think they can filter it and fill a tank and run the line to the oil gun and your off and running.
There is lots of tinkering and little things that need to be done before you can operate it in extremely cold tempetures, thats all I was trying to point out.
Hey I'm going that way regardless of the tinkering