I am often asked by growers and processors to recommend a thermostat for a greenhouse, cooler, or postharvest process use. There are many to choose from and their specifications can be confusing. It is important to remember just what a thermostat does. It is essentially no different from the light switch on the wall with …
Category Archives: Heating
Vermont Farmers Food Center Heats with Biomass
UVM Extension and others supported the recent installation of a 341,200 BTU/hr (output) multi-fuel biomass boiler at the Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC) in Rutland, VT. The boiler heats the Farmer’s Hall building with the capability to use several alternative fuels to displace propane. The boiler was fueled primarily on wood pellets but was also …
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Update on Heating Greenhouses with Biomass
This project demonstrated the use of biomass heating for greenhouse vegetable production at sites across Vermont. From 2008 through 2015, 25 growers received cost-share funds for greenhouse biomass heating systems.
Calculating Greenhouse and High Tunnel Heat Loss
I am often asked by growers to help estimate what size heater is needed for a greenhouse or what minimum temperature their high tunnel will reach at a certain outside temperature. Below are some tools to help you do this yourself. I have presented them in a range of complexity depending on how much you …
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Solar Hot Water Heating in Vermont Greenhouses
Biomass Heating in Vermont Greenhouses
FIDO – A Do-it-yourself Temperature Monitor with Text Message Alerts
As I’ve mentioned in several other posts, I think the continual monitoring of conditions in greenhouses and food storage spaces is incredibly important for quality and safety and insightful for any operation. There is a really clever design for a do-it-yourself temperature monitoring system called Fido, on the FarmHack site. It uses an Arduino control …
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Efficiency Vermont Incentives for Agriculture
Are you considering any equipment upgrades in the near future. Check Efficiency Vermont’s webpage to research available technologies and to see if any of their many incentives apply to you. They have a set of rebates specific to agriculture and some for commercial refrigeration which may apply to folks with refrigerated storage on …
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