Straw-infilled-Pallet Winter Greenhouse.
Greetings,
I've taken all the postings, and condensed all the refinements into this one posting....
My son and I are building a 80" x 80" x 8'(tall) 'winter' Greenhouse made of pallets screwed together and stuffed with straw for insulation which I estimate would be about R10, but which, based on temperature measurements, turns out to be about R8.8. It has plastic stapled to the inside which should prevent heat loss by convection. The Roof has masonite siding on it in case of rain. We will have 200W of grow lights which will also serve as the primary heat source. The 200W grow lights, based on the temperature data, yield only about 90W of heat, while the rest of the electrical energy is converted to light. The ground will be a heat source when the outside temperature is lower than about 53degF, and the ground is a heat sink when the outside temperature is greater than 53degF. The goal is to keep the temperature above freezing so the seedlings don't die.
The surface area of the 4 walls, and ceiling would be:
A = 4*7*8 + 7*7 = 273 sqft
I took some temperature readings with a usb-type data logger for 2 days. one day had some 200Watt grow lights on, while the other did not. The 2 loggers, unfortunately were not very accurate because to start with, I had them both inside a room next to each other, and one read 80degF while the other read 82degF. I put one outside, and the other inside the greenhouse. I'm pasting the spreadsheet data here, and am not sure how it will appear when it's processed by Google.
No Lights 200W Lights Notes
Tmp-I Tmp-O Tmp-I Tmp-O
Date Time Inside Outside Inside Outside
12/22/14 1616 80 82 Both Temp Probes
In House
12/22/14 1816 63
12/23/14 0 57 56
12/23/14 700 52 53 low Tmp-I & Tmp-O
Equalization: No Heat
Flow into or out of
Greenhouse
12/23/14 830 52 55
12/23/14 1306 82 High Tmp-O
Heat into Ground
12/23/14 1420 62 69 High Tmp-I
12/23/14 1545 62 64
12/24/14 0 50 35
12/24/14 300 30
12/24/14 500 43 30
12/24/14 545 43 30
I estimate the 'ground temperature' equals 53degF by noting that with the lights off on 12/23/14 for a period around 700 (7am), the outside temperature and inside temperature were about equal. I call this equalization. There was no heat flowing into the greenhouse from the outside, and there was no heat flowing into or out of the greenhouse through the ground. This was another way to confirm my estimate in the previous posting on this thread where I said the ground temperature about 4inches deep was about 50degF. IT's not quite that simple. The temperatures 7 hours earlier at 0am on 12/23/14 show heat flowing from the greenhouse to the outside. This heat is being supplied by the ground. So what has happenned is that the ground temperature had heated up (charged up) prior to that, and now this thermal capacitor was discharging. The ground temperature had to have been greater than the greenhouse temp (57). What this tells me is that the ground temperature cycles on that day from about 53 to 58F.
Let's make a better estimate of the the thermal resistance of the Greenhouse by looking at the temperatures around 1420 to 1545 on 12/23/14. The greenhouse temperature, Trm, was 62F, and the outside air temperature was about 65 to 66F (taking into account the 2deg temperature error mentioned above.
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Wall and Ceiling Rvalue (Straw-Infilled Pallets)
Wood Door Rvalue
==========================
The Rvalue of a strawbale is somewhere around R50 for a 24inch wide or so bale. So a 5inch wide straw-infilled palet might be 1/5th of this, i.e. R10. In this case, it would be over a 273sqft surface area (walls and ceiling). Lets call this Rgv. Really, though, the 2'x7', i.e. 14Sqft door, has an Rvalue of about R0.5. Leaving the Wall area = 273 - 14 = 259sqft
Hdr = heat entering the greenhouse room of Temperature, Trm, from the outside air of temperature To, thru the 14sqft of R0.5 wood door
Hdr = (To - Trm)degF*14sqft / R0.5 hr-sqft-degF/Btu]
Hdr = (To - Trm)*28 Btu/hr
Hrm = heat entering the greenhouse room of Temperature, Trm, from the outside air of temperature To, thru the 259sqft of Rgv walls and ceiling
Hrm = (To - Trm)degF*259sqft / Rgv hr-sqft-degF/Btu]
Hrm = (To - Trm)*259/Rgv Btu/hr
=============================
Ground Heat and the 'Warm Air Still Resistance'
=============================
Heat travels about 4" through the ground in 1 hour. (see the appendix after my signature). In 1 hour, the heat is supplied to the air by the 4" of dirt. There is what is called a 'warm-still' air resistance in series with the ground. It is small, and normally does not need to be taken into acount, but because the ground also has a 'small' R-value, we need to take it into account.
R0.67 sqft-hr-F/Btu for the warm air film
Dirt has an Rvalue of R0.083/inch
R0.083/inch * 4 = R0.33 sqft-hr-F/Btu for 4 inches of dirt
plus
R0.67 sqft-hr-F/Btu for the warm air film
= R1 sqft-hr-F/Btu
Hgnd = ground heat entering the greenhouse room of Temperature, Trm, thru the 50sqft of R0.33 dirt with temperature Tg
Hgnd = (Tg - Trm)*50sqft / [R1 hr-sqft-F/Btu]
Hgnd = (Tg - Trm)*50 Btu/hr
If the room gets new air each hour equivalent to it's volume, then the air-exchange heat loss for the amount of heat the air in the 400cuft (8'*7'*7') room absorbs to go from To degF to Trm is:
Hair = (To - Trm)degF * 1/55 Btu/F /cuft * 400cuft
Hair = (To - Trm)* 5 Btu/hr
Now let's look at the data at 1420 to 1545 on 12/23/14 as stipulated:
Trm = 62F
To = 66F (The temperature range wa sfrom 69 to 64, but remember that this temperature probe recorded a 2degF higher temperature at the same location and time as the other probe, so the temp range was really 67 to 62. AT 62, it would be the same temperature as the other probe. So we will look at the 66F.)
Tg = 57F (in reality it could be anywhere between 55 to 58F, but since it's at the hottest part of the day and still charging up, 57F is a reasonable estimate IMO.)
Kierkoff's Current (Heat) flow equation is now :
Hrm + Hdr + Hgnd + Hair = 0
(To - Trm)*259/Rgv + (To-Trm)* 28 + (Tg - Trm)*50 + (To - Trm)*5 = 0
(To - Trm)*(259/Rgv + 28 + 5) + (Tg - Trm)*50 = 0
(To - Trm)*(259/Rgv + 33) + (Tg - Trm)*50 = 0
Now plugging in the temperature values just given above...
(66 - 62)*(259/Rgv + 33) + (57 - 62)*50 = 0
(4)*(259/Rgv + 33) - (5)*50 = 0
1092/Rgv + 132 - 250 = 0
1036/Rgv = 118
Rgv = 1036/118 = R8.8
Kierkoff's Current (Heat) flow equation is now :
Hrm + Hdr + Hgnd + Hair = 0
(To - Trm)*259/Rgv + (To-Trm)* 28 + (Tg - Trm)*50 + (To - Trm)*5 = 0
(To - Trm)*(259/R8.8 + 28 + 5) + (Tg - Trm)*50 = 0
(To - Trm)*(29 + 33) + (Tg - Trm)*50 = 0
(To - Trm)*(62) + (Tg - Trm)*50 = 0
=============================================
Now, let's add a 200W growlite.
The heat from the growlights
Hgl = 200W * 3.41 Btu/1Watt-hr = 682 Btu/hr
The problem is, that not all of this 200W is going towards 'heat'. Some of it is going towards light. We will have to compare theory with real data to make a better thermal model.
Kierkoff's Current (Heat) flow equation is now :
Hrm + Hdr + Hgnd + Hair + Hgl = 0
(To - Trm)*259/Rgv + (To-Trm)* 28 + (Tg - Trm)*50 + (To - Trm)*5 + 682 = 0
(To - Trm)*(259/R8.8 + 28 + 5) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 682 = 0
(To - Trm)*(29 + 33) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 682 = 0
(To - Trm)*(62) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 682 = 0
The data shows that Tg varies from 53 to 57degF, 53 being the coldest part of the night. If the outside air, To, is 30degF, what would Trm be?
(30 - Trm)*(62) + (53 - Trm)*50 + 682 = 0
1860 - Trm*62 + 2650 - Trm*50 + 682 = 0
5192 = 112*Trm
Trm = 5192/112 = 46degF
The data between 5am and 5:40am on 12/24/14 shows that Trm = 43degF when To = 30.
The 'theory' now matches the real data fairly well.
What could be the source of the 3degF difference (46degF - 43degF)?
Perhaps, it is our grow lites are not producing 200W of heat.
Let's make Trm=43, and solve for the grow lite Heat, Hgl
1860 - Trm*62 + 2650 - Trm*50 + Hgl = 0
4510 - Trm*(62 + 50) + Hgl = 0
4510 - 43*112 + Hgl = 0
4510 - 4816 + Hgl = 0
Hgl = 306 Btu/hr
Hgl = 306 Btu/hr * 1 Watt/3.41Btu/hr = 90watts
So, of the 200W electrical input, 90Watts make heat, and 110 Watts go towards making light. So, from a heat standpoint, 90/200 = 45% efficiency.
From a light perspective, 110/200 = 55% efficiency.
Hgl really equals:
Hgl = 0.45 * 200W *3.41 Btu/1Watt-hr = 306 Btu/hr
Now, redoing the model:
Kierkoff's Current (Heat) flow equation is now :
Hrm + Hdr + Hgnd + Hair + Hgl = 0
(To - Trm)*259/Rgv + (To-Trm)* 28 + (Tg - Trm)*50 + (To - Trm)*5 + 306 = 0
(To - Trm)*(259/R8.8 + 28 + 5) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 306 = 0
(To - Trm)*(29 + 33) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 306
(To - Trm)*(62) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + 306 = 0
If the outside air, To, is 30degF, and the Ground Temp, Tg = 53degF, what would Trm be?
(30 - Trm)*(62) + (53 - Trm)*50 + 306 = 0
1860 - Trm*62 + 2650 - Trm*50 + 306 = 0
4816 = 112Trm
Trm = 4816/112 = 43degF
If the outside air, To, is 20degF, and the Ground Temp, Tg = 53degF, what would Trm be?
(20 - Trm)*(62) + (53 - Trm)*50 + 306 = 0
1240 - Trm*62 + 2650 - Trm*50 + 306 = 0
4196 = 112Trm
Trm = 4816/112 = 37 degF
What would be the coldest outside air, To, such that the room temp, Trm = just above freezing, i.e. 33DegF? ( Ground Temp, Tg = 53degF)
(To - 33)*(62) + (53 - 33)*50 + 306 = 0
62To - 2046 + 1000 + 306 = 0
To = 740/62
To = 12 degF
If the coldest we want the room to be = 45degF, and suppose the coldest it gets outside is 0degF, then what wattage of grow lights would we need?
(To - Trm)*(62) + (Tg - Trm)*50 + Hgl = 0
(0 - 45)*(62) + (53 - 45)*50 + Hgl = 0
-2790 + 400 +Hgl = 0
Hgl = 2390 Btu/hr
Hgl = 2390 Btu/hr * 1Watt/3.41 Btu/1Watt = 700W
Since the grow lights are 45% efficient from a heat perspective.
700W/0.45 = 1560Watts of Grow Lights are needed.
Since the existing Grow Lights (200W light bulbs) produce 90W of 'heat', one could just get a 610Watt heater.