Is there a negative effect on plants if using a kerosene heater at night.
I got my temp alarm. I have some lights and a small pelonis electric heater in my hoop house. Our outside temp was 31 this morning at 5 am. Temp in greenhouse 35. So I went down and turned the heater up a bit but I am a little concerned about overloading a circuit as little heaters often use more energy than we think.
My dad has a kerosene heater that I can borrow but my hubby and I thought at first that would be too much heat. What do y'all think? My hoophouse is made with ordinary 4 mil plastic and is about 6 x 8 x 6 feet high.
charlotte
plant dangers from kerosene heater?
charlotte, I'm the wrong one to ask, but do you mean an oil heater that runs on electricity?? That's what i have and several others do too. I do know that overloading your circuits can mean no heat for you or the greenhouse, so, I'd try everything out in the day time, so you won't get caught without heat on yourself and the plants when it's freezing...
I have two electric heaters in my greenhouse and they are set to run on high until the temp is met and they then shut off automatically. Mine are even running off drop cords because my greenhouse is so far away from the house. I know I'm not getting full benefit from the electricity this way, but until we dig in an electrical wire and conduit, I've got to do it this way. The kerosene heater might work if you could adjust the temp for the night, but you would have to get out in the morning and get it shut off before the sun heats things up. It doesn't hurt to try and see what works best.
The thing I am concerned about is my little pelonis disc heater ( it is about 18 years old) is supposed to be quiet energy efficient.
However, it is not design to be run continuously .
Though kerosene is expensive. I wonder if it might be more economical to run the kerosene heater at night (it is the reg kerosene kind) than to run 2 75 watt lights plus the pelonis heater. And I do have the temp alarm that I bought yesterday.
I will post this also on the greenhouse forum.
thanks
charlotte
Well, I may stick with electricity.
we have ice storms here and since we live in the middle of no where when the power goes our road is one of the last to get power back on
I have used the kerosene heater in the GH with no problems
But my gh is bigger than yours
10x20 and 13 feet high
The only problem is that its soooo warm next to the heater compared to outlying areas
but I figure some heat is better than no heat
i use propane in mine as it was said on the greenhouse forum a couple years back to be good for heating greenhouses.
i figure like crestedchik some heat is better then none but check out the greenhouse forum.
Charlotte, I use gas heat in my greenhouses but when I first starteed I had to use a Kerosun heater but mine had a fan on it which circulated the heat. I also used heat lamps for a short while. Hopefully it'll soon be warm enough we won't have to worry about heat.
Amen !