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In recent years, polycarbonate has been widely used for the manufacture of greenhouses. This material is durable and at the same time quite elastic, which will allow you to create structures of a rather complex geometric shape. In addition, it has high light transmission (up to 85% of solar radiation) and excellent thermal insulation. Due to the heat-insulating properties of the material, heating a polycarbonate greenhouse, ceteris paribus, will require less thermal energy than for glass or film structures. This will significantly reduce the financial costs of the winter crop grown in them.
Types of heating
All this led to a great demand for polycarbonate greenhouses, which, in addition to purely utilitarian use, have also become elements of the landscape design of the territory of many suburban areas. Moreover, such a design can be bought ready-made, made to order or mounted with your own hands without any problems.
Greenhouses quite allow active operation in winter, but this will require the arrangement of heating and lighting systems. If the structure is only warmed up, this will allow the greenhouse season to start a month earlier than usual.
To heat greenhouses in winter and early spring, it is possible to use various types of heating, some of them are easy to do with your own hands, while others will require careful calculations and the involvement of specialists for installation.
The simplest is biological heating or the so-called warm beds. In this case, thermal energy is released due to the processes of decomposition of organic matter as a result of the vital activity of microorganisms. Biofuel is horse manure or compost based on it, which is placed under the soil layer. Heat from a layer of organic matter warms up the root system of plants
In winter, air heating can be used by moving warm air flows through the greenhouse. It is carried out by means of electric or gas heaters. Electric heat guns are fairly powerful portable fans. In gas heaters, heating is carried out by means of heaters dispersed over the area of the greenhouse or heated air is distributed using an air duct system.
A variant of the winter heating system due to warming up the air is the use of convectors. Only in this case there is no forced distribution of warm air, and its heating occurs due to convective flows, which contributes to a longer, but uniform heating. Such devices are mainly electric, but can also be gas.
Water heating of the greenhouse in winter is based on a pipeline system installed under a layer of soil and a heating boiler operating on one of the types of fuel: solid fuel, liquid fuel, electric or gas. Which of these types to install for heating greenhouses in winter sometimes depends on the availability of a particular fuel in the region.
Heating with a resistive cable is quite efficient and popular with greenhouse owners. In this electrical system, two types of heat sources are used – a separate heating cable or ready-made heating mats. The cable is laid not only under the soil, but can also be laid in the walls of the greenhouse, providing efficient heating even in severe winter cold.
Heating a winter greenhouse with sources of IR radiation is currently considered the most progressive method from the point of view of plant ecology.
Video “Heating a winter greenhouse”
Can I use IR
How warm air circulation works
The action of infrared heating sources in its physical essence is similar to heating by sunlight. IR radiation does not heat the air, but opaque objects that absorb it. Then, from the heated layer of soil, plant leaves, carcass and other elements, heat is transferred to the air due to convection. The winter greenhouse warms up similarly to the summer beds heated by the sun.
That is, the use of IR heaters in greenhouses is not only possible, but also the closest to the natural way of heating. At the same time, the soil warms up to a depth of up to 7 centimeters, which creates the most camphoric conditions for the root system of plants for nutrition and active growth. While the soil warms up to +28 ˚С, the air in the greenhouse heats up only to +22 ˚С. In addition, the air does not dry out, there are no drafts and harmful emissions from combustible fuel. Thus, the IR heating system creates the most optimal conditions for development in the winter greenhouse.
Types of infrared heating
Modern infrared heaters are light and elegant. Installing such heating in a greenhouse with your own hands will not be difficult. Their main elements are a ceramic emitter and a steel reflector polished to a mirror finish. According to their design features, they can be divided into two main types: case and film or tape.
The first are mobile and can be fixed both on the walls and on the ceiling, lowering them to the required height. More modern cabinet IR heaters no longer have a flat, but a spherical radiating surface, due to which their scattering angle reaches 120 degrees, which significantly increases the uniformity of heating.
Film infrared heaters are permanently mounted in the ceiling. However, their loss of mobility is compensated by greater energy savings and higher uniformity of soil heating in the winter greenhouse.
Such heaters mainly use electricity as a source of energy. But they can also be gas or liquid fuel. This allows you to choose the most optimal option in terms of cost savings during operation and ensure uninterrupted operation in the winter cold.
Do it yourself
The winter greenhouse must have efficient, reliable and economical heating. If you install it yourself, you need to take into account the peculiarities of the climate, the advantages and disadvantages of various types of heating, as well as the ability to independently make the correct installation and configuration. What will be the heating system for a polycarbonate greenhouse depends on the specific situation.
When using biological heating, in addition to warming up the root system, plants also receive vitamin supplements, and outgoing evaporation helps to moisten the soil. Such heating is quite simple to equip in a greenhouse with your own hands and it does not require constant monitoring. However, the heat generated in this case will not be enough even in small winter frosts.
Air heating quickly warms up the air in the greenhouse, which is important during a sharp cold snap in winter. The equipment can be equipped with thermostats, which will automatically maintain the required temperature. At the same time, the use of gas for a polycarbonate greenhouse can be quite financially profitable.
However, rapid heating has a downside – the greenhouse also cools down quickly when the heat supply is cut off. Therefore, a winter power failure or gas interruptions will lead to the death of plants. In addition, the air dries and the soil does not warm up. If electric guns are placed around the greenhouse and connected with your own hands is not a problem, then in order to make a gas system, especially when connecting not bottled, but main gas, you will need to involve a specialist.
The convection heating system of the greenhouse is easy to equip with your own hands. In addition, the electronic control of the equipment allows you to make it autonomous and automatic. It has the same disadvantages as the air system – there is no warming up of the soil and rapid cooling when the power is turned off, which is dangerous in winter frosts.
The water heating system warms up both the soil and the air in the greenhouse. In addition, the heated water after turning off the boiler will give off heat to the environment for a long time. That is, during an emergency shutdown, the winter cold will not immediately reach the plants in the greenhouse. But with such heating, the soil is very dry, which requires timely watering. In addition, not everyone can calculate and make such a system with their own hands without involving a specialist in the forces for installation.
A winter greenhouse with a cable heating system allows you to create a favorable microclimate for plants, since in this case the soil and air warm up at the same time. In addition, the use of special sensors and controllers makes it easy to program it for an effective heating level both in winter and during spring warming.
However, such heating will require calculations and some electrical knowledge for proper and safe installation. Also, during a power outage, winter frosts can destroy all plantings, but connecting an electric generator will save the situation.
With IR heating, the winter greenhouse provides the plants with the most comfortable conditions for growth. The use of electronic control allows you to integrate it with the “smart home” system, which allows you to adjust the microclimate in different parts of the greenhouse, depending on the surrounding conditions. It is not difficult to make such a system in a greenhouse with your own hands and at the same time you can ensure uninterrupted operation in the event of a shutdown of the main power source.
Video “Automatic polycarbonate greenhouses”
Some greenhouses are equipped in a far from handicraft way, and have their own lighting, irrigation system and heating. How it works, you will learn from the video.
