pex kept soil warm

well we noticed this year that there were areas of soil between our house and our son's where our pex is buried, that the snow stayed melted over...sure you lose some heat from the pex even though it is insulated..but i didn't realize how much the soil did absorb the heat as the pex is down several feet (but heat rises).

well there is a spot where both our son and our pex comes out of the furnace building in the soil..and it is at it's shallowest spot..only down a couple of feet..so..Joel and I were talking and we decided..we are going to move the greenhouse and the 2 larger cold frames over that warmer soil this spring.

we will be building the soil up some with some raised beds in the greenhouse..and cold frame too..so that will make the soil up a little higher (which might protect the pex some from the cold as well)..so this will be an interesting experiment this next year to see how much warmer the greenhouse will be with the heated soil under it.

also it will be closer to the furnace building so when we get enough $ we may be able to buy a heat exchanger and divert some pex into the greenhouse and actually HEAT the greenhouse in the future..then we for sure can keep it above freezing all winter long..right now it is just solar only.

Is it possible to trench down a few feet and insulate around the foundations of the greenhouse, e.g. with straw or sunflower stalks? That might help both the pex and the greenhouse.

sure would Joel, my son Joel has even suggested that we insulate it..

haven't done the move yet as weather turned drizzly and cold..hopefully this week it will warm up enough to get it done..

the pex will cross under the greenhouse in a V shape turned on it's side..so the v will go from the side to the front corner and back corner..and will be under the north beds and partially under the rear bed and front...the south beds will have less heat from the pex but more from the sun.

we'll see how it all works out..hope to get a start on moving it very soon