Poor Man's Geothermal

UPDATE: Thanks for all the engagement on this video. As I said, good, measurable info is hard to find. As many of you have noted, what your seeing here is really still theory. We had one of the wettest winters in many years here in the PNW so I had to reprioritize, hence the lack of follow up. It will come eventually. In the meantime, check out our adorable piglets :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GqOcRLHnA0.

Hi, I am from the UK and an old way of heating a green house before electricity was invented was to bury a hay bail and then dampen it and as it decays it generates heat. In your case however it would be easier to leave your dog in there as he seems quite happy rummaging around, DOG POWER!

It's been 4.5 years since this video. Do you have an update on the performance? What, by the way, is your square footage (area), and volume of this greenhouse? How deep are your pipes? Did you put aggregate around your pipes, or just backfill will the dug material? How thick are your walls? Are any walls insulated? Thanks for putting this out there. I like this idea.

I would call it "Smart man's geotermal". Thanks :)

EVEN POORER: Place a large pile of compost on the outside of the greenhouse, and ram rebar through the wall into the compost. Chicken manure and leafs has worked great for me. Adding urine "turbocharges" the heat production. If you place numerous rods of rebar 2 inches apart, they act like a radiator pushing heated air more efficiently without fans. But of course fans would aid in heat and moisture flow.

Short video , but great can't wait to see a longer video , and how you doing on this project.

Put your dog on a treadmill! Power forever.

The formula I saw was one linear foot of 6" pipe for each square foot of building with 8' walls. Damp heavy soil will conduct heat better. I the 1960's this system was popular and performed well in many farm buildings. This is the first time I have seen this system used in a long time. I think the company installing it was called The Lords Power Company. The Romans used a ducting system made of stone, that would heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

Awesome! Thank you for this. Started digging after I saw this, it's getting there (I'm in southern Sweden). Happy growing!

Here's a little tip it took somebody 4 years to develop this.He heats his house that is over 3,000 sq ft with valted ceilings when it hits 80°, the louvers open then the fan kicks in and exhausts the house back to room temp. I got to see this technology he's had it for 54 years now. They have regular glass windows about 18" wide two panes at 2" with a piece of mylar directly in the middle so when the sun rays come in they are trapped inside of the structure because they cannot leave they turn to heat rays and he has 7 plastic towers of water that absorb this heat and disperse it through the house. The house is turned so that it is untraditionally facing of the winter solstice the awnings or shades are meant to protect the house from this light heat source. I saw this technology several years ago the only time it didn't work one time in 24 years he said was when the fog came up so he had to revert to the conventional system as most people know it to heat his house for 24.00 bucks...... This is really cool stuff the house still had the conventional look. He has a really thick blue insulation. We had a short discussion of how air travels through glass and that's what led him to showing me his whole house how it worked...... Awesome is all I can say..... I would just like to develop a no fan system..... This will heat your whole house

Thnx for vid. Moisture into soil isn’t just to prevent mold, the evaporative cooling and condensing heat is also helpful I’m pretty sure, from what I have learned from verge permaculture and if I’m not mistaken they have a calculator you mentioned and also seem to be doing the first detailed study of the effectiveness of these designs

very nice! I used an in-ground furnace in combo with thermal mass of both ground and water... but i like your layout! thanks for sharing!

Watched this 3x. Yours seems simpler. Gives me hope. Love the barrel intake and outtake.

Thank you for the clear concise information!

Great point about using drainage pipe. My plans are now adjusted!!!

awesome! this makes the concept of geothermal heating more clear! very useful for off grid living!

Best way to remove the condensate from the tube would be to have a small sump pump at the end of the tube close to the house and don't use drain field lines with holes in it. Put it in a trap so the pump can be serviced when needed. Tilt the tubes at a slight angle so the condensate gravity feeds the sump pump. This will do several things: 1) the pipe remains sealed and no outside water can invade it due to flooding. 2) It keeps ground bugs from entering the pipe through the drain holes. Put a screen on the far end of the pipe that is outside to prevent critters and bugs from entering the pipe. Put air filter material at the outlet of the pipes so that mold and pollen are prevented from entering the home, or structure you are cooling/heating. Finally, put access traps into your pipe so you can run a tool similar to duct cleaning down the pipe......remember, these pipes are cool, moist and full of pollen, mold and dirt that is sucked into the pipes from outside.... You don't want to breath that air with all those contaminates in it.

nice video and nice implementation. Most people who do the horizontal "earth tubes" seem to trench outside the footprint of the greenhouse. You were smart to stay under your greenhouse! I have a vertical earth tube for my much smaller experimental greenhouse. So far so good (when it's below freezing outside, it's above freezing in my greenhouse), but I will do some more rigorous measurements throughout the winter.

What will really help is to have a temperature differential switch. if your objective is to store heat, with temperature differential switch the fan will deactivate when ever the air temperature inside green house is cooler than pipes underground.

I went into a public bathroom on the interstate in Florida long ago and they had a pyramid shaped roof with venting at the top, 2' x 3' concrete block sections turned on their sides near the floor to allow air in, and two industrial wall fans up on the walls to create a cyclone effect. it drew air in thru the openings near the floor and vented it out the vent at the top. It actually did make it pretty cool in there. I've thought of copying that for a large concrete shed I have, but instead of just openings near the ground to let air in.... installing several perforated drain tubing runs underground...which would bring much cooler air in. It would be extremely passive and simple system system that would cool pretty good I think. The runs would start above ground with a U-shape pointing down with screening to keep bugs and insects out. Any thoughts anyone?