Planning to heat my grow space this winter with a propane wall heater ( https://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Living-B30TPB-BB-Feet-30-Control/dp/B082KZTDZD/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&keywords=garage+heater&qid=1600897525&sr=8-23 something like this ) The area I grow is in an insulated room in a building with no other climat controls. Do you think it would be cheaper than heating with electric, and do you think it will raise co2 levels significantly?
Propane wall heaters...
- Thread starter Feralj87
- Start date
sf_frankie
Well-Known Member
Never used one but it certainly will raise co2 levels. Its pretty much the same design as a propane/NG CO2 generator. I have a 4 burner natural gas CO2 genny and it heats up my room real quick when it fires
sf_frankie
Well-Known Member
I run a hybrid sealed set up. I vent in fresh air during lights out but the co2 gen doesn’t run in the dsrk
Renfro
Well-Known Member
A propane heater will raise the CO2 levels a lot. My CO2 generator only runs for like 3 minutes every 20 minutes to hold 1200 PPM. It doesn't take it much work to raise the CO2 levels. A heater would likely have to run much more.
You also have to be concerned with light output from the heater during the dark cycle. Most of the gas wall heaters I have seen have a ceramic infrared emitter panel that glows orange to radiate IR heat.
Is an oil filled electric heater an option?
You also have to be concerned with light output from the heater during the dark cycle. Most of the gas wall heaters I have seen have a ceramic infrared emitter panel that glows orange to radiate IR heat.
Is an oil filled electric heater an option?
BIGBALLSJOE
Member
If you run totally sealed and have a propane gen running or a just a pilot light you better vent a bit of fresh air because you need to feed oxygen to the flame
The burner will eat all the oxygen in the air and probably make the plant deficient
Plants are breathing oxygen during night cycle
The other way to feed a pilot light burning during night is with hydrogen peroxyde in the solution, and a system that allow you to feed even at night ( with excellent drainage or some nft type) that’s how I do it
Not sure this method would be enough for more than a pilot flame
thumper60
Well-Known Member
Yes it will be cheaper than electric, An yes it will raise co2 an rh significantly.
Dr. Who
Well-Known Member
Did you notice that no one mentioned that it will significantly raise the RH?
It will!
For every cubic ft of propane burned. You get 4 cubic ft of water vapor!
OR
100,000 BTUH = 0.98 Gallons of Water !
You need to control the RH when heating with propane.
In the use of Co2 generators. They are not (or should not) be cycling enough to need anything more then a good environmental controller unit.
I feel you should use one when gassing anyway...
Thoughts bro?
I wouldn't use one of those. I knew a guy growing tomatoes in hydro in a sun room and installed a ventless one and it killed em. He ending up having to find a vented gas stove to heat in there while doing the tomatoes.
That thing burns much more than a c02 burner so more c02, more ethylene, more humidity. Not a good idea at all.
I like those heaters for living areas for sure I grew up with a couple in the house and they helped me not have to carry as much wood lol.
I just did a Google search about fumes from ventless heaters to double check my info and that's about all the info you would need to decide it's prob not good for your plants.
That thing burns much more than a c02 burner so more c02, more ethylene, more humidity. Not a good idea at all.
I like those heaters for living areas for sure I grew up with a couple in the house and they helped me not have to carry as much wood lol.
I just did a Google search about fumes from ventless heaters to double check my info and that's about all the info you would need to decide it's prob not good for your plants.
I'm still going to try it in my space, I think it will work well in my particular situation... I grow in an attic in a building with no other heat. I don't live there. In the attic there is one large room in which I have a 5x5 tent set up in, and then there's a 6x8 closet. I flower in the closet and veg in the tent. So I think I'll run the propane heater outside the tent on the lowest setting and use the oil filled radiators inside the closet and tent when necessary. Last year the electricity from just using space heaters was more than it costs to run my 1200 watts of light. I've got a 100 gallon propane bottle and the wall heater already so I'm not out anything to try. I have to run a humidifier in the winter here to keep my vpd decent, so I won't mind a little extra water in the air.
That does seem like a huge amount of water. I'm hoping I can find a nice balance between the propane heater and the electric ones that lets me not have to run a humidifier at all.
The real issue will be if the thermostat on the heater doesn't let me set it any lower than like 60 degrees. Ideally I think I set the heater to run below 50 or something around there, and then use space heaters to do the rest. Even the pilot light running should boost co2 levels some.