Hi all,
First time to the group and hoping someone can help me wade through the mass of posts in this thread and elsewhere to ferret out the gems - my eyes have gone buggy reading over the past two days. I have Ernie and Erica Wisner's RMH design information, which it seems is the most current design information (??), but that doesn't cover greenhouse issues.
I am researching options to add heat to a walipini design planned for Nova Scotia Canada (Zone 6a - can hit -10 F / -25 C) rough image of the planned cross-section attached. The footprint is only 10' N-S by 16' E-W (i.e. windows face almost due south). The design _should_ stay warm enough for cold-season veggies without any active heating, but we are hoping to push it a bit more and I would like a contingency plan.
A RMH looks like a nice option, but there were also a lot of concerns posted about cob and humidity - maybe those are dead now? I want to be careful to design it to not overheat the small space while allowing for a slow release overnight. I will only be able to tend a fire in the evenings and maybe a short burn in the AM. I don't want to give up too much growing space - hopefully not asking for too much.
My first thought was to put the long pipe and cob "bench" under a raised bed at the back, but it looks like moisture might be an issue. I like the idea of using water for heat storage - are there any gems for a good manifold design to support this or could you just put the water jugs on the bench?
I'm happy to read and research, but I'm hoping that someone can give me some quick pointers to the most relevant content. Thanks in advance.
