| Sunspace
and Solar Greenhouse Design and Construction |
|
Sunspace Notes:
Attached sunspaces can be
a good way to add solar heating, and provide some additional
living space, or plant growing space. Sunspace designs vary
widely depending on whether you want to 1) provide heat for the
attached house, 2) provide more living space, or 3) grow plants,
or some combination of the three.
|
| The Homeowner's Complete
Handbook For Add- On Solar Greenhouses and Sunspaces
Andrew Shapiro
|
 Very good book on the design and building
of sunspaces and greenhouses. Provides quantitative design
procedures that allow you to take into account your climate and
sunspace objectives (house heating, plant growing, ...). Also
covers construction, economics, & much more. Out of print, but
generally available at Amazon.com used books (or the like).
It would be hard to overemphasize what a really fine reference
this is.
|
| Solar
Rooms -- excerpts from the book Passive Solar Energy, Bruce
Anderson and Malcolm Wells
|
 This set of extracts from
the book Passive Solar Energy covers:
+ Types of solar rooms.
+ Design guidelines for solar rooms.
+ Construction details for solar rooms.
+ Pictures of example solar rooms. |
| Sunwings - The Harrowsmith
Guide to Solar Addition Architecture
Merilyn Mohr
|
 Good book on attached sunspace design and
construction. Many good ideas on how to plan, design and build an
attached sunspace. Out of print, but generally available at
Amazon.com (or the like). |
| Solar Greenhouses
Barbara Bellows
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=59
|
 Good writeup on solar greenhouses.
Covers fundamentals and then goes on to cover a variety of solar
greenhouse approaches, including some unusual ones. Includes an
extensive list of references. |
| The Solar Greenhouse Book
James McCullagh (editor)
|
 Good book on building solar greenhouses,
and on growing plants in them. Out of print, but available on
Amazon.com used books for less than a buck!
|
| Sunspace design guidelines
http://www.eere.energy.gov
|
 Some general guidelines on
sunspaces. Not very detailed. |
Construction and Greenhouse
Tip Sheets,
Charlie's Greenhouse
www.charleysgreenhouse.com
|
 Some useful tip sheets and building and
using greenhouses. |
| Design and Installation Guide
Sundance
Design Guide
|
 This is a good 20 page or so
sunspace/greenhouse construction guide. The Sundance website www.sundancesupply.com
has more material.
|
| Installing Large Glass Sunspace Windows... |
 A good entry from the Alt. Build Blog on a good
way to install large insulated glass units for sunspaces.
The article goes over some problems that have developed with the
glazing units in a 1980's sunspace, and then details the full
repair and a better way to mount the glazing units.
|
Low
Thermal Mass Sunspaces for Home Space Heating (and
many other things)
Low thermal mass sunspaces provide an exceptional combination of
advantages: very efficient space heating for the home they are
attached to, added living space that can be used for a wide variety
of purposes, a wide range of cost effective designs, and they can
also look great (a plus for HOAs and spouses).
This section provides a design guide to explain what its all
about, test data that documents their heating efficiency, and
quite a few example low thermal mass sunspaces.
|
|
Our Home Power
article covering Low Thermal Mass Sunspaces (LTMS)
Home Power Magazine, Dec 2013, HP158
- Design Information
- Performance testing
- Example LTMS designs
|
 Our article in Home
Power magazine. It basically covers most of what is in this
section on Low Thermal Mass sunspaces in a very readable form -- a
good place to start learning about the LTMS.
You can download
the pdf version of the article after subscribing to the
digital edition. The digital edition of HP is $10, and a 3 year
digital subscription at $24 gives full access to all 25 years of
back issues -- a great resource.
There is also a free html version of the article on the HP website
here...
|
Design
Guide for Low Thermal Mass Sunspaces,
Gary |
This design guide covers low thermal mass sunspaces -- including:
- What they are.
- How and why they work well.
- Covers the design rules for goes over the design rules.
- Testing demonstrating the heat output and efficiency.
- The multi-purpose space advantages and uses.
- What they don't do well.
|
Low Thermal Mass Sunspaces for Space
heating
Transparent,
Walk-In Enclosure Installed Along South Side of Existing House and
Used to Heat the house,
William Shurcliff
Nick Pine usenet post on low
thermal mass sunspaces...
|
 The two articles
listed to the left explain how low thermal mass sunspaces work, and
why they are so effective for space heating.
In a nutshell, if your main goal for the sunspace is house space
heating, you don't want to waste solar heat heating up mass out in
the sunspace. |
Testing
the Heating Performance and Efficiency of a Low Thermal Mass
Sunspace
|
  This is a testing I did to measure the heating
performance and efficiency of a low thermal mass sunspace for space
heating.
In addition, it provides temperature surveys of the space, thermal
images, and some thoughts on designing for a combination of good
space heating  and a comfortable space to spend time
in.
The sunspace performs very well as a space heater -- on par with
high quality active collectors -- and you can read your paper and
catch a few rays.
All the
details... |
Example
Low Mass Sunspaces
Some examples of low thermal mass sunspaces that shows some of
the huge range of possibilities. |
Mike's
Low Thermal Mass, Multi Purpose Sunspace in the Colorado Mountains
|
 This
is Mike's low thermal mass sunspace in Colorado. It is used for a
variety of purposes including heating the house, drying
clothes, kids play room, drying food, and reading the paper. In
addition to all those uses, Mike is currently working on a way to
integrate solar water heating into the sunspace.
An exceptional job of blending the added sunspace with the existing
house.
The variety of purposes that sunspaces can be put is what makes them
exceptional -- drying clothes alone saves about 1200 KWH and 2000
lbs of CO2 a year.
Mike provides all the
details on the design, build, and performance... |
|
Innovative,
energy efficient, cost effective Montana solar home
A really nicely integrated Low Thermal Mass Sunspace on a new
home -- plus lots of other innovation energy, cost, and material
saving ideas.
|
 Andrew did an amazing
job of combining a Low Thermal Mass Sunspace, an inside-out Mooney
Wall, plus many material and labor saving construction ideas into
a house that is energy efficient, solar heated, and cost
effective.
A treasure trove of applied innovative ideas.
All the
details...
|
|
Low Thermal Mass
Sunspace in Minnesota,
William Sikora
|
 Architect
William Sikora describes his design for a modern and elegant
sunspace for this Minnesota home.
The air distribution and control system is very simple, and
designed to be maintained by the home owner with only simple
tools.
Certainly a beautiful and cost effective addition to the home.
All the details on this
modern, elegant sunspace... |
Norman Saunders Cliff House
Cliff
house by Norman Saunders (pdf)
|
 The
Cliff house designed by Norman Saunders uses a large, 2 story, low
mass sunspace across the front of the house that provides 100% of
the heating demand for the house all year.
The sunspace is coupled with heat storage systems in the attic and
crawl space that allow the home to achieve 100% solar heating. |
| Instant Sunspaces --
How cheap can a sunspace be?
Laren Corie
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html
Download the Feb, 2005 issue
Ed's Zero Cost Sunspace ...
|
 ESSN Journal, Feb, 2005
A good article by Laren Corie on how to build and experiment with
inexpensive sunspaces. The example used in the article cost a grand
total of $22, and went together in a couple hours!
A free download.
 Here is another very low cost (actually zero cost)
sunspace done by Ed. Details ...
This shows how inexpensive and easy it is to turn a porch into a
sunspace that is pleasant to spend time in, and can supply some
heat to the house.
|
|
Air based solar-thermal “Hot-Box” collector
Full details...
|
 Mitch
calls this a "Hot-Box" collector, but I think it could equally be
called a mini-sunspace.
Very nicely built -- as Mitch says, its "wife approved".
Some performance estimates provided.
Note the use of the reflector to improve collection -- reflectors
are particularly effective in that they increase collection area
without increasing heat loss.
I would pass on the idea of adding rocks for heat storage for the
reasons discussed above -- unless you have a way of insulating the
glazing at night. |
| Solar
Sunspace Plans
This list of sunspace plans could be longer -- how about
contributing some more!! Gary
|
| Sample Sunspace Pictures
Sample sunspace pictures:
http://www.sierragreenhouse.com/gallery/
www.sundancesupply.com/index2.html
http://homeaddon.com/pg5-wood-sunrooms.cfm
http://cedarbuilt.homestead.com/LeanToGreenhouses.html
http://www.sturdi-built.com/greenhouse-styles-sizes.php
|
 I am having trouble finding
good plans for attached sunspaces. Here are some pictures gathered
from here and there to illustrate how adaptable and good looking
some of the sunspaces can be. Please let me know if you run across
some good plans.
Prices vary over a huge range depending on materials and
construction, but sunspaces of all prices can perform well
thermally. Also, many of the greenhouses shown in the next
section can be adapted as attached sunspaces -- some of these can
be built for pennies a square foot.
|
| Artic Glass Sun Room Plan
Plan Sheet 1 (800K)
Plan Sheet 2 (800K)
|
 Nice set of plans for a
double glazed sunroom. Good details.
Artic glass was providing these plans at the MREA Energy Fair, and
appeared to be offering very good prices on the tempered glass to
construct such a sunspace.
website:
www.KissOurGlass.com (honest)
(this link appears to not be working for now 6/7/07) |
| Construction
Details for Solar Rooms
From the book: Passive Solar Energy"
|
 Some good construction
details for solar rooms. |
| Embedded
Sunspace...
Sustainable Housing Design Guide for Scotland
Full
Description (111K pdf)
|
 A nice concept for embedding
sunspaces in multifamily units.
This site has a lot of generally good information.
|
| The Bathhouse
Joe Schwartz and Ben Root
How to get articles from
Home Power ...
|
 Home Power Magazine article,
issues 63 and 64
Very Good article on passive solar bath house using solar heated
water. Built with emphasis on low impact and using local
materials. Strawbale construction with native stone floors, and
"dirt bag" foundation. Composting toilet. Planning, design, and
construction details. 2nd part gives quite a bit of construction
detail.
|
|
Earth-sheltered Greenhouse
Mike Oehler, Mother Earth News
Another build using Mike's design:
How To Build an Earth Sheltered Greenhouse,
Susanna Raeven, Mother Earth News
Finding
Mother Earth News articles...
|
Mother Earth News Article, Issue 202
Good article on a unique design for a
greenhouse that combines solar gain and earth sheltering. Good
construction detail.
The 2nd article by Susanna provides some good
build photos and description. Some nice details.
|
|
The Construction of Mother's Bioshelter
Greenhouse,
Editors
Finding
Mother Earth News articles...
|
 Mother Earth News Article,
Issue 100 July/Aug 1986
An interesting greenhouse design that combines a number of
functions in one design. Uses both active and passive solar as
well as photovoltaics.
|
|
One Man’s Personal Straw Bale Odyssey
David Booth
www.homepower.com
Search HP archives for issue 46
|
 Home Power
Magazine article, issue 46
Good article on building a
variety of small load bearing strawbale buildings, including a
very nice greenhouse. Lots of background on strawbale
construction, and some how-to detail.
|
| Solar Closets and Sunspaces
Nick Pine and Paul Bashus
The
full Solar Closet paper here...
Nick's
blog: Ask the Renewable Engineer...
|
 An interesting idea for
coupling a low thermal mass solar collection area with a well
insulated, high temperature heat storage area that is used as a
"solar battery" to heat the attached house during cloudy periods. |
| Convertible
Solar Porch
|
 A potential way
to convert your porch into a sunspace using canvas and Vinyl panels.
Panels roll up for quick conversion between open and enclosed.
|
Sunspace with Attached Solar
Air Collector
http://home.ntelos.net/~sslee/solspah.htm
More of his solar
projects here... |
 An overview description of
an interesting arrangement of sunspace and air collector. |
| Sunroom, Greenhouse and
Skylight Plans
http://www.jshow.com/y2k/listings/35.html
|
 Plans for building sunrooms
using tempered glass sliding glass door units. The glazing system
appears to be well thought out and doable as a DIY project. Cost
is $15.
|
| Greenhouse
Plans and Descriptions |
Greenhouse Notes:
- Many of the greenhouses show below can be made into attached
sunspaces by joining them to your house on the end, or by using
half of the greenhouse to form a lean-to style greenhouse with
your house wall providing the north wall of the greenhouse. In
this case, heat can be transferred from the greenhouse to the
house via ducts or windows or doors. These connections between
the house and greenhouse can be closed at night when the
greenhouse is cold. This can be a very cost effective way to
heat a space.
- Many of the greenhouses plans below are not particularly
energy efficient, and would need some design changes to earn the
title solar greenhouse. These changes might include: 1) double
wall poly construction with a small blower to inflate the space
between the two layers of poly, 2) insulation on the north
exposure, 3) the addition of moveable insulation for the glazed
areas. In addition, to protect plants from freezing at night,
thermal mass (e.g. water barrels) may need to be added depending
on your climate. I have included plans for inefficient ones
because they may have construction ideas that are right for your
situation -- its up to you to change the designs a bit to make
them more efficient. Making the changes will cost you a bit up
front, but will payoff in much lower heating bills and reduced
greenhouse gas emissions. See the first two entries for more on
true solar greenhouses.
There are some conflicts between using an attached greenhouse for
space heating, and using it for plant growing. For maximum space
heating of the attached house, the greenhouse space should have
little thermal mass in order to provide a maximum of heat to the
house during the sunny period. A low thermal mass greenhouse of
this type will not be suitable for growing plants year round in
cold climates, as the night time temperatures will go below
freezing -- however, it may still be useful for extending the
plant growing season. On the other hand, greenhouses intended for
growing plants year round need more thermal mass to keep their
heat overnight, and will have less heat to transfer to an attached
house. The Andrew Shapiro book listed above, provides very good
detail on these tradeoffs for various climates -- highly
recommended.
The plans cover sizes from small cold frames up to greenhouses
you could play football in.
|
An
Energy-Efficient Solar-Heated Greenhouse
Produces Cool-Season Vegetables all Winter Long,
Thomas, Becker, and Crawford, University of Missouri-Columbia
https://southwest.missouri.edu/passive-solar-greenhouse/
|
 This is a great set of papers from the
U of Missouri on a carefully designed passive solar greenhouse that
maintains growing temperatures all winter without supplementary
heating.
Full design and construction and winter performance information is
provided. This GH has an 18 year track record. |
| Unique
greenhouse uses a water to air heat exchanger to store excess
daytime solar heat in a heat storage water tank... |
 This greenhouse uses a
blower located in the peak to blow hot air through a water to air
heat exchanger.
The water heated by the heat exchanger is stored in a 275 gallon
tank.
On cold nights or cloudy days, the heated water is used to heat
the greenhouse. The same heat exchanger is used for both heating
and cooling.
|
Our New Solar Greenhouse in
Montana
www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/GreenHouse1/Greenhouse1.htm |
 This is our new
solar greenhouse project in Montana.
The design is based on the U of M greenhouse just above, but scaled
down a bit.
I plan to do some sunspace and tiny home testing before going to
full greenhouse mode. This is an experiment in progress -- any advice or
comments would be appreciated... |
Developing
a Solar Greenhouse in Manitoba
Manitoba
GH article 1...
Manitoba GH
article 2...
Manitoba GH
Paper on performance... |
 Very interesting
material on rsearch into greenhouses that will allow growing through
the winter in Manitoba without supplemental heating (solar only).
One of the tests involved dividing a long greenouse into 4 side by
side sections -- each section was glazed or insulated differently to
allow direct comparison.
One of the sections used Argon filled poly glazing -- it did quite
well.
|
A
Small Solar Greenhouse
http://mowrystrings.com/greenhouse.html |
 This is a very
nicely done small solar greenhouse. The design includes double
glazing, north wall insulation, water barrel storage, and a passive
ventilation system -- all of which help to control the winter and
summer temperatures.
Andrew used mostly materials from the local Habitat Restore, so it
was not too expensive.
Temperature and humidity logs show the summer and fall performance.
Pretty good detail on the construction. |
| Passive Solar Greenhouse
http://www.passivesolargreenhouse.com/
|
 Very nice set of picture
plans for building a true solar greenhouse. The design uses
strawbale construction for the non-glazed walls, and twinwall
polycarbonate glazing, and thermal mass to provide a greenhouse that
will allow year round gardening in most climates without
supplementary heating. |
Converting a Conventional
Greenhouse to Passive Solar,
By Example
http://byexample.com ...
|
 Good article from By Example
on converting a conventional greenhouse to a passive solar
greenhouse through the addition of insulation, better sealing, and
double glazing. Good detail.
(thanks to Mel at By Example for suggesting this)
|
| Passive Solar Greenhouse
www.irisherbal.com/psg/content/process.html
|
 A good series of picture
plans for a passive solar greenhouse. The greenhouse uses Strawbale
construction for the non-glazed walls, an insulated foundation, and
incorporates a cistern in the design. Very nice. |
|
Geodesic Dome Greenhouse
Details at
http://geogrow.blogspot.com/
New -- the geodome greenhouse is now "off-grid" and
powered by PV...
|
 This is a very
nicely done geodesic dome greenhouse. It also includes a rain
collection system and pond.
Good construction detail on the whole project. |
| Doug's Solar Greenhouse ...
|
 A description of Doug's passive solar
greenhouse, which is attached to his passive solar house. The
greenhouse is used for plant starting and also provides some heat to
the house.
Some good information on planning and constructing a solar
greenhouse.
|
| Kiva's Straw Bale Greenhouse
http://www.appropedia.org
|
 Very nice and complete set of plans and
pictures for a 10 by 12 foot greenhouse. Includes the use of 2
walls constructed from strawbales.
|
| Flagstaff
Solar Greenhouse
http://www.chibardun.net/~javclan/page1.htm
|
 A fairly detailed description of a nicely
designed and built solar greenhouse for the challenging Flagstaff
climate.
Includes some detail on the GH design and construction. Also
includes a little info on the water harvesting system and solar
powered ventilation system.
|
Cristian Adds a Greenhouse to
His Earth Sheltered Home
All the
details on Cristians greenhouse... |
 Cristian provides
all the details on building a twinwall polycarbonate greenhouse on a
rectangular steel tubing frame.
The greenhouse is an addition to his amazing
earth sheltered home... |
|
Geothermally heated greenhouse
Gary
|
 Some photos of
a geothermally heated, double wall greenhouse at the Chico Hot
Springs resort, north of Yellowstone National Park. The
Story... |
Hoop
House Construction for New Mexico: 12 ft X 40 ft Hoop House,
Cooperative Extension Service -- Circular 606
College of Agriculture and Home Economics,
New Mexico State University
Full plans and
instructions ... (pdf)
The NM State University Extension Website:
http://extension.nmsu.edu/
|
 Very detailed plans and instructions for
building a PVC pipe framed poly greenhouse.
|
|
High
Tunnel or Hoop Houses ...
|
 Lots of good information on building and
using High Tunnel (or Hoop House) greenhouses. High Tunnels are
simple, cheap greenhouses built with PVC pipe and poly film that are
tall enough to stand up in. The site gives lots of data on both
building and using High Tunnels. |
| 50 Dollar Greenhouse
http://doorgarden.com/...
|
 Nice and detailed set of picture plans
for building an 11 by 15 foot hoop house.
The author built it for $50 with some contributions from his scrap
bin, but its about $140 with all new materials. |
| Growers Supply
http://www.growerssupply.com
|
 Growers Supply is a supplier
of both hobby and commercial greenhouse kits. The "Instruction
Manuals" are downloadable, and are very detailed. The instruction
manuals are a good source of construction details that you can use
in your own design (I'm sure they won't mind). |
| Hotbed and Propagating Frame
University of Tennessee Extension
UTEPlan5971 (668K pdf)
|
 Hotbed 6 by 6 feet and 3.5
ft high. Covering is poly, and frame is made from conduit and wood.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Arched Roof Hotbed
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6080 (500K pdf)
|
 4 ft wide, poly covered
hotbed. The poly is supported by 8 gauge welded wire fencing.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Solar Shed...
|
 Handy Home Products sells
kits for these Solar Sheds, but also provides very, very detailed
plans as a free download. Click on their "Instructions Available"
link to get the plans. |
| Free plans for an attached
greenhouse
Sun Country Greenhouse Company
www.hobby-greenhouse.com/FreeSolar.html
|
 Pretty good plans for an
attached greenhouse that uses glass glazing, and some words of
wisdom about solar greenhouses.
They also sell plans for a freestanding 8X16 greenhouse, and they
sell greenhouse kits. |
| Small Greenhouse and Garden
Storage
LSU Ag Center
GH and Storage
Plan (pdf)
|
 Plans for a small greenhouse
with storage for garden tools at the north end.
From: The LSU Ag Center
www.lsuagcenter.com
|
| 9' X 12' Hobby Greenhouse
LSU Ag Center
Hobby Greenhouse Plans (pdf)
|
 A 9' X 12' hobby
greenhouse. Framing is EMT conduit. Schemes are shown for covering
with poly or fiberglass.
From: The LSU Ag Center
www.lsuagcenter.com
|
| Tri-Penta Greenhouse
LSU Ag Center
Tri-Penta GH Plans
(pdf)
|
 Plans for an unusual
tri-penta greenhouse.
Wood framed with poly covering.
I am guessing the plans could be adapted to any size.
From: The LSU Ag Center
www.lsuagcenter.com
|
| Plans for small Greenhouse
From
Suntuf
|
 Plans for a small greenhouse using
corrugated polycarbonate glazing panels. From the Suntuf website. |
| BuildEazy.com -- Greenhouse
Plan
www.buildeazy.com/greenhouse.html
|
 Plan for a wood framed, poly
covered greenhouse. Fairly detailed plans, and looks easy to build. |
|
Low-Cost Versatile Hoop Houses
George DeVault
Mother Earth News
Finding
Mother Earth News articles...
|
 Mother Earth
News Article, Issue 196
Good article on building and using “hoop house” greenhouses,
which provide a very low cost per sqft greenhouse. Some
construction detail. This technique could also be used for
inexpensive sunspace for generating solar heat for your house.
|
| How to Build a PVC Hoophouse
for your Garden
www.westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html
|
 Nice set of plans for a PVC
hoop style greenhouse. Apparently, it can be put together by a 6
year old! |
Small Backyard Greenhouse
for the Home Gardner,
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
www.bae.ncsu.edu ... (pdf)
|
 Nice detailed plans for
building a 12 by 14 ft greenhouse using PVC pipe frame and poly
covering.
If you are in a cold climate, I'd think about changing it into a two
layer poly covering with the space between the layers inflated with
a small blower (see 6720 GH just below). |
| Canada Plan Service
Plan 6720 for Double Wall
Greenhouse (pdf)
|
 Two Layer
Polyethylene Greenhouse plan. Canada Plan Service provides free
plans you can download for this and MANY other Ag oriented barns,
sheds, vegetable storage, ... All carefully thought out and
engineered:
www.cps.gov.on.ca/english/frameindex.htm |
| Plans for PVC greenhouses
http://www.pvcplans.com/
|
 Free plans for greenhouses,
cold frames, and sheds framed with PVC pipe.
Links to suppliers of PVC fittings for building PVC pipe frames.
"Submitted Pictures" showing some of the shows some of the
interesting things people have built with PVC pipe.
|
| Simple PVC Frame Poly
Greenhouse
The Plan
|
How to build description of a simple PVC
pipe framed poly greenhouse that was posted on the Homesteading
Today website forum. |
| Gambrel Home Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6181 (850K pdf)
|
 10 ft by 12 gambrel roof
style greenhouse. Fiberglass pane glazing.
Might also work well with Polycarbonate twinwall glazing.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Portable Plastic Greenhouse
-- plan 5946
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 5946 ( 540K pdf)
|
 Simple 7 by 12 ft poly covered greenhouse
with bent wood for hoops.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Plastic Pipe Frame Hoop
Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 795-3 (1.2
MB pdf)
|
 12 by 21 ft
Greenhouse framed with 1.5 inch plastic pipe.
The design might be adapted to two poly walls with inflated space
between for less heat loss.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| FloridaGardner -- Plans for
a 32' X 10' Greenhouse
www.floridagardener.com/greenhouse
|
 Plans for a 10 ft wide by any length hoop
style greenhouse from PVC pipe reinforced with steel rebar. |
| Large - Wood framed
Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6029 (1MB pdf)
|
 Large greenhouse. 22 ft
wide by 48 or 96ft long. Frames are wood trusses.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Large Gothic Arch Double
Wall Poly Covered Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6298 (420K pdf)
|
 Large 21 by 40 ft
greenhouse. Double wall poly cover supported by wood gothic style
arches.
This might be scaled down to an interesting design for a home
size greenhouse.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Large Conduit Frame Poly
Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6217 (770K pdf)
|
 20 by 80 ft poly greenhouse
with metal conduit framing.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
| Very Large Double Wall Poly
Greenhouse
University of Tennessee Extension
UTE Plan 6185 (1.3MB pdf)
|
 28 by 96 ft double wall poly
covered greenhouse. Covered with two sheets of poly with blower
inflation between. Wood or metal truss framing.
From the University of Tennessee Extension service: http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu
|
|
A Build-It-Yourself Pine Pole Greenhouse
Christine and Wilson Goddard
Finding
Mother Earth News articles...
|
 Mother Earth News Article,
Issue 91
Good hands-on article on building a green house using locally
available pine poles and poly sheeting. Some details on design
and construction
|
A Solar Heated Greenhouse
Richard Lane and Chuck Marken
How to get articles from
Home Power ... |
 Home Power magazine article,
issue 96
Covers design, construction and performance of a solar
heating system for a large greenhouse in Wisconsin.
|
Winter Food Production in
Pennsylvania -- without Fossil Fuels.
Steve and Carol Moore
How to get articles from
Home Power ...
|
 Home Power magazine article,
issue 99
An interesting article on the design of a large greenhouse for
growing through the winter with solar heating. The design is
simple and low cost.
|
|
Garage/Workshop Sunspace
|
Turn your south facing garage/workshop
into a sunspace. |
|
One Man’s Personal Straw Bale Odyssey
David Booth
How to
get articles from Home Power ...
|
Home Power
Magazine article, issue 46
Good article on building a
variety of small load bearing strawbale buildings, including a
very nice greenhouse. Lots of background on strawbale
construction, and some how-to detail.
|
| Maine
Solar Primer Modular Greenhouse
Maine Solar Energy Association
|
Some ideas on simple frames for
free-standing or attached greenhouses.
Courtesy of the Maine Solar Energy Association
|
| Stimson Marine -- Bow Roof
Greenhouse
www.h2othouse.com/html/greenhousebooklet3.htm
|
 Detailed plans for a bow roof
greenhouse. The plans cost $18 from Stimson Marine. |
| Small
greenhouse made from recycled windows
http://sites.google.com/site/alex...
|
 This nice, small greenhouse was made from
recycled windows.
The greenhouse is used for hydropnic growing, and plans for this
system are also included.
Thanks to Alex for sending this link in!
|
Old
Swimming Pool Converted to a Greenhouse to Grow Produce and Fish
http://gardenpool.org/ |
 This family
converted an unused swimming pool into a greenhouse that grows
produce tilapia fish, and chickens for eggs.
Pretty ingenious.
Their motivation for doing this is to be self sufficient in case of
a major disaster, but it could certainly work for people not
expecting a major disaster.
The family was featured in a National Geographic special on major disaster
preparation --the video shows more details on the system they set
up... |
| Heating,
Cooling and Ventilation Schemes |
| Curtain Wall Ventilation
Canada Plan Service
Plan 9351 Curtain Wall Vent
(pdf)
|
 This wall curtain
ventilation scheme was intended for livestock barn ventilation, but
might work well for greenhouses?
From the most excellent Canada Plan Services website:
www.cps.gov.on.ca
|
| Moveable Wall Panel
Ventilation System
Canada Plan Service
Plan
9355 Wall Panel Ventilation (pdf)
|
 This moveable wall panel
ventilation system was intended for livestock barns, but might work
well for greenhouses with the use of transparent panels?
From the Canada Plan Service:
www.cps.gov.on.ca
|
Fan and Pad Greenhouse
Evaporative Cooling System
R.A. Bucklin, J.D. Leary, D.B. McConnell, E.G. Wilkerson
University of Florida Extension
The Paper (pdf)
|
 Paper from the
Univ of Florida on designing and sizing evaporative pad cooling
systems for greenhouses. |
|
Using Evaporative Cooling,
John Bartok, Jr.
Details ...
Details
part II...
|
 Detailde design and build information for
evaporative pad cooling walls for greenhouses. |
Plans
for an Evaporative Cooling Pad Cabinet,
North Dakota State University Extension
www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/6208.pdf
The whole ND State plan list...
|
 Plans for a large
evaporative pad cooler for greenhouses.
|
| Rollup shade plans
From Charlie's Green House
The Plans
(pdf)
|
 Plans for a
simple rollup shade from Charlie's Greenhouse in Seattle. |
| Bubble
Wrap Window Insulation
Gary
New
Installation Instruction Sheet (8/15/06)
|
 A really cheap
and quick way to insulate greenhouse glazing to prevent high heat
loss in the winter.
Can be put up and taken down seasonally.
Added some small updates to instructions 11/13/05.
Instruction sheet added 8/15/06
|
| Efficient
Blower for Double Skin Greenhouses
www.sunnyjohn.com/photos/devices_tools/...
|
 Many poly skinned
greenhouses use two layers of poly with a small blower inflating the
space between the layers. This gives you cheap double glazing, and
reduces heat loss.
Most of blowers are set up to run 24/7, but this article shows a
way to cut down the run time dramactially using a small pressure
switch and a very simple check valve. With the check valve, the
blower runs only when enough air leaks out to the point of needing
reinflation.
|
Heating
Greenhouse Soil With Solar Air Heaters...
|
 This
is a really simple scheme that uses solar air heating collectors to
heat the soil for a green house.
The results for such a simple system are pretty impressive.
Details... |
The Rutgers Solar Heating
System for Greenhouses
Mears, Roberts, Simpkins, and Kendall
Rutgers University
The Rutgers Solar Heating System for Greenhouse - 1977 (0.8
MB pdf)
Greenhouse
Solar Heating-1981 (2.5MB pdf)
A related paper on a solar home using a similar flooded subfloor
heat storage scheme.
Similar
collector used in an Aquaculture project...
|
Papers  from the
Rutgers Horticultural Engineering website dealing with applying a
combination of energy conservation, careful management, and solar
heating with flooded subfloor heat storage. This combined strategy
yielded energy savings up to 80% in a large demonstration project.
While these papers are oriented toward commercial scale greenhouses,
most of the concepts could be applied on a smaller scale. The
solar collector (pictured) is amazingly simple, and may have other
(low temperature) applications.
A number of other interesting commercial greenhouse related papers
at the Rutgers Horticultural Engineering Website:
http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~horteng/ |
| Movable Thermal Insulation
For Greenhouses
Roberts, Mears, Simpkins, and Cipolletti
Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department , New Jersey
Agricultural Experiment Station
Movable Curtain Insulation (1.2MB pdf)
|
 This very
interesting paper details work done on several automatically
controlled, movable curtain insulation systems for greenhouses. It
includes test data for several systems that were developed and
tested. While these systems are intended for large commercial
greenhouses, some of the concepts, design information and test data
are applicable to hobby greenhouses. Like
this?
A number of other interesting commercial greenhouse related
papers at the Rutgers Horticultural Engineering Website:
http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~horteng/
|
| Grey water for greenhouse
heating and plant watering
For more on using greywater, see the water
section ...
.
|
Using grey water for
greenhouse plant watering and as a source of heat for the greenhouse
seems like a potentially good way to go.
I've included the (meager) information I have been able to find on
this below. If you have other information, pictures, ... please let
me know --
Gary.
www.greywater.com/treatment.htm
And,
www.greywater.com/samples.htm
 Greywater treatment with some discussion of GH use
A GH that use greywater
 An overview of a greenhouse that uses greywater for
watering and heating.
|
| Solar Bubble Build
www.solarbubblebuild.com/build_images13.php
|
 Pretty detailed
description of a building using the soap bubble insulation scheme.
I'd say this is on the experimental side, but the idea has been
used on some "real" greenhouses -- quite an interesting concept!
|
Plant Bed Heating -- Plant
beds may be used to store excess greenhouse heat,
John Canivan
http://www.jc-solarhomes.com
From John Canivan's JC-SolarHomes website.
|
 An interesting concept for
solar heating the plant beds in a greenhouse to minimize or
eliminate the need for night heating.
|
| Subterranean Heating and
Cooling System
www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs.htm
|
 A system that heats and
cools the greenhouse using the earth under the greenhouse for heat
storage. |
Performance of Greenhouse
Coupled to Earth-Tube-Heat-Exchanger in Closed-Loop Mode,
G. Sharan, H. Prakash, R. Jadhav
Download
Report (220K pdf)
Performance of Single Pass Earth-Tube Heat Exchanger: An
Experimental Study,
Girja Sharna, Ratan Jadhav
Download Report (pdf)
|
 Report on the
use of earth tubes for greenhouse cooling in a hot and humid
location in India.
While this is a larger installation than most of us would need, it
provides useful design material and results.
The 2nd paper reports on an experiment done with a smaller earth
tube -- detailed results are provided. |
| Heating
with Compost |
| The Composting Greenhouse At
New Alchemy Institute - A Report On Two Years of Operation and
Monitoring, Bruce Fulford
Heating a greenhouse with compost
The Report
(pdf)
|
 Very
extensive and detailed report on heating a greenhouse with
compost.
Two years worth of testing on design and type of compost issues.
Warning: This document has many math errors.
This appears to be mostly in the conversions between English and
Metric units when they give both, but there may be other problems
as well.
|
| Composting Greenhouse with
Straw Bale Foundation, From Experiments in Sustainable Urban Living
www.appropedia.org/ ...
This uses surplus heat from a large compost pile under the
greenhouse floor to heat water for the house. You get water
heating and greenhouse space with the same structure!
|
 This is a
pretty slick idea for heating water with heat generated from
compost, as well as providing greenhouse space.
The thing that intrigues me is that you can apparently have working
greenhouse space above the heat generating compost pile?
I'd like to hear from anyone with composting experience on how
workable this all seems?
Gary
|
| Heat
free (nearly) with a compost furnace
http://energymd.wordpress.com/...
|
 This is a very nicely
thought out space heating scheme that uses a large compost pile to
generate heat.
Marc has worked out a design that provides for aerating the pile,
keeping it moist, collecting the heat, and insulating the pile for
greater efficiency.
|
Heating from Large Wood Chip
Compost Piles
Jean Pain
The Methods of Jean Pain: Or another kind of garden, Ida Pain,
1980.
This book is out of print, and I was not able to find any used
copies of this for sale.
A pdf copy is currently availabe here...
Mother Earth News has several articles by/about Jean Pain
Search their website for Jean Pain
Finding Mother
Earth News articles...
Journey To Forever on Jean Pain:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html
|
The book covers Jean Pain's research in using compost for both
agricultural and energy production. There is some good, practical
information on building large compost piles for the production of
heat for water or space heating.
One example 50 ton pile provided the equivalent of 200 MBTU over a
6 month period -- enough to heat a house.
|
| Biomeiler
-- heat extraction from large compost pile... |
 Detailed description of
a scheme to collect heat from a large compost pile -- somewhat
similar to the Jean Pain piles. The piles are primarily made from
ground wood.
The heat is extracted via coils of plastic pipe embedded in the
pile as its constructed. Said to provide heat for 12 to 24 months
-- up to 160F.
A detailed pdf construction manual is provided. All in German, so
Google translator is your friend.
|
| Storing
Greenhouse Heat |
Low-Cost Active Heat
Storage,
Nathan Hurst and Paul Harrison,
ReNew Issue 100
Low-Cost
Active Heat Storage pdf ....
|
 The article describes a way
to use a car radiator and water tank as an inexpensive way to store
heat from a greenhouse.
In most cases, when a greenhouse or sunspace heat is used to heat
an attached house, hot air from the GH is blown into the house for
immediate use. This paper shows a simple way to store GH heat for
use later.
(thanks to Nathan for making this available)
|
| Unique
greenhouse uses a water to air heat exchanger to store excess
daytime solar heat in a heat storage water tank... |
This greenhouse uses a
blower located in the peak to blow hot air through a water to air
heat exchanger.
The water heated by the heat exchanger is stored in a 275 gallon
tank.
On cold nights or cloudy days, the heated water is used to heat
the greenhouse. The same heat exchanger is used for both heating
and cooling.
|
| Root
Cellar |
Low-cost Multipurpose Minibuilding Made with
Earthbags,
Owen Geiger, Mother Earth News August 2009
Finding Mother
Earth News articles...
Good
book on Earthbag building...
|
 Mother Earth News article on building a
root cellar, storage shed, storm shelter, ... using the
earthbag technique.
|
|
An Old Time Dug Out Root Cellar...
|
 Root cellar suitable for
flat ground. Only one wall to build, rest are dirt. Stairway down
to below ground door
|
| Root Cellar for Vegetable
Storage
Canada Plan Service
Root Cellar Plan 6321 (pdf)
Root Cellar Info 6321
(pdf)
|
 Root cellar for vegetable
storage. |
Speaking of Gardening
Some other areas on the site that might interest gardeners |
|
Solar powered garden
tractors and lawn mowers...
|
 A
collection of solar powered garden tractors and lawn mowers... |
|
Solar Garden Helper Machine
Details on
the solar garden helper machine...
|
 This is Randy's
pretty amazing solar powered garden helper machine. It makes
chores like planting, weeding, and picking a lot easier on the
back.
Its made from 1 inch steel tubing bent and welded by Randy, and
uses a geared down drive from an electric wheelchair. Its
electrically powered with 4 golfcart batteries that are charged
with two 80 watt onboard PV panels.
Details on
the solar garden helper machine...
|
| Solar
Cooking... |
 All sorts of solar cookers... |
