How to protect plants from cold: heating the greenhouse with your own hands

Gardeners and plant enthusiasts have the difficult task of shielding their foliage from the bitter cold as winter approaches. Using greenhouses, which offer a controlled environment to protect delicate plants from freezing temperatures, is one practical solution. Nevertheless, heating these buildings can frequently be expensive and harmful to the environment. We’ll look at how to heat your greenhouse using easy do-it-yourself techniques in this guide, so your plants will be happy even in the coldest weather.

Primarily, comprehending the fundamentals of heat retention is essential for effectively warming your greenhouse. Heat naturally escapes through a number of surfaces, including the ground, roofs, and walls. You can drastically lower this heat loss by installing insulation, which will give your plants a more stable and favorable environment. To support insulation, a variety of economical and effective materials are available, ranging from thermal curtains to bubble wrap.

Using solar energy to heat a greenhouse is among the most practical and eco-friendly solutions available. There are several ways to harness solar energy, including using solar heaters or mounting solar panels. These devices provide your plants with a cheap, sustainable source of heat by converting sunlight into heat. Furthermore, you can improve your greenhouse’s heating capacity by positioning it to receive the most amount of sunlight possible.

Do-it-yourself heating solutions are a useful and adaptable option for those who prefer a more tactile approach. A common approach is to use compost as a source of heat. Compost heaps are a perfect source of heat for warming a greenhouse because they naturally release heat as organic matter breaks down. Compost bins placed strategically within the greenhouse will help you capture this heat and keep the temperature just right for your plants.

In addition, investigating cutting-edge technologies like geothermal heating can offer long-term, viable solutions for greenhouse heating. Grounded in the natural heat stored beneath the surface of the earth, geothermal systems provide a dependable and environmentally responsible means of controlling greenhouse temperature. For serious gardeners, the higher setup costs are justified by the long-term advantages of increased energy efficiency and decreased environmental effect.

We’ll look at doable ways to keep your plants warm in cold weather in our article, "How to Protect Plants from Cold: Heating the Greenhouse with Your Own Hands." We’ll talk about easy do-it-yourself options for effectively and economically heating your greenhouse. From installing low-cost heating systems to employing passive solar techniques, we’ll offer step-by-step instructions that are appropriate for novice and seasoned gardeners alike. You can protect your plants from frost and make sure they survive even in cold climates by putting these tips into practice. Prepare your greenhouse for year-round plant growth by adding some heat!

Requirements for the heating system of the greenhouse

The following actions must be taken in order for the greenhouse’s heating devices to operate correctly and safely:

• Close all places of heat leakage;
• create microclimate (temperature, humidity);
• create aeration system (opening windows, transmets);
• To prevent overheating, provide curtains on windows and roof;
• control the maximum permissible amount of carbon dioxide CO2, nitrogen, gas analyzer;
• You can be in a greenhouse only after it is ventilated;
• Heating devices (solid fuel furnaces, gas heat generators, air heaters) to install in a separate room;
• Using gas heat generators, ensure its complete combustion;
• If the heat carrier is air, then the temperature difference should not exceed 3-4 ° C. speed ≤1.0 m/s;
• Opening windows and transmig to automate or mechanize.

Types of systems for heating greenhouses

Steam heating (from a steam boiler)

In this case, regular water serves as a heater. It is advisable to use antifreeze in the winter to prevent the system from freezing.

If the greenhouse already has a basic wood stove, installing a steam heating system is simple. Simply mount the boiler, which resembles a helix of 50 mm pipes, directly into the furnace.

The purpose of the industrial steam boiler is to heat homes, businesses, and greenhouses.

Air heating (from a gas convector, furnace, solid fuel boiler)

From the gas convector

Heat is produced using gas convectors.

Distribution of heat through a convector that is mounted inside the greenhouse.

The heater is being installed in a different room.

From the stove

The following is the action principle:

• from the north side the furnace is installed;
• In the wall, chimneys are made along which hot furnace smoke passes, heating the wall;
• Warm air from the wall moves throughout the room and creates a comfortable climate for plants;
• The scheme is applicable for small greenhouses in volume (30 m3);
• For large volumes, chimneys must be made along the entire length of the center at a distance of about 1 m.

Building ground-level greenhouse heating stumps with adequate ground thermal insulation is preferable. The cost of heating is greatly lowered at this location.

From a solid fuel boiler

An air heating system is built into the stove’s base if you keep it converted to run on solid fuel.

The stove is connected to the furnace in order to do this:

• container (type of oven), cooked from steel sheets, which plays the role of a hot air battery;
• Inside the container, a coil of metal pipes ǿ50 mm is placed and the box is filled with stones, as in bath furnaces;
• Two pipe are placed outside, exhausted on top, from below – discharge;
• A low -power channel fan is built into the discharge pipe (selected by calculation). Cold air is supplied with it;
• Having passed through a hot coil, the air flow heats up and returns to the room through exhaust pipes;
• Due to the ventilation, the air flow of the air mass occurs, through the hot oven of the furnace and the room warms up;

When the greenhouse is frozen over, you can quickly and simply preheat it with this heating system.

Costs associated with various solid fuel boiler models

Solid fuel boiler

Water (from a gas or solid fuel boiler)

From a solid fuel boiler

Typically, winter greenhouses have two heating systems: an additional electric heating system for the soil, and a water heater for primary heating.

Labels on the schematic:

1. water -fuel water boiler;
2. tank for accumulating hot water;
3. circulation pump;
4. relay-regulator;
5. registers;
6. thermocouple;
7. Electric heating of the soil, warming a self -regulating cable.

From a gas boiler

You can use the heating circuit with an industrial gas boiler situated in a different room for farm greenhouses:

A domestic boiler uses a pipeline or cylinder to supply gas to heat house greenhouses.

Costs associated with various gas boiler models

a gas boiler

Using infrared heaters and convectors

The advent of infrared heaters, which are actively used to heat greenhouses, is a result of contemporary technology.

These lamps are unique in that they emit heat in the form of infrared rays rather than light. He heats everything in his path, which is peculiar to them. Utilize electricity for work.

Indeed, one could think of infrared emitters as a man-made sun. For both plants and people, they are perfectly safe and beneficial. The earth, plants, water, and other things are heated by radiation.

Infrared film has been used by an increasing number of greenhouse heaters in recent years.

It is positioned 40–50 cm below a sheet of polycarbonate that is 4–6 mm thick, and it is covered with a thin layer of galvanized iron. Wires carrying electricity are exposed and linked to the main power supply.

During soil treatment, the iron sheet protects the film from sporadic damage. Additionally, it helps warm the soil because heat from infrared radiation is transferred to plant roots.

It is convenient to heat the upper portion of the plants using the same film. Here, it is suspended over landings and laid on a light-tough basis.

The cost of various kinds of infrared heaters

infrared heater

A temperature sensor built into the power supply guards against overheating by turning off the system from the mains when the system reaches the predetermined air or soil temperature.

Soil heating with a warming cable

Options under consideration heat the air. Furthermore, plants require heat for both their roots and their aboveground portions.

This is accomplished by using a heating self-regulating cable to heat the beds on a lower, subterranean level.

With the help of such a wire, plant roots are always in comfortable conditions and the temperature is automatically maintained at no more than 30 °C. Ideal way to provide warmth in a greenhouse.

The heating mode of the greenhouse at different times of the year

Spring

The sun warms the earth during the day, and integrated heaters are activated at night.

In frosts

In the afternoon, connect mounted heating systems on top of the solar heating. Heating appliances do not switch off at night.

In winter

All heaters operate in round-the-clock mode to maintain the necessary temperature.

Heating of year -round greenhouses

Greenhouses and commercial greenhouse complexes are examples of such items. Usually, they coat with glass. Stationary boiler rooms, which run primarily on natural gas or fuel oil, support the heating system here. To maintain the microclimate during the summer, an air cooling system is utilized. The development of such complexes is limited to sizable farms.

How to choose and calculate the heating system

Thermal power, or the temperature at which plants feel comfortable, is the primary criterion for the greenhouse. The computation is performed using the widely recognized formula:

• Qt = s w*kinf*δt*ҭW
• Where:
• Qt – calculated heating power;
• SW – the total area of the roof and walls;
• Kinf – infiltration coefficient (temperature ratio inside and outside, depends on the operating mode);
• Δt – the temperature difference of optimal inside and the lowest overboard;
• ҭW – Thermal conductivity coefficient of material.

An illustration of computing thermal power and a rough selection of heating system:

• glazing area –38 m sq. ms;
• planned t inside – (+18 ° C);
• The lowest Tought during the winter- (- 20 ° C);
• coating material – polycarbonate thickness 8 mm;

• Qt = SW*Kinf*δt*ҭW (kcal/hour);
• Qt = 38*1.18*(-20-18)*3.6 = 6134.112 kcal/hour of thermal energy;
• Heating power should be at least 6200 kcal/hour;
• 1 kW/hour = 860 kcal/hour.

Should you choose to operate the air heating system using electricity, a calorifier with a 7.5 kW/hour capacity is required.

The cost per hour at the current electricity rate of 3 rubles per kW is 22.5 rubles. A day is worth 540 rubles. In the winter months of December, January, and February, the cost of continuous heating is 48,600 rubles.

This has a 38 square meter glazing area and 10 kV of useful voltage.

Do -it -yourself installation

Interesting heating systems are used by small farmers, gardeners, and owners of personal subsidiary plots and cottages.

We’ll discuss an uncommon technique for growing veggies early on that makes use of different soil heating techniques—that is, the Sun:

• Cover in the early spring, prepared beds, film;
• The sun through shelter will heat the soil to the desired temperature;
• Further, without removing the material for shelter, holes are pierced, the seed is placed in the soil and covered with earth on top;
• In a warm medium, the seeds will germinate early. As soon as the first shoots appeared, arcs rises, which were in advance laid out in the garden;
• Plants continue to grow in the greenhouse heated by the sun;
• когда наступит период весенней погоды без заморозков, материал снимается и убирается до следующей весны.

They get a good crop early with this method.

Turnkey heating installation

Certain construction campaigns provide farmers with the option to build small, turnkey industrial greenhouses on standard projects, with the customer choosing the heating cost.

Advantages and disadvantages of the service

These services are highly sought after by farms because they have these indisputable advantages over homemade:

• reliability;
• full or partial process automation;
• the ability to program the necessary agrotechnical parameters for different vegetables;
• Modern low -cost heating systems that allow you to grow many useful plants year -round;

The cost, which starts at 100,000 rubles, is the only downside. 500,000 rubles maximum.

Price

It is made up of the following parts:

• design;
• manufacturing of the frame;
• system equipment;
• delivery to the place of installation;
• installation of structure and heating;
• commissioning operations;
• commissioning.

How to reduce heating costs

We must take the following action:

1. Block all places of cold penetration.
2. Install an additional source of heating, less expensive, for example, an ordinary stove with an oven.
3. Having installed the furnace, equip it with air ducts with built -in channel fans of low power.
4. In the furnace of the furnace, mount a water boiler and draw registers along the walls .
5. From the inside, shell the walls with polycarbonate sheets, which will improve thermal insulation.

As a result, the winter hot greenhouse will operate much more efficiently and fuel costs will drop significantly.

Model of greenhouses with heating

Model "Successful"

Utilized in private stories. No foundation is needed for installation.

The parameters of this model are as follows:

• dimensions 2x3x4m, 2x3x6m there is an additional 2x2m module;
• coating – polycarbonate;
• arched design, collected;
• heating system at the request of the customer (water heating, air with electric convectors, heating infrared emitters);
• The frame is made of a profile pipe 20×20 mm.

Model "Glory-PC"

The W-profile assembly design is arched. Designed for individual subsidiary plots and summer cottages. possesses dimensions of 2x3x6m; 2x3x8m. As a heater, infrared film is employed.

Price

The greenhouse models with heaters range in price from 15,000 to 60,000 rubles. Examine the link with your own hands at OSNOVAREMONTA ru.

Method	Description
Insulating the greenhouse	Using materials like bubble wrap or horticultural fleece to retain heat.
Installing a heater	Using a heater such as a paraffin heater or electric heater to maintain warmth.
Using thermal mass	Placing materials like water containers or bricks in the greenhouse to absorb and release heat.

It is essential to shield plants from cold weather in order to preserve their health and guarantee a good harvest. We can accomplish this, for example, by heating a greenhouse. By adding extra heat, you can protect your plants from the damaging effects of frost and low temperatures by creating a warmer and more stable environment for them.

There are several do-it-yourself greenhouse heating techniques that provide flexibility and affordability to gardeners of all experience levels. Passive solar heating is a well-liked method that uses the sun’s energy to warm the greenhouse during the day. You can maximize solar gain and reduce heat loss by doing this with well-placed windows, thermal mass materials, and insulation.

Other do-it-yourself heating alternatives include electric heaters, wood stoves, and even compost heaps in addition to passive solar heating. Electric heaters are perfect for smaller greenhouses or places with less sunlight because they produce a steady, controlled heat. A more natural option is provided by wood stoves, which use wood as a renewable heat source. When organic matter breaks down in compost heaps, heat is produced, providing a sustainable and economical heating option.

To maximize energy efficiency and maintain heat retention, appropriate insulation is crucial, regardless of the heating method selected. Insulating the greenhouse’s floor, roof, and walls helps keep the interior of the building warm and prevent heat loss. Commonly used insulation materials include bubble wrap, polycarbonate panels, and thermal curtains, which offer a strong defense against freezing temperatures.

Ultimately, you can lengthen the growing season, shield your plants from the stress of the cold, and boost overall productivity by taking the initiative to heat your greenhouse yourself. Using these methods can help you create a resilient and thriving garden that thrives all year round, regardless of your level of experience.

Video on the topic

Heating of the greenhouse. How to warm the greenhouse in the cold.

How to protect seedlings in a greenhouse from returning frosts

5 super techniques, how to get away from frost. Special training of the greenhouse. Garden (garden) and greenhouse 10-21