I think I have frostbite

[pargyle]

I invested in a cheap system of electric heating for my small greenhouse - .. With bubble insulation and carefull attention to stopping draughts, it works very well. Costs about £7 a week to run in this cold weather.. in the "normal" spring about £1.

Much better than a paraffin heater and cheaper to run.

Min overnight temps 9C - we have seen -8C outside.

That must be a real boon ... only power to my greenhouse is a 50' running lead and I really don't like leaving it out all the time. Should really get round to putting a proper mains cable in there one of these days. You are right about the draughtproofing though ... makes a heck of a difference. Paraffin heater on really cold nights is about a £1 a night. Not hopeful that it's going to be a good growing season for the stuff that needs an early start though.

 

[cabrerayoung]

i am starting to think that i live in the wrong country for honey production.

You and me both mate.
I dont think I have a hope in Perthshire.

 

[midlandgardencare]

In one of my customers greenhouses we have a 3kw fan heater set to frost setting and it just nips the chill off the air and is just enough to keep the seedlings alive, we also have an electric propagator in there to get things moving along. I just want to get some decent weather so I can get the plants planted out.

I have been tempted with a paraffin heater instead of the fan heater but I live about 20 miles from my customer and I usually work there once a week but pop in on alternate days just to check over the greenhouse and make sure the heater and propagator are working and things aren't too dry etc do paraffin heaters need daily attention? How long would 5 litres of paraffin last? One disadvantage I can see is that the fan heater is thermostatically controlled so could be more efficient.

 

[Winker]

i am starting to think that i live in the wrong country for honey production.

You and me both mate.
I dont think I have a hope in Perthshire.

Perthshire will be great once summer months come along. I would swap apiarys with you any day. As much as i love it here in bedfordshire, I so much miss being back home.

 

[madasafish]

That must be a real boon ... only power to my greenhouse is a 50' running lead and I really don't like leaving it out all the time. Should really get round to putting a proper mains cable in there one of these days. You are right about the draughtproofing though ... makes a heck of a difference. Paraffin heater on really cold nights is about a £1 a night. Not hopeful that it's going to be a good growing season for the stuff that needs an early start though.

I only use a 50 meter foot lead.. with a earth leakage current breaker. Perfectly safe.. Take it up when in summer.

All passages over paths etc protected by conduit (well sort of conduit)

Trouble with paraffin is lack of control. With the lows we are having I needed a blue flame heater which guzzzled paraffin at £2 per night and even then internal temps would fall to 1C.. And if I had to leave it on during the day - which I would in current conditions.. £4 per 24 hours.

I also insulated the bottom 30cms of the greenhouse - the steel base - with celotex..

 

[MuswellMetro]

well, the Bees need me, so out again to look at another 8 hives and check them and whether they need fondant

So in the words of Captain Lawrence Oates's immortal words “I am just going outside and may be some time”

 

[madasafish]

In one of my customers greenhouses we have a 3kw fan heater set to frost setting and it just nips the chill off the air and is just enough to keep the seedlings alive, we also have an electric propagator in there to get things moving along. I just want to get some decent weather so I can get the plants planted out.

I have been tempted with a paraffin heater instead of the fan heater but I live about 20 miles from my customer and I usually work there once a week but pop in on alternate days just to check over the greenhouse and make sure the heater and propagator are working and things aren't too dry etc do paraffin heaters need daily attention? How long would 5 litres of paraffin last? One disadvantage I can see is that the fan heater is thermostatically controlled so could be more efficient.

There are two things about paraffin heaters:

You need a blue flame one to cope with really cold weather. They use approx 2 liters every 24 hours.

Unless you adjust and clean the wick regularly with proper tools, you get yellow flames and flickering. get it badly wrong and you have a greenhouse full of soot. To check adjustment you need at least 10 mins running to warm it up.

If you decide to switch off and relight, you turn down wick and lose adjustment. PIA. So I switched mine off by inverting a large drinking mug over the flame - after removing funnel - and drowning the flame in CO2. Takes longer but settings not lost.


I use a separate thermostat to control a 2.5KW heater...
http://tinyurl.com/cueytan

(Heater on the floor, thermostat sensor at bench level so temperature controlled is that of seed trays. Sensor is very accurate.. separate max/min thermometer suggests when set to 10C minimum, the coldest at bench level was 8.3C on a very very cold night -8C)..

(bought cheap end of season ebay)..

Heated propagator as well in greenhouse.

 

[alanf]

If I had the space, and maybe an excavator I'd think about a Chinese style greenhouse. Heavy wall at the back and sides to absorb what heat there may be from the sun in the day and keep the temperature even over winter. I wonder if there's any potential for a cob wall bee shed?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I wonder if there's any potential for a cob wall bee shed?

Sounds like an awful lot of baking to me.
Can't imagine the environmental cost would make it economical.

Dusty

 

[itma]

If I had the space, and maybe an excavator I'd think about a Chinese style greenhouse. Heavy wall at the back and sides to absorb what heat there may be from the sun in the day and keep the temperature even over winter.

Wouldn't a black waterbutt inside the greenhouse improve solar gain and moderate day/night variation?

 

[alanf]

Wouldn't a black waterbutt inside the greenhouse improve solar gain and moderate day/night variation?

Might help. There are designs that use a pit of gravel or other bulky stuff like broken glass bottles to act as a heat reservoir. Circulate the air using a low power computer style fan. There is research that says that low temperatures overnight seriously inhibit seedlings. If you can keep it above 5C that's a big boost to early growth rates. Something like the commercial nurseries do for their summer bedding production

 

[alldigging]

If I had the space, and maybe an excavator I'd think about a Chinese style greenhouse. Heavy wall at the back and sides to absorb what heat there may be from the sun in the day and keep the temperature even over winter. I wonder if there's any potential for a cob wall bee shed?

Lean to greenhouse against the garage wall stays warmer for longer after the bricks have warmed up. That does require sunshine which we have in plenty today - GH is 27'C - but outside is no where near that.

 

[Ely]

Lean to greenhouse against the garage wall stays warmer for longer after the bricks have warmed up. That does require sunshine which we have in plenty today - GH is 27'C - but outside is no where near that.

I think I'd be tempted to set up a bed n tv in there

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jimjams]

went to the farm to check the feed and found the auto electric gate was frozen solid and a power cut so no chance of it opening

drove a mile to the east gate and had to walk about a mile across snow drifts to the hives carry fondant tools etc

had then to chip off ice from the ratchet straps that were iced to the rooofs (memo to self: never put the ratchets on the roof again-always at side)..all hives alive but all needed fondant so have to cut up the four blocks of apiinvert

one mile walk back...to car, first i could not undo the zips of the suit ,second i could not feel the car keys in my pocket

Hi Metro
I think we have a possible film here with your epic story in the snow, by the way did you tell your love’s one that you were just going outside and may be some time.
The screen play goes something like this

Having left his luxury mansion at Muswell Heights and advanced over High Barnet mountain to reach base camp 1, (the electronic gate) our hero finds it frozen shut, despite all this he fights on against all odds to reach base camp 2 (the east gate) where he has to abandon his motorised sledge (car) to then battle against all the elements on foot to finally reach Hive Peak and find that Jack Frost (not Amundsen) had beaten him to it and reached there first for a tear jerking end!

Not sure if Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep would be available though!

 

[itma]

I think I'd be tempted to set up a bed n tv in there

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

Snapshot of the student life!
Bed. TV. Smartphone. Sorted.

 

[RosieMc]

At minus 2 us northerners might be thinking about puttng on long trousers and a t shirt... but will probably wait until it's below minus 5

and then we might think about switching our flip-flops for trainers

 

[Ely]

Snapshot of the student life!
Bed. TV. Smartphone. Sorted.

You forgot the 4 pack of cheap larger and beans on toast!

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

 

[thorn]

As I drove home last night past Simons Seat I thought how magnificent it looked with a coating of snow. I then thought about those insulated hive jackets. The fellow who was selling them said he had his hives near Simons Seat. If he still visits the forum maybe he'll report on his survival rate.

 

[For want of a better word]

Hi Metro
I think we have a possible film here with your epic story in the snow, by the way did you tell your love’s one that you were just going outside and may be some time.
The screen play goes something like this

Having left his luxury mansion at Muswell Heights and advanced over High Barnet mountain to reach base camp 1, (the electronic gate) our hero finds it frozen shut, despite all this he fights on against all odds to reach base camp 2 (the east gate) where he has to abandon his motorised sledge (car) to then battle against all the elements on foot to finally reach Hive Peak and find that Jack Frost (not Amundsen) had beaten him to it and reached there first for a tear jerking end!

Not sure if Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep would be available though!

Would it be a B movie?

​

 

[MuswellMetro]

I found away of keeping warm, unfortunately by burning three deadouts at the association apiary...decided not to reocover the wax just burn them to keep warm because uncertain why they died out