Thank you! years later - I am here to adapt your info to New Brunswick, Canada.

Great video. Thank you for making this video available.

This was an excellent presentation. Thank you for all the great information!

I have been waiting for this video!

Excellent video. Many thanks for sharing your experience!

Great Presentation! We definitely needed more data to help us with our own decisions on building more of these. Thank you for sharing so much of your hard work for our benefit!!

Wow, great, useful and applicable info. Very detailed and impressive data gathering systems. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing

With regards to the pony wall, you could replace the doors with clear glass slider windows with screens. That way you would get the light down low and still have the windows as vents.

excellent!

When you were talking about heat exchanger tubes the diameter of the manifolds needs to be bigger than the runs between them. For example the manifolds and the pipes running from the manifolds to the surface should be 6 in. , while the runners between them should be 4 in. , this will give you better efficiency and air flow throughout the thermal battery. It will also allow your fans to work less hard, saving electricity and saving fans. I am not a master physicist or anything but i know basic physics. The air flow is pushing back on your fan if you place a 6 inch fan reducing it to fit into a 4 inch pipe. Also, if it is all only the same diameter then the air is only really flowing thru the first run, it will take path of least resistance and since they are all the same size it takes the first one closet, mainly. But with a bigger manifold(on both ends) AND the pipes feeding those manifolds to the surface, it will distribute more evenly thru all runs. It is a pressure/vacuum thing, you are building up too much back pressure/vacuum(depending if you are pushing or pulling) at the manifolds being too small to get free flow and even distribution. You need the air to freely get into the manifolds this way it will fill the manifolds evenly and therefore flow thru the runs more evenly.

Great video. Thank you. Why do you not coil up one 6 in. pipe from one corner to the other? Why do you need 4 in. runners.

We made one climatebattery with 10 inch space between tubes its working wonders 😊

Has anyone done a coefficient-of-performance analysis to determine if the energy input (fan kwh) provides a net benefit in output? Basically, is the COP above 1?

What a great idea! Thanks for all this research. My only question is do you have any problem with critters being drawn to the warmth and chewing into the tubes? An initial layer of hardware cloth or something like that would prevent that...?

Since moisture cools, would it make sense to try an dehumidify the air that goes into the battery during cold days? Or is that a battle that cannot be won and the pipes would get wet but just after a longer while? Not neccessarily electric, maybe just a mesh on the intlet that is able to catch the water and collect it or redirect it to the soil. Im also thinking of catching more of the sun, like a massive black backwall that fully contains the inlet. Can always block the sun with screens for heat prevention (glassfront and black wall), but must store as much as possible in december. Great data and presentation, thanks.

Been watching the different videos on this project and am impressed with the data. Thanks for all your work and data collection. Good stuff. Question about the perforated pipes. My worry would be that since dirt would get in those holes and maybe clog them over time. In your implementation where you put the soil back in place it seems like a fine soil (as opposed to gravel) would clog. what about using a sock on the perforated tubes to prevent the clogging. Also when connecting the distribution tubes to the manifold, do you need to seal that connection so dirt doesn't get in there? How did you do that since I think the manifold pipes were corrugated. Maybe just some caulking? I think you may have said foam in the video? One other question. How many fans (4?) and what type of fans did you use? Thanks again for all your work on this. Kind regards, Mike

Do you cover the pipes in the ground with clean stone, and if so, how deep ? That leads me onto another question which is if you used stone would you then use a membrane to stop soil fallin through into the gravel ?

Plant talk starting at 1:20:00 technical design talk before that

Is session 3 of this series available for viewing? We are in the planning stages to install one of these this summer and are currently in the design and material sourcing phase. Really looking for insight and recommendations for thermostats, in-line fans, and all electrical equipment. Thank you for the amazing presentation and sharing your knowledge @Shannon Mutschelknaus!

Thank you Mr. Mutschelknaus! These two seminars have been great! I am beginning construction on my backyard 14.5x48 hoophouse style with climate battery up here in Western Massachusetts. Similar zone, a little less sunshine. Hoping for the best! QUESTION: Can you point me to a good thermostat option? I am having difficulties finding something that will control the four fans to turn on over a certain temp AND under a certain temp. Would love your advice! thank you!!!

with a geothermal Greenhouse is there any benefit in insulating horizonally above the heating tubes?

Question. Why don't you have water stored under the floor or soil for heat storage? Is it because of your severe climate and risk of water freezing and cracking your foundation? If you had water 1 or 2 meters deep in tanks under, won't convection of heat in the water reduce heat transfer escaping down through the soil? Also, I am aware that storing heat in water might need a different approach. Like a "radiator" with a fan blowing air through a car radiator and a water pump to pump the warmed water away. Did you not use that approach because it is too complicated? I live in a milder climate (Victoria BC Canada) and I am only allowed a 107 sq ft greenhouse and I did it DIY. So just over 8 by 12. I use 80 mm computer fans to blow air under the soil and they run directly off a solar panel. I insulated the north wall of it after seeing your video and others this winter. I have about a foot of water (contained by pond liner) under one planter (north side) and a rain barrel under the other one. Some of my heat storage is in the water. (I use water because we have really dry summers, sometimes 3 months with no rain). I have a pipe that brings air under the water level, and a syphon to remove condensation from that pipe.

How crucial do you think it is to get the air intakes up high? I'm using barrels as manifolds and the fans sit in the intake barrels (2 separate systems). My concern with raising the height of the intakes is the amount of shade they will cast.

With a geothermal greenhouse, is there any benefit in insulating horizonally above the perferated tubes, especially if you are not growing trees direct into ground. I was considering doing this.

​@JohnGuest45 but on the other hand, in the extreme hot and extreme cold, wouldn't it help maintain a more constant temperature underground?

What’s the air volume of the greenhouse & what is the optimal number of times to exchange that air for heating & cooling?

What data logging sensors andprogram do you use

I heard that someone asked about the growing space. But I didn't hear what the Sq ft of the greenhouse was.

Did you ever consider using an insulated floor slab below ground as well as the walls ? This action would have stopped any cold bridging through the ground and a better result for stored heat. The other question is ; did you ever consider using water to both store and collect the heat ? If your north wall had a vertical layer of underfloor heating pipes, encapsulated in a concrete wall, then these could have heated a buffer tank of water. I accept that in the summer the air temperature neeeds to be reduced in the greenhouse in order for the plants to survive.

I am building a 10x12 harbor freight we geo lines and wells from the old house unit what is the best size lines and floor, we were thinking gravel floor 3 ft deep with 10 55gal barrels in the floor 2 ft in with 300 of 3/4” line & a large radiator and fan. Can you please help we live in SW Missouri Thanks

Are your fans on the intake tubes or on the Exhaust tubes of your climate battery

Water storage could it help store heat too?

A 10" manifold would be optimal when using 4" grid. It's a matter of volume using pipe cross-sectional area.... pi r squared. 6" is way too small and 8" is too small. If you have more 4" pipes than go to 12" manifold.

Great information. I see you've been active here quite recently Shannon, so hopefully you'll see these questions as well :) 1) Are your construction drawings available somewhere? (I found the umn-page with the DWG 2.2, but I don't think your is there) 2) I notice your greenhouse is quite tall. Is that because you want trees in it, or is there another reason? (i.e taller = more volume that needs to be heated, although that might not matter too much - i.e it is probably the square footage of the walls and glazing that is the most important) 3) Do you think a thermal wall would be helpful as a climate battery? My location (near Oslo, southern Norway) doesn't has as much sunlight as you do, but the temperature is somewhat higher (pluss less wind and more snow, i.e insulation), so I would need to rely more on a climate battery for long-term energi storage and not too much on "refills" on sunny days during the winter (although our coldest month, February, does normally have more sun than the rest of the winter)

i'd love to see a conversation between you and ldsprepper discussing the best options

Multi-span greenhouses with low energy consumption will become the direction. We can produce tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in winter without heating in all greenhouses (light radiation conditions must reach a balanced value)

For market

that curved glazing has forced the design to be bit off optimum. better to use a flat and vertical south wall (that will optimize winter sun collection)- then ONLY a couple of operable skylights in a conventional roof for only a little summer sun and most importantly for summer ventilation. the low front vents are good. also only a small amount of east glazing for summer sun and no west sun. and use a mass floor- insulation under it IF you in the higher latitudes- and the north wall should be all mass (insulated on the outside). and moveable insulation for all the glazing areas.

This website is all very technical, why not just move to Queensland, sorry, New Mexico or Arizona and build a nice earth-sheltered house ?