And Arnold What kind of domestic hot water tank are you talking about? I'm curious how u r able to connect to the smaller system? On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 11:41 AM Arnold Trachtenberg via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > I think the greenhouse topic is a great one. > I installed a Lord and Burnham greenhouse about six years ago. > It's a lean to with access only from the house. > It's 7 x 12 feet and sits on a masonry foundation to match the rest of the > house. Challenge was to find the old brownstone and find someone who knew > how to build it. > I was lucky to stumble upon a resident in my town that was doing a > renovation and taking down an old part of the house which was the same age > as mine. For $50 I had the contractor dump the demolished foundation in my > driveway. > Contractor installed a concrete footing and 12 " cinder block to grade and > than a 6 " block for a knee wall. He cut the back off the brownstones and > faced the concrete block to match the existing foundation. > I made the floor of the greenhouse just 5 inches lower than the house > floor. Didn't want a leak running into the house. > > There's a floor drain connected to an outdoor drain that ends in a sloping > bank of ivy in front of the house. > > I used a concrete slab wit ha radiant heating system. > I had the radiant floor installed knowing that at some point I would get > to the heating system. Until then I had an electric heater. > Ridge vent is connected to a thermostat as is the radiant system. > The ridge vent closed at 50 F and heat comes on at 42 F. I didn't want > one system turning on or off the other. > I had a home water heater failure so I installed a Weil McClain mini > furnace ( 100,000 BTU) that makes hot water. One loop goes to the radiant > greenhouse floor and the other into a highly efficient tank for domestic > hot water. > I have not seen a dramatic increase in gas utility bills. I attribute > this to the highly efficient domestic hot water system. > Teh old stand alone tanks are not efficient at water storage. > > I had awning window installed on the long south facing side. Which I can > open in spring and summer. > One problem is that I have to get down on hands and knees to open and > close the awning windows and further complicated by the fact that they are > under the greenhouse benches. > > I have nothing in the greenhouse in summer so shading isn't an issue. > The radiant floor is installed on a QP floor with a 2 inch aluminized foam > board under the concrete and an 8 inch piece inserted to separates the > exterior wall from the slab. Much heat is lost as the floor radiates heat > to the exterior wall foundation. I tried to minimize that with the > vertical foam board. > I can send pictures if anyone is interested. > ArnoldNew Jersey > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>