StickyNoseJaxon
New member
For several years now I've used propane heaters in greenhouses to take the edge off early in the season when seedlings and small plants are just getting started. Fortunately, I've never had any incidents of fire, although there have been a few close calls over the years with malfunctions or poor placement of the heaters.
One year a guy I was working with somehow had one of those burners that just screw into the top of a propane tank all turned around so the heat cast directly onto the top of the tank from like 4 inches away. It was one of those moments that makes you blink several times in a row and imagine all the ways things could have turned out bad.
Overall, propane heaters have been a sore point of background anxiety for me for a long time. Not to mention the water vapor as a byproduct of burning propane. Many a season end before they begin with PM on young plants because propane is used for heat when electricity is not readily available or feasible for whatever reason.
So I believe I may have found a much better source of reliable and safe heat for my greenhouses that has most of the benefits of propane but without the cost of difficult to manage humidity levels.
Chinese diesel heaters. I only heard about these units in the past year or so, and didn't immediately consider them for heating a greenhouse, but after setting two of them up to heat other spaces around here, I realize they might be the answer to the propane problem.
They are about the size of an old computer tower and with the stock fuel tank hold about a gallon of diesel. On the lowest setting, it will produce heat for roughly 10 to 12 hours. There's a small burn chamber with a glow plug to initiate the burn. The burn chamber heats up and air is drawn around the outside of the chamber and blown out with a small fan. It does require you vent the exhaust outside by a small pipe and insulate around where it leaves the structure because it is definitely hot enough to burn whatever it touches.
It's operated by a control module with a small screen to change settings or read temps that can also be used with a remote that's included.
I have one of these installed in an old camper trailer and on nights down in the 20's and teens, the lowest setting is too warm and I periodically have to turn it off for awhile or open a window.
So this Spring, my plan is to install one of these in a greenhouse and see if it is up to the task of heating a much larger space than a camper.
It does require 12v power to energize the glow plug and power the control module and fans. These were originally designed as what they call a parking heater, to either keep a vehicle warm without running the engine, or to preheat the cab of a vehicle prior to starting the engine.
Since I'll be installing it in a greenhouse, I'll wire it to a 110v AC to 12v DC power supply and then plug that into an outlet. It doesn't draw much power, so I feel much better about running a cord for this as opposed to trying to heat with electricity where you're drawing a lot of juice.
The greenhouse I'll test it on is about 20' x 10' with a center height of about 14'. I'm going to bet this little heater will not only be plenty for this space, but it'll also prevent the inside of the greenhouse skin from constantly dripping all over the plants.
I'll post some pics once I install in the gh.
Here's a photo of the one in the camper.
One year a guy I was working with somehow had one of those burners that just screw into the top of a propane tank all turned around so the heat cast directly onto the top of the tank from like 4 inches away. It was one of those moments that makes you blink several times in a row and imagine all the ways things could have turned out bad.
Overall, propane heaters have been a sore point of background anxiety for me for a long time. Not to mention the water vapor as a byproduct of burning propane. Many a season end before they begin with PM on young plants because propane is used for heat when electricity is not readily available or feasible for whatever reason.
So I believe I may have found a much better source of reliable and safe heat for my greenhouses that has most of the benefits of propane but without the cost of difficult to manage humidity levels.
Chinese diesel heaters. I only heard about these units in the past year or so, and didn't immediately consider them for heating a greenhouse, but after setting two of them up to heat other spaces around here, I realize they might be the answer to the propane problem.
They are about the size of an old computer tower and with the stock fuel tank hold about a gallon of diesel. On the lowest setting, it will produce heat for roughly 10 to 12 hours. There's a small burn chamber with a glow plug to initiate the burn. The burn chamber heats up and air is drawn around the outside of the chamber and blown out with a small fan. It does require you vent the exhaust outside by a small pipe and insulate around where it leaves the structure because it is definitely hot enough to burn whatever it touches.
It's operated by a control module with a small screen to change settings or read temps that can also be used with a remote that's included.
I have one of these installed in an old camper trailer and on nights down in the 20's and teens, the lowest setting is too warm and I periodically have to turn it off for awhile or open a window.
So this Spring, my plan is to install one of these in a greenhouse and see if it is up to the task of heating a much larger space than a camper.
It does require 12v power to energize the glow plug and power the control module and fans. These were originally designed as what they call a parking heater, to either keep a vehicle warm without running the engine, or to preheat the cab of a vehicle prior to starting the engine.
Since I'll be installing it in a greenhouse, I'll wire it to a 110v AC to 12v DC power supply and then plug that into an outlet. It doesn't draw much power, so I feel much better about running a cord for this as opposed to trying to heat with electricity where you're drawing a lot of juice.
The greenhouse I'll test it on is about 20' x 10' with a center height of about 14'. I'm going to bet this little heater will not only be plenty for this space, but it'll also prevent the inside of the greenhouse skin from constantly dripping all over the plants.
I'll post some pics once I install in the gh.
Here's a photo of the one in the camper.
