![]() Groundwater is probably within 8' even in summer, and in winter water collects just below surface where the clay starts. I plan to build something vaguely similar, but I'm tempted to use water instead of air. ![]() but this would obviously be based on total length of each run, so parallel runs would seem preferable. There would be a sweet spot for tube sizing below which you're restricting airflow too much, and above which you're spending too much money on diameter when more length would accomplish more. building up a larger reservoir of underground temp air is probably not very helpful relative to NC reading the rate at which you can heat/chill air.īy that metric you'd want max tubage. I would think that surface area would be key to accessing the warming/cooling potential of the ground in a timely fashion. I have seen pictures of them crushed by the earth when buried at surface, I don't expect they would fare better 9' down.īeyond that, air is a terrible thermal storage/transfer medium, and plastic isn't the greatest either. Would certainly be interested in hearing more about the number crunching. Also the amount of tubing is determined by the size of the greenhouse, so making a small system would seem to be easier all around. It would cost more for IBC containers for me. The idea is to use the earth temp for heating and cooling, not to warm the soil. There is no need to put them under the growing zone. ![]() Any other reason this approach might not work?Ĭould you explain the past about the tubes under the growing zone in more detail? My understanding is that the tubes can be buried anywhere you like as long as they are 8 to 10 feet deep. Which begs the question, why not create the ground to air exchange interface as a subterranean cavern out of IBC cages to:Ĭave ins are a potential problem, but Mike Oehler or someone here might have a solution for that. I was crunching the numbers and the Russ Finch/earth tube heat exchange efficiency increases per linear foot if you are putting the tubes underneath the growing zone. I could be wrong here but I think it probably can't be built much smaller. That being said, I fully support every new commercial or large scale private greenhouse being built this way. I'm assuming it would be challenging to use this technology in a 8x12 greenhouse and a suburban lot. While many people would be willing to build their own little greenhouse and take on some novel approaches like this, they may not have the room for it in their back yard. Doing Russ's design requires a bit of an adventurous spirit and some unconventional construction techniques (vs a normal greenhouse).Ĥ. That's an off-the-shelf standard way to build a greenhouse. They know how to build a farmtec greenhouse and pour lots of propane into it for heat in order to just barely make a profit from the plants. In my area, and I suspect much of New England, it's cloudy for much of November and December.ģ. If it doesn't need sunshine, I wish that aspect was advertised more. I believe this design requires a fair bit of sunshine to keep working (I may be wrong here). People looking to build greenhouses don't often stumble across this option.Ģ. I think it's not more common for a couple reasons.ġ. ![]() They are building them in a number of locations. ![]()
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