Sustainable Energy: Thermal Banking Greenhouse Design

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Steven Schwen of Earthen Path Organic Farm (Lake City, Minnesota) has built an innovative greenhouse that allows him to extend his growing season while reducing energy costs. SARE's Farmer-Rancher Grants program provided critical assistance for Schwen in the beginning phases of his project.
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[@georgewhitehouse8630]

I am glad that you cooked that up ❤

[@carolewarner101]

Especially resonated with your final message. That how we typically measure "profits" in this country (with money alone) is pretty bankrupt. That we profit by our health; physical, mental, emotional & spiritual, by the nutrition we glean on all those planes being in right relationship with our bodies, Nature/Mother Earth, our community, ourSelves. This is the true profit. The one that benefits all. Thank you for reminding me of that. It brings me a lot of peace. : - )

[@asonetry]

Bless You and your family. Its a real testament to the human compassion and love system that you offer your research and project for free to other people on this beautiful planet. Thank you so much..........................

[@chefgiovanni]

Cool greenhouse design. We love how he measures profits. Old school rules.

[@cupbowlspoonforkknif]

Great design! I am trying to keep my miniature greenhouse warm into winter with various methods but I haven't thought about heating the soil this way! Thank you.

[@Gamersnewscom]

I am glad someone with money helps others in a sustainable way.

[@Hobgoblins]

This is fascinating! Thanks, CookingUpAStory, for continuing to spread knowledge (and hope)!

[@wreay2240]

Very interested in this method😄

[@evone56]

I like the way you think:) I am about to build an aquaponics garden so I can have fish as well as plants. I can hardly wait. You seem so very happy and calm. I can't wait till I get to that zen feeling:) Thank you so much for the video.

[@floriebrown2089]

Love this video it will remind some of us to try and implement this idea even on a small scale it can be rewarding thank you.

[@richardbritt2281]

We have yet to move to our farm in MO but the green house will be one of my first major projects once settled in. I've been studying Hydro and Aqua ponices for a few months and glean more info from every video I watch. YOUR's is great with how you detail everything. I will now lay down a pipe system under ground to vent hot air into to warm the soil for night warmth. Good stuff bud. That's how I want to live from now one. Back to my roots.

[@yuhuagreenhousediffuserefl7997]

In recent years, smart glass greenhouses have developed rapidly, representing the development of modern agriculture around the world.

[@rbfreeu]

I finally got it to play. (Those ads suck.) The video was worth a watch. I like his idea and will comment on it later in a new thread.

[@schauza]

Well put at the end about family and community. The video on a whole I found awesome! Thank you for sharing.

[@bremmermandrake]

I just dug out an area and buried trash cans 24" apart filled with stone they sit below the frost level where the ground stays around fifty five degrees, all winter the green house stayed around 10 to 15 degrees warmer then out side temperature and when it is hot out you can feel the cool temperature over the cans. This was the worst winter, the water drums I have sitting over the trash cans never froze but help to maintain the warmer temperature. In the main house I built a rock bed and when we use the wood stove I have duct work that sits over the stove with a little in duct fan that blows the hot air in the bottom of the stone bed, heats the stones and hold the heat hours after the stove is off. If I dig out the floor in the green house I am thinking of connecting the cans with pvc pipe and blow warm air into the pipe to heat the stones like the wood stove does in the house and have a year round green house the coffee plant and My Banana tree need more space they are taking over the room in my house. I live in up state NY I don't want to pay to heat my green house one way or another I will heat it for free.

[@maximilian333]

+Bremmer Mandrake I've heard of people using compost piles to keep greenhouses just above freezing- perhaps you could use all three of these strategies together to raise the temperature well above freezing for the entire winter. Not to mention solar heat harvesting panels on your house roof (the aluminum cans painted black in a box idea, used to collect heat and blow the hot air into the greenhouse). Do all four.

[@JohnGuest45]

+Bremmer Mandrake The soil you took out would have had more thermal capacity than the rock filled barrels you put in :) The rock bed and wood stove was a much better idea.

[@JohnGuest45]

+Ceres Greenhouses About half the space in the barrel of rocks will be air, if the barrel was full of soil there would be considerably less air and with less gaps/pathways, considerably less opportunity for convective heatloss. The same air gaps/pathways through the rocks will lead to uneven heat distribution. Soil particles being much smaller are packed much closer together are ultimately better for every mode of heat transfer, convective, conductive and radiant.

[@stormytrails]

Yeah well, have you looked into rocket stoves? Whatever it is you do to heat your greenhouse during the winter what is it you think you want to grow? You have to have artificial lighting and timers. The daylight hours of winter are too short, too shallow to grow anything. You have to have STABLE heating. Never once going below 50 or above 90. Fans or well designed ventilation that is capable of moving the leaves. Pumping fresh air into the greenhouse (with more CO2) and pulling old air out of the greenhouse (O2 produced by plants that will block the leaves ability to uptake CO2). What will you use for water? Well water? Do you have a manual pump or solar pump if electricity goes off? Well water takes electricity to pump. If you are on city water every gallon costs money. The big risk using city water is industrial waste called fluoride! The plants take it up and we eat even more fluoride! Fluoride is stored in our bones. Makes brittle bones, lower IQ and has never been found to benefit teeth in any way shape or form. Another sore subject of mine...Fluoride. Aluminum and Phosphate industry waste that costs money to dispose of properly; huge fines if caught dumping it into the ocean or rivers or aquifers! But they get PAID to dump it in our drinking water. Lots more battles out here than not paying to heat your greenhouse for the winter, grins. Oh, are you using pots or the soil of the ground beneath your greenhouse? Don't use garden soil in pots...just potting soil, sterilized boring potting soil. Hole in bottom of pots, yes? No rocks in bottom of pots, yes?

[@stormytrails]

I gotta add, it takes ONE mistake with the heating and you lose all of your crops/plants/food.

[@sinbadsgold]

I like this guy and his journey.

[@pejoly2]

I really like "The 60's Thing". Great job:)

[@georgewhitehouse8630]

Pre 60s

[@hikerdude1000]

that was great to see how you recycle the warm air that would other wise be lost to the ky to benefit the beds in the dark time of the day . I am planning on building a small house half underground facing the south so I can use a green house to supplement my day time heating in the winter months I'm not sure how I'm gona work it yet but I'm sure it will cool when it gets done .

[@justgivemethetruth]

It starts to snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin around Thanksgiving, sometimes as early as Halloween ... may not officially be winter, but it is cold enough to freeze plants.

[@rstevewarmorycom]

Water tanks painted black is the most effective thermal mass you can possibly have for the cost. Water has many times higher specific heat than any other construction material, rock included. I'm just so sorry you had to do all that earth- moving when it wasn't necessary at all. They should offer a course in solar design in every community college, it would save people so much money and effort.

[@rotneyleathers]

Brother, you are so intelligent that I can't keep up with you.....I want to build and live in a solar green house and want to design and build it...

[@JoshVonhauger]

solar water heaters would allow for cheaper construction , and help even out your soil temps with out drying out your beds

[@torontoont2218]

thanks for sharing. will help alot in the future. I wanna buld a green house with grands also. thats a nice size greenhouse.

[@benjaminpoole9383]

That's really awesome! Makes me want to build one!

[@jfree1998]

great video, looking to make a good greenhouse up here in AK, I wonder if combining this banked version with the underground greenhouse would be more appropriate in the cold up here?

[@cookingupastory]

@Annafin62 Working with solar energy has been done for a long time, so not surprising you were doing something similar 27 years ago. It seems every little bit helps, especially when you're working in very cold climates.

[@suziamazon]

THis is a great idea & video , Thanks for sharing .

[@jimmartin7899]

Design them like those A frame campers that pop up and lock into place. Hell I would buy one if I wanted to have my very own apothecary. ; )

[@justgivemethetruth]

Interesting idea. Whenever the air temp is higher by some marginal temperature run the fan … the sun shining should not have anything to do with it. Seems like it might be better to have a solar hot water heater arrangement and heat a slab of concrete or tanks of water. Moving air around is energy intensive, and there is not a lot of heat capacity in the air, and then trying to warm the whole ground is interesting. This reminds me a little of the EarthBox idea, but with air.

[@kattasudhir]

A follow up update in 2018 would be interesting hear ?

[@xXelitegpXx]

In 2021 would be awesome also!

[@gioknows]

I enjoyed this video tremendously.

[@waellerbe]

***** I also enjoyed this video presentation. Having listened to what this man had to say, I'm interested in finding some local greenhouse close to where I live.

[@edhorsegolfer4784]

I have a few questions: Why is schedule 80 PVC being used? Is the Glazing or glass being used really effective at not transferring cold into the greenhouse at night or overcast days? Have you considered butterfly valves in the underground piping to balance the system like an HVAC system as opposed to what you have ( it was a little tough to really see exactly what you had)? It seems 40k is a bit much for a greenhouse for me, I don't have grant money. I did like the wood construction. A guy with a hobbyist sawmill could easily cut wood from his land to offset that cost. Good video. It really got me thinking a good bit about how I want to build my greenhouse.

[@myrnaukelele]

THat is quite the greenhouse.

[@jean47f]

Félicitation, le solaire est une énergie bienfaisante et d'avenir! En conviendrons-nous enfin? même en agriculture ...

[@jycfrnkl]

Intersting design. Subscribed!

[@trybal007]

Awesome. Thought about running the chimney like that too or build a rocket stove in the greenhouse. I'm already seeing over 6c difference with less than half of the windows installed and only half of the installation installed. Are you building with rammed tires and timber?

[@brianrichard8310]

I live in Ottawa Canada. Can you tell me if you insulated the perimeter of the greenhouse with anything? You can buy waterproof insulation (closed cell) that you can put in the ground around the perimeter. This would save you a lot more energy than just blowing warm air under the soil, because the soil around the inside, nearest to the wall, would be more freeze protected. Would it not? I always read anything that comes along concerning growing things under glass or plastic.

[@Wurdswurth]

Words of wisdom, Steve. Thanks!

[@krustysurfer]

Sir you Rawk! Thank you for the video

[@waspswatter]

Is your farm open for visits? I'd like to see your greenhouse in person. Thanks!

[@trybal007]

Mine is almost identical too. The living space is 68x24 with a 68x16 passive solar corridor. Just begun installing the windows for the living space. There is a vid on my channel.

[@markculp2228]

thank you for sharing this amazing knowlage !! can you put together an update ?

[@marksletters]

Loved this video !! Thank you for sharing !!

[@prancingdog]

Just to add to rstevewarmorycom. One could have used all of that expensive exposed facades to build low cost solar air (or better water) heaters and bring in the heat to whatever temperature one desires. I use that exact design to grow throughout the year, and with the recent warm winter, I kept the majority of my orchids out there. Now I have an abundance of tropicals, and plan on selling them to neighbors who have asked. Move solar heat inside and mass store it for overnight. Cheaply.

[@lucianminea]

I've seen a lot of this type of videos and I've commented on each of them because the reality is that this is not working. It'f phisically impossible, because the soil doesn't retain heat. The surface of the earth that gets heated by the sun has between 30 and 50 cm in thickness, in some location depending on the soil reaching 70 cm. Deeper than that the temperatures stay the same all year round. At the center of the earth is a huge ball of molten lava with temperatures between 4.400 and 6.000 degrees celsius. Don't you think that if the soil had that kind of thermal permeability, we would've receive more of that heat ? Earth depth temperatures increase with depth with values around 20-25 degrees celsius per km. But that starts around 100 m depth. With very small variations, depeding on the location and soil temperatures, the temperatures at 1,8 m are around 10-15 degrees celsius all year round. So if you build a well designed system you can retrieve at least 10 degrees celsius from the ground in the winter. Combined with a well insulated greenhouse, you should be able to keep a 15 degrees celsius inside the greenhouse, in cloudy days, which will allow the growing of most vegetables. But you can not store heat from the summer. Otherwise, we would've heated our houses with that. Geothermal systems do that, but they reach down into the ground at at least 50 m depths.

[@ElGatoLoco698]

In Minnesota in January you can go several days without any significant sun. Add to that nightly temperatures in the single digits or less. How could this would work in conditions like that? What do you do at night when all the hot air has been exhausted and the fans turn off and the temperature is at -10F?

[@daciastiles9844]

You are right about the cloud cover. You will need to have a backup heating system. I just toured a passive solar greenhouse here in MN, and it is connected to a large pole barn. The temperature in the barn seems to stay above freezing, but there is a wood fired heating system in place if needed. It vents into the greenhouse when conditions are like you describe. The SFA in MN is starting a chapter exclusively for passive greenhouses in the area. They would be a great resource for troubleshooting.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Is this "banking" as is First National Bank or "banking" as in riverbank ? I would think it would make more sense to have an air to water heat exchanger and them pump water under the floor ... like radiant heat, or even have black tubes running in the greenhouse roof to pick up heat and then pump it underground, or just create a hot water reservoir and use it to heat the greenhouse floor. You get the economy of scale, and you could heat your house too.

[@GianfrancoFronzi]

Some excellent tips .

[@DoctorsWife56]

Most impressive.

[@jimmartin7899]

These could be designed modular has well if a larger family wanted to expand its crop base or its fish farming.

[@kaputon1]

I live in northern Michigan and want to start what you have

[@mrJMD]

Fundamental problem is that they aren't just blowing air through the pipes, they're blowing warm dry(er) air directly into the soil. He says during the first test that the soil dried out really badly, well no wonder. The air needs to go through a sealed pipe, not a perforated one. All you're doing is using a giant hair-dryer to remove the moisture from your soil. Not sure how they missed that. Other than that a well executed design.

[@michaelgent964]

Mother Earth News used a sealed pipe. It had very bad mold problems. You have to use a perforated pipe.

[@mrJMD]

@@michaelgent964 - Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Mold would be a huge problem in that instance. Thanks for the reply!

[@ConleyLance]

Nice job Steven

[@jimmartin7899]

This design could all be ran off ducted systems to control temperature so there would be no need to vent any heat or any cold. Solar vacuum tubes used to heat water and power TEG's with capacitor banks and even solar panels could run all these systems. All self contained stand alone green houses to produce food and medicine. Is this a good idea?

[@ameliecousteau]

Thank You

[@kelhawk1]

Passive Annual Heat Storage (PAHS) seems like a better way to go. The thermal bank is the insulated mass of earth under and around a super-insulated structure.

[@earthsskin]

I agree PAHS is the future. Seems like it could be added to existing to this and other buildings easily. Those who want to learn more through this video or searching "Geoff Lawton Geo-solar greenhouse". Geoff's website has many useful videos featuring useful designs.

[@markclemmens2862]

Interesting greenhouse, but I just don't see why you wouldn't use fluid instead of air...Some kind of water storage tank which absorbs solar energy and then a pump instead of a fan which circulates the hot water through radiant pipes under the beds. You could even have a supplemental boiler attached to the water storage tank in case you need it certain days. Using air just can never be as efficient as water to store the energy.

[@lillsportyshorty7165]

And it would work brilliantly with say.. Talapia aquaponics sense the water has to be at about 56%.

[@ecologygarden]

Interesting does it ever get way too hot in mid summer when all that heat stored underground combines with a high air temp in greenhouse? Do you then resort to release some heat outside.I wonder Is there any way the summer heat can be stored and used throughout the whole winter not just early winter and spring.

[@josephchumsky6794]

Awesome video

[@13ou812]

thank you for posting,when i get done i would like more info,thanks God bless

[@railroadnkp1]

I work in heating and air. So how is the air quality in your build. do you get any black mold in the tubes. Or any air-born contaminants. that can cause health issues

[@cookingupastory]

thank you, @Hobgoblins There are a lot of good things going on out in the world, too. Lots to still be hopeful for - just hafta keep at it. =)

[@musFuzZ]

Would this work if you replaced the air with water, and made a tank to store the heat energy in the water, and taking the thermal energy as it vented out through a rad. I am going to do something like this in my future greenhouse. Tx bae.

[@musFuzZ]

***** I have discovered a fantastic guy that uses a combination of these concepts. Bigelow Brook Farm (Web4Deb)

[@jimmartin7899]

Could not evaporation absorption refrigeration be used to cool a green house in the summer. Induction or magnetic or solar vacuum tube water heating for the winter that can also run TEG's to keep capacitor banks and batteries charged? NOVARTIS

[@unnet1]

How tall are the front and back walls? Did you need some kind of trusses to span the 30"?

[@recklessroges]

I'm surprised that the link in the video 4:38: www.sare.org/publications/fromthefield/schwendiagrams.pdf still works, (unlike oakcentergeneralstore.com/our-farm where "Community Supported Agriculture is suspended due to lack of consistent help." and "Steven is weary of doing this farm solo, and since 2011 is looking to leasing or transferring the farm" Farming is hard work! This thermal-mass under floor heating was used by the Romans, (and though it is a useful technology, we need to automate the farming without reliance on petroleum horses.)

[@jimmartin7899]

How about a mobile hydroponic green house? With state of the art heating and cooling for growing herbs and medicinal plants? You could have a fish farm mobile set up right next to your hydroponic mobile green house each with its own heating and cooling systems. Recycle old campers and give them new life and a really good future! You could make them so they lower down onto the ground ounce in place using hydraulics. Is this a great idea?

[@johnarizona3820]

beautiful , blessings

[@coldtinna]

Why my dozen super Dwarft bananas stopped growing good roots & leaves? They are dying? I got cactus soil ( looks same as reg. Soil, & heat pad. Still look like dying? I feel like it's a lost cause. No matter what I. Buy( grow bulb, there going to die! I spray due to no healthy roots , what can I do? Rooting compound & what kind? Moist or powder ? I'm lost & spent so much $ & love & time ??? Please HELP WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO GET HEALTHY Roots??

[@byronsowntime]

thankyou........ a true earth scientist...

[@s.leemccauley7302]

What about the greenhouse now?

[@golddigger878787]

and if your walking on containers of water that store the heat instead of blowing it in to the earth to warm it. so between the raised beds you walk on containers full of water.

[@brianrichards7006]

Honestly, I'm unsure about the use of the word "sustainable" in this case. If one was honest, and calculated all the petroleum that is embedded in this greenhouse....the construction, the panels, etc, I think it contradicts any definition of "sustainable". I still think it's a great greenhouse, and no doubt a joy to enter in the Winter. I just believe we should avoid delusion as much as possible.

[@Notrocketscience101]

I call it evidence based living. The religious left and the counter culture left have played upon human emotional weakness to tax and squander our work with nothing to show for it. I noticed this gentleman used grant money to fund what clearly does not fund itself but salve's his bruised economics by extolling the benefits to his community. The dubious "benefits to community" must be taken by faith because there it's a way to measure that and is therefore not evidence based living.

[@FigaroHey]

Why is it that it seems like every greenhouse video I look at, the person says, basically, 'We thought it would work, but it didn't so we had to change it.' Are greenhouses that buggy?

[@don1mclean]

Brilliant!

[@jimmartin7899]

If these were mass produced they could be given has grants to people willing to act has a collective to provide for a greater good. Novartis

[@jimmartin7899]

In a traditional Green house could you not run 10 inch construction pipe under ground to each corner with the intake at ground level then have the other ends at celling level with booster fans to circulate the air to keep everything at an even temperature? Or even have a regular house A/c unit keep the temperature just perfect to grow what ever crop your trying to propagate?

[@cupbowlspoonforkknif]

Running A/C would be a terrible idea. You could just have an automated system to open vents when it got too hot. No electricity required if you use the expanding mineral type.

[@jimmartin7899]

How about vibrational cooling and heating do you know how to do this using minerals and sound?

[@jimmartin7899]

Generating hot or cold and generating electricity through vibration at the same time? I am sure you have no clue what I am talking about because this is not taught in free mason indoctrination called public education? ; )

[@jimmartin7899]

Climate change would not allow you to use regular green house tactics to control the climate in the green house. So new advancements would be needed in order to grow crops in green houses. A venting system would not be a viable way to operate a green house at its optimal output. David

[@jimmartin7899]

David do you have the knowledge to design a hydroponic system that can be used in regular farming fields to grow crops while producing fish for food in covered green house ponds are mostly automated? This would be the optimal way to farm in a high drought or where there is little water. You could also use sun to water machines to generate water to use to farm with has well. Hay David you were saying something? ; )

[@garygranato9164]

brilliant

[@NJRenewableEnergy]

Great job...

[@rstevewarmorycom]

I don't know why you did all the earth-moving and all the electrical blowing when you should just use water for thermal mass. Just put big tanks at the back, well-insulated rear and side walls, berm up N, E, West walls, and then put an well insulated roof on it tilted at the winter sun angle. You don't need all that glass, you don't for the heat, you don't for the plants. Just catch the 9AM to 3PM sun and reflect it all around using foil for the inmost walls.

[@WarriorofPeace100]

cool video, thanks for putting it out there :]

[@savardavenger69]

thank you for the great info

[@caraarslan]

thanks for sharing!

[@KlittyHello]

Awesome

[@cookingupastory]

@theproducegarden thank you!

[@theproducegarden]

awesome!!! i LOVE ur videos!

[@istvanszentmiklosi1975]

Thank YOU!!!

[@nadinesnoopy]

excellent!!!

[@oolliivveenn1]

never too late

[@shawncindigabriel]

I have and idea that can incorportate a greenhouse and allow you to also use it to generate power. Just search for "House Plant Powered LED Flashlight".

[@davefroman4700]

The one mistake that all these people keep doing is trying to blow hot air under ground. That is NOT how physics works. You need to create a vacuum on the system in order for the heat to be efficiently released by the air into the batttery, and to create cooling. When you want heat you take the coldest air at the bottom of the greenhouse and put force that underground. You always way to be pulling on what ever area is coldest. The colder the air is, the more dense it is, and the more efficient your mechanical force is. By pulling the cold air out of the ground you are pulling a much larger volume of hot air off the peak of the greenhouse where the air is a LOT less dense.

[@harryrarmer]

Another great video but I simply cannot afford to buy my own home!

Not certain about the points made but ,if anyone else wants to learn about build a small greenhouse plans try Lomonting Easy Greenhouse Mentor (just google it ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my cousin got cool success with it.

[@harryrarmer]

mido Bel God hates me for being gay.

[@cupbowlspoonforkknif]

No He doesn't, and what does this have to do with the comment?

[@harryrarmer]

David D Seek not to find the answers but to understand the questions lovie.

[@myrnak04]

sare.org/publications/fromthefeilds/schwendiagram.pdf does not work. thanks

[@jlmur54]

I imagine he starts them in more protected and heated environs, not in the open ground.

[@canep]

very old technology invented by Russian inventor Ivanov in the early 50s

[@Sugarsail1]

more like invented 2000 years ago by Romans.

[@justgivemethetruth]

OK ... seven years later ... how about an update?

[@dylanbrown3090]

Watch at 1.5 speed, these people talk way to slow

[@corwynwarwaruk2141]

I watch every video at 1.5 times speed & when talking to people in real life I find they talk slow..... & I talk fast. Could also be the coffee! Lol

[@stormytrails]

Double dug raised beds would warm the soil just as effectively as all this work you have done. Not sided raised beds, just double dug with shallow trenches directing and pulling water away from beds. I do not like using that row cloth at the bottom of your rows, Perched water table would be the main problem. Mixing sand into a soil does NOT help with drainage. The only way to improve any soil is by adding decomposed organic matter, to the surface of the soil. When adding NON decomposed organic matter to the soil you are putting most of the life in that soil to sleep, dormant or in eggs. Raw manure, bark chips, straw are non decomposed examples. The decomposers will go to work immediately to decompose. They need nitrogen to do their work. When they have converted non decomposed into decomposed then the life in the soil wakes up. Life in the soil has to have decomposed organic matter for energy. This needs to be taken into account when you start adding balanced fertilizers according to plant's needs. pH is a huge deal. Planting like needs plants together is huge. Rotating every year and leaving at least 2 years between tomatoes for instance being planted into soil that hasn't had any of the solanaceae family growing in that soil...for 2 years. Ventilation and drainage are far more important than that row cloth at the bottom of those troughs, for sure. 'Sumping' is a loose word we used describing losing larger gravel (larger pore spaces) we add to the surface, lost to the depths as fines sump up to fill larger pore spaces because weight is being applied to the surface. Landscape fabric was designed ONLY for this purpose, not weeds, not for losing top soil into the lower soil horizons FOR SURE. The row cloth is acting like landscape fabric in your mind, I think anyhoo. Remember, pressure and weight are not added to the plant beds, a bit for paths. If you had gravel paths, that row cloth would be properly used below the 4" of gravel to not lose that gravel. What skin are you using on your greenhouse? Artificial lighting? Warming the soil is in my mind is counterproductive. The sunlight warms the top 6" just fine. That is where 95% of all roots in this world are...your row cloth is impeding drainage just like a perched water table (think upside down as well). Let me know what you think...

[@heckyes]

Wouldn't it have been easier to just have a rocket mass heater plumbed through out the floor? Seems like a lot of technology and plastics for such a down to earth venture. Not that I'm against technology, just an observation.

[@DeSwiss]

Namaste.