To: Hardens Hollow
And Im trying to figure out how to implement a greenhouse like yours.... is attached to the house better for heating, both the house and the greenhouse? I have a brick exterior- I wonder if that would make a difference.
I live in a rather cold and cloudy area of western Pennsylvania. Without knowing where you live, I can only take a SWAG at your passive gain.
I pretty much close ours off from the house in late November to the second and third week of March. I do have back up heat if needed on the subzero nights, however the temperature in winter from solar gain and ground temps hovers around 40º to 50º. Whenever we have a clear sunny day, the greenhouse temps can rise into the 80s and we use that to heat the house and placate the cats.
During September, October, part of November and March, and April, we use the greenhouse to heat our home. During the summer months, we close it off again because of the high temps. The two exhaust fans have been adequate to keep the greenhouse within a couple degrees of ambient.
I have a 6" concrete floor and black porcelain tile to capture the solar heat and provide evening storage.
The bricks on your home will provide substantial thermal storage as will a concrete pad.
I have been having some problems with our roof glass. I have argon gas filled double pain windows for the vertical and that provides decent insulation, however I went with triple pane krypton gas filled for the roof. This was expensive glass, but did offer an R10 equivalent insulation value.
I have been experiencing significant failures with the krypton gas filled units. I would consider checking out very carefully the suppliers before moving ahead with any greenhouse project.
45 posted on
04/18/2015 10:44:41 AM PDT by
PA Engineer
(Liberate America from the Occupation Media.)
To: PA Engineer
You keep your cats in the greenhouse? Or did I read that wrong...
Using the greenhouse to heat your home, and the black tile idea, is brilliant.
Again, thanks for all the ideas.
56 posted on
04/18/2015 3:44:40 PM PDT by
Hardens Hollow
(Couldn't find Galt's Gulch, so created our own Harden's Hollow to quit paying the fascist beast.)
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