Rob's Geodesic Dome Greenhouse

[Rob Torcellini]

Hi Everyone! We're Expanding! We are pleased to announce that we have just received the necessary permits to build a new greenhouse. This 1200 square foot, state-of-the-art building will utilize some of our latest technology to enhance the building’s energy conservation, as well as monitor and control an aquaponics growing system. The greenhouse will be used for our research and development, and it will become the focal point of the farm as a visitor center. Construction is scheduled to start this spring and we are eagerly waiting for the ground to thaw.

This video is the first part of a series I'll produce over the next year or so. I hope you enjoy the adventure!

 

[Sylvia Bernstein]

How exciting, Rob!  Looking forward to your updates in the spring.

[Joe Bifano]

I too can't wait to see the updates.  I started one last year and did a 12x32 Utility room. Then this year built a 24x64 greenhouse attached to it. I am in Colorado and want to put in a wood boiler stove either in my Utility room or in the greenhouse but can't decide. I was thinking that if the wood burning boiler was air tight and I did not have any back draft problems that I could have it in the greenhouse but still not sure if this can be done. I can easily put the wood boiler in the utility room but then it would be really hot in this room. 

 

What kind of boiler or wood stove are you planning on using and have you ever thought of having it in the dome?

[Dave Pennington]

Looks great! How much solar exposure will you get in the winter?

Check out rocket mass heaters sometime, they're very efficient and cheap to build.

[Rob Torcellini]

I may have a 30 yr old Tarm boiler that is available....still working on that one.  It's in my Mom's house and she doesn't heat with wood any more.  If not, it would be easy to drop $10K on a gasifier instead.  :-(

Joe Bifano said:

I too can't wait to see the updates.  I started one last year and did a 12x32 Utility room. Then this year built a 24x64 greenhouse attached to it. I am in Colorado and want to put in a wood boiler stove either in my Utility room or in the greenhouse but can't decide. I was thinking that if the wood burning boiler was air tight and I did not have any back draft problems that I could have it in the greenhouse but still not sure if this can be done. I can easily put the wood boiler in the utility room but then it would be really hot in this room. 

 

What kind of boiler or wood stove are you planning on using and have you ever thought of having it in the dome?

[Rob Torcellini]

Most everything directly to the south is mature trees.  Most of this will be clear-cut and used as firewood.  In that area I'm planning on planting shorter fruit trees - Apple, peach, pear, grapes, etc.   To get full sun during the winter, I have to clear about 500' to the south.  It would be a total of about 5 acres to get 100% exposure.

Dave Pennington said:

Looks great! How much solar exposure will you get in the winter?

Check out rocket mass heaters sometime, they're very efficient and cheap to build.

[Joe Bifano]

Hey Rob, Do you know anybody that has a pellet boiler by MAXIM?  They are having a pretty good sale and we would like to get one for the greenhouse.  It puts out 175,000 BTU and costs about 5K. You can burn corn and wood pellets and I am trying to find out if I can burn other pellets.

[Rob Torcellini]

I'm familiar with various pellet boilers.  The problem is I have to pay for the pellets.....I have plenty of cordwood that's free!

Joe Bifano said:

Hey Rob, Do you know anybody that has a pellet boiler by MAXIM?  They are having a pretty good sale and we would like to get one for the greenhouse.  It puts out 175,000 BTU and costs about 5K. You can burn corn and wood pellets and I am trying to find out if I can burn other pellets.

[Joe Bifano]

That is true I have plenty of cord wood around me as well but it is hard to get a wood boiler to start up and stop when no heat is wanted or in the middle of the day when a storm comes and it clouds up and I need heat.  You have to be there and not with a pellet stove. As far as pellets cordwood makes great pellets.  So do the pine cones and pine needles, cardboard, grass weeds and a lot of other things.  I really want to make my own pellets for my stove and then make my own fish and livestock feed.

[Rob Torcellini]

Check out the wood gasification boilers sometime.  (woodboilers.com)  They basically run full blast for a while and heat a large reservoir tank, then during the day & night you draw the heat from the reservoir.  Very clean burning and efficient…but usually start at around $10K.

 

My parents have a standard boiler from Tarm in their house…it’s about 30 years old but in perfect condition.  They no longer use it so I may take it…..

Joe Bifano said:

That is true I have plenty of cord wood around me as well but it is hard to get a wood boiler to start up and stop when no heat is wanted or in the middle of the day when a storm comes and it clouds up and I need heat.  You have to be there and not with a pellet stove. As far as pellets cordwood makes great pellets.  So do the pine cones and pine needles, cardboard, grass weeds and a lot of other things.  I really want to make my own pellets for my stove and then make my own fish and livestock feed.

[Rob Torcellini]

Here is the second video in the series of building a geodesic dome greenhouse.  It covers 3 different hub designs (and failures) along with the details of how they are assembled.  I’m trying not to make them too boring, but after all, it’s just a bunch of diagrams, cutting and welding.  At least you can see some sparks fly!  There’s a couple of bloopers at the end too!

 

Since I’m a YouTube partner, I get a minuscule amount of revenue from the ads.  It’s always helpful if you rate or comment on the videos.  Better yet, visit one of the sponsors!  It’s also helpful if you subscribe to my YouTube channel.  Thank you for your support!

 

 

[Two Jay]

Well, inspired by you Rob and the urge to do / build something different, we are going to build a small Geodesic seedling greenhouse.  I have plenty of EMT to use, leftovers from the greenhouse we tore down, and figured ... why not?

 

I will post pictures as they become available.

[Rob Torcellini]

Thumbs up for thinking out side the......dome!  ;-)