Member BiggKidd
MemberForum Replies Created
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First off how large is your greenhouse? Second how much are you willing to spend? Heat storage is the key right up there with cutting down waste and loss.
We’ve been using solar hot water for years now even in winter. If I had your problem and had a little money to spend here’s what I would do. I would use solar electric to heat water in large well insulated tank(s). I would then pipe the water in to the floor of my beds through PEX pipe. Thus heating from the root zone upward which will require the least heat with the most gain from that heat. I wouldn’t take the bed temps above 70-72 though. This would basically be a one time expense. Sure parts wear out and such but no ongoing labor or bill. I’ve bought 48 volt DC elements from Ebay with good luck they even have inline thermostats if you want to go that route. But I think you will need to worry more about the bed temp overall more than the water temp in the storage tank(s).
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Thanks I wish you luck as well. In that zone consider digging a wallipini.
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Amen!
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Thank you! I probably should have said off grid homesteader for the last fifteen years. Before that I had been running inverter systems on my work trucks for ten or more years so we had power wherever we were. That came in real handy back in the 90’s when it was almost unheard of. IIRC I bought my first inverter in 92 or 93 for the truck that towed a diesel tractor that needed to be heated to start in winter. So we just plugged it in on the way to the jobs in the mornings. Once we realized how handy they were I put them on all my work trucks shortly thereafter.
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I’ve been a problem solver and prepper all my life and a homesteader for the last fifteen years.
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I just had an additional thought. If you decide to bury the tank put it down below the freeze zone all the way to the depth where the ground maintains a steady year round temp. If you’re already doing the work may as well do it right! Plus those 25-40 degrees of constant temp difference from the air temp will make a large difference in how the whole system works. It could also be used for passive cooling in the summer.
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If you have access to regular power you can run dual elements AC from the power grid for extended cloudy times and DC & solar for the rest of the time. But really the idea here is to use a large enough storage tank to hold enough heat for that week of cloudy weather. A Decommissioned propane tank would be ideal and cheap. Insulate it with closed cell foam and paint that black. Insulate your pipes going in and between beds well. A buried and insulated tank would hold heat even better. Open or closed loop doesn’t much matter as long as your water temperature stays below boiling and above freezing. All of your pumps and such can be low draw DC pumps with long life. You don’t need to move a lot of water fast you want to move a little water SLOWLY so the heat exchanges.
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You don’t need the pipes in the floor they work as well or better inside the floor of the beds (in the growing medium). That way you aren’t trying to heat the whole floor just the root zone up. If the roots are warm and the air is above freezing you should be good to go.
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Thanks
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No I haven’t seen that Youtube channel. I have considered writing a book, even started one once, what there is of it is online somewhere on a PAW fiction site. I also thought about and am still considering a youtube channel. The big problem there is I hate having my picture taken much less being in a video. I even got another email and setup another youtube account to give it a try. Spent a few hours making a video and trying to upload it without any luck. I may try again one day.
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That’s a really condensed and limited bit.
My oldest is married and has a 2yo son and the youngest will graduate high school this year. The youngest did recently start counseling to deal with what she calls abandonment issues from her mother. She doesn’t remember her mother ever living with us and only sees her once or twice a year most years. Then again she was not quite 6 when her mom left. She is VERY independent and can not wait until she is old enough to go out on her own. She works constantly and has really good grades and has a bunch of collage applications out. I could not possibly be more proud of her!
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Lets see a bit of the short version. On 4/14/2005 about 7 am I thought someone had broken in my house and hit me in the back of the head with a baseball bat as I stepped through the living room doorway. I had a huge pain in the back of my head and hit the floor. Suddenly I couldn’t get up, walk, talk or write. In October the Dr.s figured out I had M.S. and had had it since I was about 15 from the number of scars and age of the scaring on my brain. Although at the time I had already started looking for a place out in the woods since I had seen the writing on the wall. Around the same time my wife told me she was pregnant with another child. (We had been together and married less than a year at this point even though our first child was born in 2000 it’s complicated) So I spent the next two years learning to walk talk etc.. In mid 07 we found this place and she, I and our oldest couldn’t wait to move. So I put a large down payment after refinancing my house. Then 08 – 09 happened and the house never sold and I couldn’t keep making both payments by the time 2010 rolled around and I lost the house along with about 170k in equity. That was to be the money to build a house here. We were living in a camper here on the land at the time. I was still walking with crutches or two canes to get around in 2010 and had been working the land that way since 08. My oldest daughter then about 8 through 12 would carry the saw around for me to cut wood while I braced myself upright. This place was all timber when I bought it.
In 2011 I was doing well enough and the wife decided she really didn’t like being a mother or a wife and left. So from then on it was just the girls and I. I HIGHLY doubted anyone would want to date a half cripple with two kids plus I had lost trust in people by then so I stayed single. I just continued to plug along and still do to this day.
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Well I’m a single dad but I didn’t think that should stop me from commenting. Us single parents have to stick together. 😉
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Good luck to ya! An acre is much more manageable than 20-30+. After fifteen years homesteading off grid and raising two daughters on my own my inspiration as dried up and blown away.
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Good luck to ya! I couldn’t think of a better time in history to get started than now. People are going to need good safe food!