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  • From: "Miranda Smith" <miranda AT tagoresmith.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Re: water formula
  • Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 21:35:21 -0500

>Today, it is 16 degrees and sunny here in north central Missouri.
Our
> new hoop house is all toasty warm. I wonder if I filled milk jugs
with
> water and stacked them up somewhere in the hoop house, would they
warm
> enough during the day to keep the house warm at night? Does anyone
have
> any data on something like this?

The formula for adequate heat storage in a tightly-built solar
greenhouse in the northeast is 4 gallons of water per square foot of
glazing. That doesn't mean that you will be able to get away without
some auxillary heat to keep the greenhouse warm (50F) on very cold
night, but it does mean that you will have to use only a bit of it,
even when it is really cold. If it's in the 20's or so, that amount of
water storage should keep the greenhouse from freezing at night,
particularly if you also have a night curtain arrangement or throw
plastic over hoops or a frame over the plants.

Miranda Smith






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