Just to clarify, what is the purpose of doing this?

Mostly, it's just a little experiment.

I saw a pretty cool-looking A-Frame greenhouse, and I though, "hey, I could build one of those!"

I already had all these materials just sitting around, so this is really a scale model of what could later be a full-scale greenhouse for my backyard.

As it is, I might just go sit out there on a sunny, cold day. (It's still winter here! Don't be deceived, it snowed 11 inches, within 30 miles of my house the day before I was working on this!)

I am also planning on using it as a "cold-frame" for getting some garden plants started early.

Besides that, it is also giving me some ideas about what I might want to do for solar space heating for my garage or house.

-Ben

Holy Crap! I built a Sauna!
 

I am home today, it's sunny, and time to test out the cheap-o greenhouse!

It's 42℉ and sunny. A beautiful, unseasonably warm day.

I finished building ver 2 of the mini-solar-greenhouse at the end of the day 3 days ago.

For the last two days plus just this morning, it has been soaking up solar energy, although it's been fairly cloudy until this morning.

When I pulled off the hatch of the greenhouse, the first thing that happened was that I got hit in the face with a blast of hot air and my glasses steamed up!

I crawled inside and pulled the door shut behind me.

The thermometer I had left in there was reading off the chart, but it was laying flat on the black blanket in the sun, so I know that's not accurate.

It was WARM in there though. No, I take that back. HOT. It felt like the high 80's℉ in there.

That's over a 40℉ difference in air temperature!

I think leaving the black blanket in there made a big difference as well. While all surfaces inside the greenhouse were warm (except the wet ground) the blanket itself was HOT and radiating heat!

I could tell that the greenhouse was still not perfectly sealed up. There was a small gap on at least the one end, and a few little spots where the the ground wasn't level and there was a little space to the ground.

The next thing I noticed amazed me. Green grass. The exposed grass had sucked up enough heat and light to start turning green again! Outside the greenhouse, it's all still brown and dormant.

It was hot and steamy in there. All the snow was completely melted off, although there was still a couple very small bits of ice left in there. The ice was actually bubbling as it melted away!


I SO want a bigger version of this greenhouse now!

So, what the next step Ben? :D

Um, finish upgrading my electric car, help you with the EcoRider, convert my truck to bio-diesel, make bio-diesel, rebuild my garage.......

Have you checked to see how well it holds heat over night?

I haven't checked for overnight heat holding yet, but I can tell you that it can't be good right this second. All the crazy weather we have been having lately (snow, rain, thunder-snow, wind.....) has split the seams on both ends of the greenhouse.

I will repair it and seal it up real good. I think we should then be able to use it as a "coldframe" for starting up seeds in trays.