Visited a greenhouse and not really sure whether it’s a obvious thing, but what are the pipes for??
by liv_2456
Visited a greenhouse and not really sure whether it’s a obvious thing, but what are the pipes for??
by liv_2456
4 Comments
Well they’re clearly insulated, so i would have to imagine glycol? Although for what purpose i am not sure.
Steam or hot water to a heating g coil with a fan on it. More heated pipes on wall with expanded metal guard in photo.
Those are heating lines. They carry either steam or hot water. Given that they are in a pair like that I would say it’s a hot water system. Those are distribution lines running to other greenhouses. There they will supply the hot water either to fan forced hydronic heaters, in ground or underfloor heat, or bare metal or finned metal pipes running through the houses. Thermostatically controlled circulator pumps circulate the water throughout the pipes.
I own a small family run commercial greenhouse and we heat with a hot water system as well. In most of my glass houses, the heat is distributed in the houses via bare metal pipe (just exposed metal pipe). Two supply pipes run from the front of the greenhouse all the way to the back and they are suspended from the steel support columns at about 7’ in height or so. When they reach the back of the house, a pair of header pipes branch into multiple supply pipes which supply 2 pipes that run the full length back to the front. These pipes are down at ground level, each aisle has at least 2 pipes, one on each side and each house has 4 or 5 aisles. So around 10 return pipes that go back up front. Plain bare metal pipe doesn’t give off a huge amount of heat. That’s why it takes so many runs of pipe to heat a greenhouse that way. I have one glass house, our largest, that only has 4 full length runs of pipe in it yet that house has the highest heat supply capacity. How’s that possible? It has 4 runs of metal pipe that has aluminum radiator fins fitted around the pipe. That adds a huge amount of surface area that can supply heat, so it takes a whole lot less pipe to do the same amount of heating. In two of my houses, the heat is supplied by hydronic heaters. They are simply a fan that blows over what’s essentially a car radiator. That’s how the heating works at my greenhouse and I’m sure the greenhouse in your picture has a similar setup. I have attached some pics showing what I’m talking about.
https://preview.redd.it/lcmsecmzinwb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1db99390c66bbbec0204a3f824d9d446f8cd1b70
https://preview.redd.it/tpnixquqknwb1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fb483334dc20d58f1cbaea45a094be2d968f3f3
I didn’t see this the first time I looked at your pic. I circled in blue a radiator panel of some sort. I can see two pipes running behind the metal grid on the wall. It almost looks like there are two metal pipes with the aluminum fins that are running inside of that metal cage. That’s heating the small space that you were standing in.