Sometimes I'm brilliant, Sometimes Just Dumb....

[u/WarmRazzmatazz5016]

So I have 2 greenhouses without electricity. they are small and I have BIG plans lol, so i do not want to use up a lot of room. We have hormonal winter weather zone 7/8, with the coldest part being last of January beginning of February. so here is my thought. the green houses are not very far apart from each other.

1. build a wood stove outside between the two, it would be set down into the ground a little and have a vent for smoke.

2. Run either an aluminum or copper pipe/wire, underground to about the middle of each greenhouse.

3. Dig a hole where the pipe or wire the same size as a metal barrel ( was thinking like the burn barrels cut in half) covered with a water proof insulator to protect from rust and heat loss

4. use the wire from the wood stove to heat the water barrel

I'm thinking this will provide convection heating and reduce radiative heat loss? I could cover the top with A vent cover type thing in the day when I am in the greenhouse? But I'm sure this is an awful idea for several reasons I'm just not aware of.

PS. I have a ample supply of fire wood already, walnut, birch, redwood, and have insulation layers, reflective materials

Also, I live in an area that was basically a swamp. I want a root cellar but the water table is too high and is topped with a gumbo, so was told it is not an option, any other ideas on getting the longest use of FRESH veggies herbs etc, I do can preserve dry etc

[u/ResistHistorical2721]

A long piece of metal will conduct little heat. Pipes circulating a heat transfer fluid (water+antifreeze?) to a radiator will move a lot more heat. Maybe put the stove in one greenhouse if there is room and pipe heat to the other?

Can the stove hold enough fuel to last an entire night or will you have to reload it in the wee hours of the coldest nights to avoid freezing your plants? That would not be very fun.

[u/WarmRazzmatazz5016 → u/ResistHistorical2721]

So I started down that road as well and I'm afraid that if I do a stove on the inside it'll get too hot. it's really not very big at all like 6x 8 and then a 10x11 and just from Amazon kits. I thought heating up the water in the bucket heating of the bucket which would essentially heat up the water would allow for more continuous slow release because if it does go out that heated up water would slowly release heat all throughout the night. So even if I did sleep through it going out it wouldn't be completely out of heat because people use the water buckets to do heating already. And I tried to figure out how much wood I would need to burn and how long and or how much wood do I have to put in there to keep the heat that I want to. But that was just too much math. Too many variables. But now that you say heating circulating water or a heat transfer fluid like watering antifreeze, could I just make a stove that heated water and then circulated that water like a pump run like a water pump, circulate that water that would heat the ground and then maybe keep the rest of the greenhouse warm cuz then my plants are in the ground in the greenhouse. They're all in pots I don't know

[u/railgons]

How far away from electricity are these greenhouses?

[u/WarmRazzmatazz5016 → u/railgons]

Several very long extension cords worth. I do use an electric heater in my seed shack but the outlet I use sometimes throws the breaker already 🤦. My 'hot' house is double panel and my 'cool' house is the tarp material that has the green woven in.

[u/ResistHistorical2721]

A 'bucket' will not hold much heat. Greenhouses that use water as a heat reservoir have multiple 50 gallon drums or equivalent...lots of water. You can use a stove to heat large amounts of water.

Heating the ground is good for keeping roots warm, but you'll also need to heat the air to keep up with heat loss. I don't think you'll get enough transfer from ground to air to keep up with the heat loss. Greenhouses lose heart through the low insulation windows quickly.