Finally!

So, it appears that the system I came up with for attaching the solarium sheeting is working. Finally! 

In previous years, when the winds picked up, I would wind up with at least small sections developing holes which had to be repaired. This time there has been a few days of fairly strong winds and no holes have appeared. 

However, this year did involve more planning, work, time and money. Tried to put such into it in previous years but it never quite worked as planned. Then I wound up throwing plastic sheeting up and attaching it however I could. 

Not complaining. I learned from previous attempts, which led to the current configuration. 

I haven't quite figured out what to do with the well pump. Only thing I can think of is building a small extension out to cover it, bringing it into the solarium so it doesn't freeze. And so the dogs have less access to it. It would also make it more attractive. I'll have to get that done in spring, though. It's going to take a lot of work to build access points for water lines and maintenance. Probably have multiple doors but still need to be insulated. Plus I still have the pump sitting on an old picnic table bench, so need to build a dedicated support. Before I can do that I have to fill in the cave the dogs dug around the pipe. And yes, I mean cave, not just a hole. I was considering putting concrete down but if I build the housing the concrete won't be necessary. I just want to be able to use the pump in early spring and have it in winter as an emergency water supply. 

I may start planting tomato seeds this month in the house. Use the old office, where I have shelves by one window. By late Jan to early Feb it will be just warm enough to move the seedlings out to the solarium. Small containers at first and moving to increasingly larger ones. By April or May, they should be quite large enough to move into the garden and have a decent year. If I do things that way, I may be able to coax out tomatoes by late May or early June and a bumper crop by July and onward. 

Improvement

Got the gas space heater up and running in the solarium. That means the night temps have remained above freezing. Unfortunately, not warm enough for the tomato plants. However, warm enough for cool weather plants.

The dogs are not helping the situation. They were pulling at the wire on the outside of the main door to open it. I eventually had to put a hook and eye latch on the inside. So, they started jumping against the door until the latch came loose. Some people would call this smart. Really? No. It's just destructive. Right next to the main door is a very generous size dog door which they only have to push with their noses to enter. They won;t use the dog door. In their minds, they are not opening the latch or the door, they are breaking it. When I latch it again, to them I am fixing it. So they would prefer to try and destroy the door rather than enter through a swinging door which offers little chance for destruction. If they but their heads against it, it just swings open. So I had to add a piece of duct tape to the latch.

Of course, the problem is that the heat is released when they do this. 

These are also the same dogs that will not stay in the solarium in front of the heater. It's probably about 70 degrees right in front of the heater. Instead, they stay outside, huddled together while the temperature is as low as 12 degrees. That is regardless of whether they force the main door open or they have to use the dog door. 

When I can keep the door closed, I'm still seeing gains of about 40 degrees. It reached 99 degrees today and it stays around 40 at night. Measured at an area behind the space heater. 

Started seeds for spinach, purple carrots, cilantro, dill and cucumbers inside the solarium today. I think most of them should grow. Cucumbers are questionable but the rest all grow well in cool conditions. Plus the broccoli is already reaching the point where I can transplant it into larger containers. 

If I make it through December without frost damage the ambient temperature should increase by late January. Then I'll be able to start getting a few long growing crops like tomatoes started from seed again. 

Good and bad

Well, since completing the solarium it has helped the temperature inside the house. Mostly by blocking the wind from the west wall. It has also allowed solar gain during the day. However, temps have been dropping as low as the low teens at night. Since I didn't have a decent auxiliary form of heat for night, the temperature went below freezing inside the solarium. 

As a result of that, the tomato plants went dormant. I don't think they died off. It didn't stay below freezing long enough to damage the roots. I think they'll come back once the temperature remains above freezing in there for a while.

I set up a gas space heater in there last night. More effective and less expensive to keep going than the electric space heater. 

Still, I have some cilantro seeds planted in containers with other plants and started some broccoli seeds last night. Think I'll also start some lettuce seeds. Potatoes are still going in their container. Those things will grow even if the temperature stays below 50. Maybe get some spinach started, also. 

I think what I need to do is add another layer of plastic sheeting to the top, on the inside. That can be less durable than the outside film but would help reduce heat loss at night. It would also reduce light coming in but most cool weather crops don't need that much light. 

Sealed up

Finally got the solarium sealed up. The north wall isn't as I would like it to be in the end but had to conserve finances for now. Have a major expense next week. So, I applied tarps to the north wall on the outside to seal out the wind.

Got on the roof this evening and covered up a small opening where cables run through. It was only about 8" square. Plus a smaller space around a plumbing vent pipe. 

Installed a thermometer this week which records the highest and lowest temps every 24 hours. The ambient high temperature today was 64. The high inside the solarium was 107! Now, that was at about 6' elevation. The apex reaches about 12' high, so the temperature is much higher at the apex. 

I haven't installed the improvised heat pump system yet. That will just be black PVC, flexible vent pipe and an inline fan but I think should seriously recycle the heat. I'm thinking of letting it blow into the crawl space, so it warms the house from the floor up. I already have a thermal switch so it will turn on at 85 degrees and off when the temperature drops below that. 

The tomato plants are loving the warmth. They were fading out until I brought them in. Now they've perked up surprisingly! They had stopped flowering but I found new flowers on it today. That's a nice surprise when the outside temperature at night has been in the 20's. I am keeping a radiant heater pointed at them on low setting at night (several feet away) and have a Mylar blanket behind them, to catch and reflect the heat back. 

Planning on applying more Mylar blankets to the inside of the north wall. Since the sun shines from the south, that will reflect the heat and light coming in back and amplify it inside the solarium. 

Probably going to be a little while before I get the rocket stove built. But until then I think I'll move the cinder blocks for it into the solarium. Just the mass should help absorb more heat during the day. If I direct some of the air flow from the heat pump system toward the cinder blocks, it would increase and extend that effect. Of course, the goal here is to not have to keep the electric heater running but still retain as much heat as possible.