Q.You Need A Section On Greenhouse Heating Highest Energy Efficiency Units.
I read your greenhouse heating article, and feel you could use some knowledge on heating systems. I am a Professional Engineer +40Years, and got into greenhouse heating, after agreeing to heat a 3.000 sf greenhouse I found in Nova Scotia, for a friend who wanted to try out his seed planting innovation. I agreed with the greenhouse owner to leave my greenhouse heating system with him after the testing for a year. I was shocked to calculate the heating costs to be much more than I thought, so started the process of developing a heat system which reduced the heat cost by 50%. Our winters are typically -30-35F. I found that heating air is the most energy inefficient, and when air gets heated, it goes UP to the roof. There are no plants on the roof, so all greenhouses install overhead recirculating fans to drive the warm air down, using even more energy and installation costs. You will learn that recirculating warm air evaporates moisture from plants, outside wall skin surfaces, and structures, and damp floors. You know that if you want to cool something, you blow on it??? But you want to heat the plants? This is where Infra Red becomes your answer, since Infra Red does not heat air, but only the surfaces it shines on. My heaters are Infrared, which most efficient if you know Infrared. My last problem to solve was a way to uniformly heat the entire plant growing surface and the floor. Most IR heaters have a limited area of coverage, so you need multiple units. I typically use one one unit for complete coverage. I call my system FIRST (Forgeron Infra Red Systems Technology) Please let me know if you are interested. Note the problems I found and solved completely, always at greatly reduced energy use and installation costs. I use almost any fuel available from wood chips, LNG, NG, Oil, and electricity, and steam.
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
I found this article on the different ways to heat greenhouses and infrared in included. I will forward your information to the editor. Thanks for writing.
