Twelve Greenhouse Energy Saving Tips To Save You Considerable Money in the Home Greenhouse
Reduce Air Leaks
Keep your doors closed (open and close them quickly and use those cottage screen door spring kits to force them closed quickly if you walk through carrying stuff).
Weatherstrip all your doors, vents and particularly the fan openings.
Lubricate and adjust the louvers so they close tightly. Pro growers know how much air one of these things lets in/out so they watch them carefully. This is true on both the inlet and outlet louvers (the ones protecting the exhaust fans)
Shut off your home hobby greenhouse fan during the winter and cover the opening with insulation and/or plastic to eliminate air infiltration.
Repair broken fibreglass or holes in the plastic covering with proper repair material.
Line all upright sidewalls and endwalls with bubble wrap for a goodly amount of greenhouse energy saving.
If you have a large enough greenhouse to buy commercial rolls of plastic, even if you use it all up over several years, try using the special poly with the infrared inhibitor instead of normal poly. It will save the extra cost in a few short months of winter heating.
If you have an older greenhouse with fibreglass, add a single layer of plastic to reduce infiltration and heat loss by 50%.
Save 20%-50% by installing a thermal blanket - particularly over the crop at night for added protection. If you already have one, make sure the closures between the sidewalls, framing etc is tight and as leak-proof as possible.
If you have water lines in the greenhouse, insulate them.
Insulate the inner and/or outer greenhouse foundation with 1-2" polyurethane or polystyrene board. Bury it 18" below ground level. You might see an increase in the soil temperature near the sidewall by 10 degrees F and this is going to save you money for sure.
Insulate the inner kneewall or sidewall to the bottom of your benches with a 2-inch foam board. bench height.
Those greenhouse energy saving suggestions are going to reduce your energy consumption considerably in your backyard or home greenhouse.
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