The Ultimate in Greenhouse Insulation? A unique experiment for potentially big savings!

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

👉👉👉To find out if the foil insulation actual worked, here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2aseq2imdJ6rqs

[@JH-fv1gq]

Did this a couple winters ago. Only along the northern side of the greenhouse also used reflective cheapy survival type silver blankets. Kept the worst of the cold out.

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

I guess I'll only know for sure when I've completed the whole thing. Might be a long wait...🤣

[@stefaniaglorio1500]

...and not only during the British Winter! A hug dear friend☘️

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

You can hug the greenhouse to keep it warm! 😀🤔

[@lleo9703]

Hi Geoff, really interested to see the final tally of the electric bill when spring finally comes along. Great idea to save money! 😊

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Thanks 👍 Fingers crossed...

[@dianeconway293]

Well done that man 😊

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Thanks 😁

[@Carey.S75]

We moved house on June 6th, and as we had a garage, I wanted to convert the back section into a plant room for my tropical plants, of which there's approx' 400. We used something called 50mm Celotex panels, which sit away from the walls on a baton frame to create the cavity space behind. The walls and ceiling are insulated with this stuff. Altogether, the materials cost about £500 for a 12ft x 9ft space. During the summer, it definitely helped to keep the room cooler, so we will see how this fairs through this first winter. I have a HotBox thermostatic heater and fan currently set at 21⁰C, so it will keep costs down as the heating will only be required to maintain the temperature. It's still a bit of an experiment this first year, though. I will still be monitoring your updates with the insulating foil as I may be trying it with my own greenhouse if it's successful for you.

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

I expect that set-up will be way more efficient than mine - given the cost and the thickness of your insulation. If I could start all over again I would definitely have invested in one of thicker insulation foil products, or even used polystyrene panels. But now I'm stuck with working around what I have. Sounds like you have a great collection and it shouldn't cost you the Earth to run it all!

[@Tommyr]

WOW Geoff you've been a busy little Brit! That's a lot of work my friend! It should help though I would think. The only downside would be lower light levels from outside. Using more lights would UP your costs no? I hope it lowers your bill. Tom

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Thanks Tom! The cost of running grow-lights is but a tiny fraction compared to the cost of running 3KW heaters. I'm also thinking of how I can rig the roof up so that the foil is easily removable in some sections. Watch this space...

[@Tommyr]

Yeah, I thought the lights would be cheaper but wasn't sure just how much. Look forward to updates! @@Grow_Up_Man55

[@Chaos3183]

Yeah i'd love to see how much you save.

[@GlasshouseandGarden]

Such a good idea. I considered using silver foil backed foam board but this is not cheap! Given what you have learned and how you have adapted your glasshouse, would you build a glasshouse again or would you chose a different type of building (e.g. part brick and part wood? Double glazed glass?)?

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Well, I hope so otherwise it'll have been a massive FAFF for nothing!🤣 And yeah there are much better materials tp use but unfortunately they get very expensive very quickly. Something like a 4 inch thick polystyrene panel would be great but they're messy to cut and aren't cheap. I terms of what I'd do if I did it over again - I really don't know! At one point I wished I'd gone for a building like the Hothouse that had great insulation, but then the wood rots. For my purposes you would really need something like that, but made from some kind of non-rotting material - I've seen them out there but they cost a small mortgage. Costco have started offering some kind of plastic out-building that doesn't cost the earth, but it has no insulation so you'd need to start from scratch with it. That's always a possibility for the future I guess.

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

Intersting possibilities. I might be tempted to use it partially up the sides and use bubble wrap under the roof and on upper parts of the walls and door. i have twin -wall polycarbonate sheets on the roof and one end wall already. I'm never going to heat it. the best I do is keep a large container of water inside during winter: covered with a black bin bag my theory is that it will absob a little heat during the day and redistribute it back into the house durbng the chilly night.

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

I wish I'd opted for polycarb. But this current setup is has moved the needle on heating bills the most for me by far.

[@TerryMcGearyScotland]

⁠​⁠@@Grow_Up_Man55If it works for you, great. Heating from Nov till March would be ridiculous for what I keep in the green house . Every spring I bring out the dead. 😮 With more serious insulation maybe there will be more survivors. That’s my goal anyway.

[@pamelaburnsking3028]

If you find there's not enough light you can remove the reflective on the south-facing wall (not the southern wall). It will let in any heat and light from the sun. When the sun hits the north-facing wall the radiant heat it produces will reflect toward the rest of the greenhouse. That's how we do it in 🇨🇦 .Jugs of water will also work as thermal mass to store any heat produced by the heater and release it back while the heat is off.

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Yeah I intend doing something similar for the roof. I won’t be covering the whole thing as I want some sun coming through - when the sun actually makes an appearance. The sun comes out here infrequently so I’ll keep it to a minimum. I’ve always been a bit dubious to the jugs of water theory. I feel like you’d need a huge amount to make any discernible difference to temperature. Maybe if you’re just trying to keep the frost off it would help. Would be interesting to see if there are any studies on this stuff.

[@pamelaburnsking3028]

Since your greenhouse is heated the jugs would only act as thermal mass. Meaning they might extend the time that the heater stays off. To heat with water you would have 10L per square foot of space and the water would have to start warm at least 20C. People growing cold hardy can get away with passive water heat but the barrels spend the summer months in the greenhouse gathering heat.

[@metsrus]

how about a large wool blanket over the greenhouse at night? will that retain some heat?

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

That's a good idea - however, things have moved on considerably since this video. I now use a different method shown in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXTcd2mLYtB_fLc And it's saving me loads of cash!

[@marcm6259]

Do you have an Amazon link to the insulation foil? I want to make sure I’m getting the right one. Thank you.

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Sure - I went for the 1.5m x 25m roll and still have some left - although I haven't completely finished it yet so it's looking like I'll have just enough. Here's the link to the UK Amazon one: amzn.to/47JGwWG If you're in the US let me know and I'll find a link there instead. (This is an affiliate link - but won't cost you any more!😁)

[@robinneeley9176]

@@Grow_Up_Man55 This looks like a very good system that my husband could do...can I get a link for the US amazon? Thanks so much!!

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

@@robinneeley9176 It doesn't look like the actual one I bought (Superfoil) is available in the US - although it looks like there are similar products if you look.

[@steveandsherilyn7543]

Just throwing ideas out here but have you thought about getting a plumber in to extend your house central heating by adding a radiator in your greenhouse that’s part of your home central heating? You could install a thermometer in the greenhouse instead of your house to maintain a 18 degree temp. Obviously it would take some effort and money but if it could be done it might be a good long term solution. No idea if it’s possible but just an idea that popped into my head. 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Yeah I'm sure that would be good if it could be done. Although I imagine there would be a considerable outlay to set that up. I'm no plumber, but I doubt you'd be able to bury central heating pipes in order to run them to the greenhouse. It comes down to comparing the cost of running on an electric heater compared with the cost of setting this idea up - and I think it's highly likely to be less expensive to just use the electric heater. The cheapest and easiest solution (apart from simply growing hardy plants in the first place!) is to improve the insulation. Since I set up the bubble-foil insulation my heating bills have plummeted.

[@krista6677]

I’m looking to do something like this but I think to save more $ I might staple it to batten slats and pvc strips top and bottom so I can remove roll up and reuse it next year. Or possibly panels attached by heavy Velcro with over lapping flaps. Just hit -5C last night and my garbage can heat sink (first time trying it) with aquarium heater set to 70F kept it to just 1C. Not good. It’s a cheap $200 7x 12 Amazon green house that almost filled the space of my garden. I bought a $300 bigger green house in Walmart to go over it as I’m sure the snow will crush the existing one. The plan is to build a green house next year and will sell the 2 temp green houses. So this year is an experiment on heating. The first green house has already paid for itself in food in the short time it’s extended my growing season. Which was surprising. I popped 2 grow lights in there but will be putting in another. I’m torn between getting a good HID or cheap fluorescent one to get the extra heat. But the HID would give me better quality light for faster growth…… so many decisions 😂

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Yeah there aren’t many easy solutions. I want removable too but then you risk leaving gaps which would make the whole thing a waste of time. Unless your DIY skills are better than mine - which wouldn’t be difficult to be honest! 🤣 I’ve always found the heat from lights so little as to be practically negligible, when you’re talking about using two 3 KW fan heaters. I’d always go for better lighting.

[@Albie_yt]

I need humidity for my nepenthes inside . I cannot use a humidifier because it’s above wooden furniture .I must daily but it still grows warped leaf’s and smaller pitchers than when I bought it .I keep humidity high fine with my smaller nepenthes because of humidity trays but I have no ideas on how to do it with the larger ones .What can I do ?

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

Some people might disagree but honestly, unless your humidity is always really low, below 25% for example, then i wouldn't worry about it. Light is far more important a factor - along with keeping the media continually moist - but not sitting in water. That's why hanging them works so well. That's my opinion, of course!

[@Albie_yt]

@@Grow_Up_Man55 ok thanks !

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

can't you just drag the greenhouse into the house and use the ambient heat of the house and supplemental lighting?😜

[@Grow_Up_Man55]

But then I'd have nothing to whine about...🤷‍♂️