Home made geodesic dome greenhouse

TMAK

Hi,
I just started making a dome greenhouse, it's 6 meters in diameter, and will be covered with polythene, and hopefully will be all put together in the next fortnight. Hopefully it will stay up, I've come up with my own plan to try and eliminate all the compound angles needed to make one from the plans online.

My question is, has anybody made there own here and would you have any tips or ideas about internal layout or heating. I would love to keep it heated for the winter but it is a large area to heat.

Any hints or tips really appreciated

Greengage · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:46 pm Post subject:

how about these.
http://www.n55.dk/manuals/SPACEPLATESG/spaceplatesg.html

tippben · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 2:11 pm Post subject:

Try a heat sink, Basically dig a big pit, and fill it with wine bottles full of (initially) hot water. Water holds heat better than air, and glass works better than plastic. A pipe goes into the pit from outside, and another comes out into the space, with a bit of mesh to stop debris falling in. Then you fill in the pit. You put a small solar panel on the top of the dome, which goes through a regulator, which powers a 12v battery, which powers a computer fan on the ingoing pipe. The fan sucks air in to the pit, which is warmed by the residual heat stored in the pit, then the warm air rises naturally overnight, heating the space. The beauty of this is that it is virtually free. Ok, your battery may run low, and you may need to put it on a car battery charger, but that's all. No fumes either, unlike conventional heaters. There are better designs than this out there, but I couldn't find them today. http://books.google.ie/books?id=ypklGBTovz4C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=polytunnel+heat+sink&source=bl&ots=R3khB9FQN6&sig=_gLm_hSCpQs32xuKEFjmuZTAIl8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DRMLVK22Ksfkav3FgZAJ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=polytunnel%20heat%20sink&f=false

Good guy · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:04 am Post subject:

Ingenious!

TMAK · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:10 am Post subject:

Sound like a great idea tippben,
Added bonus, I have a great excuse to get a few bottles of wine in!!!

TMAK · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:19 pm Post subject:

Hi.

Haven't been on here for ages. I got my dome built. I'll try and get some photos attached, I tried last week but they wouldn't go up. Fingers crossed

TMAK · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:24 pm Post subject:

I still have a fair bit of tidying up around it to do but at least the structure is up...

Now has anybody got any ideas of what to sow in it at this time of year.

I would ideally like to keep it for ornamentals and make a place to relax in the winter when the garden is out of bounds.

All I really have in it at the minute are a few seeds starting off and some shrubs that are to tender to leave out over winter. Fuschas

Good guy · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:04 pm Post subject:

Great job, well done. You could easily grow salads for winter use. Lettuce, lambs lettuce, radishes, scallions, maybe baby beets for their leaves should all do quite well. Potted herbs wii do we, too. They all cost more to buy, out of season, too, so you get a better return as well as the freshest produce.

tagwex · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 8:21 pm Post subject:

How did you manage to stretch the polythene, cannot have been easy?

TMAK · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 8:52 pm Post subject:

Cheers for the advice goodguy. Will definitely try some of that list.

Stretching the polythene was lots of fun tagwex. Plenty of blood sweat and tears. And a whole lot of foul language!! But got there in the end.

Here's hoping it will stand up to the storm tonight. Fairly wild out there.