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Well folks, my walapini is up and running. A far cry from the hole in the ground pics I posted earlier this summer. Whats in it? 1 -75gal fish tank, 1-75gal sump, 2 -45gal biofilters/growbeds, 1-2*4ft DWR, 2 - 2*6ft raised beds. 2-4ft -250w Sunblaster lamp arrays, 2- 250w MH lamps. 1 enormous wood heater. I double poly'd the single slope roof, and inflated with an old furnace fan until I realized last week that it was drawing 400 watts. Hmm, thinks I, how do I get something to do the same job on a lot less power? Well, I salvaged an 12v radiator fan from an abandoned car, hooked it up to a power supply and checked it out. It works! Next, I fashioned a mount to install the fan in a 12" duct, and hooked it all together. The duct run comes from my little workshop and finishes up as a 6" outlet to the poly. Total draw an the fan? 44watts! And it does an admirable job of inflating. How long will a motor last? Well I'm not sure, but they are readily replaceable at a cost of about $20.00. The wood heater sure puts out, and I have 40gal stripped water heater sitting on the top of it on one side, and  a stack of fire brick on the other. The inside temps have never been less that 12 degrees than outside temps. Lights go on at 6am of at full daylight, on again at around 5pm and of at 8pm. Kale, radishes, chard, spinach and lettuce all doing well. Just waiting for that -20 - 30c weather to show up and tell me whether or not this can be a viable option for my location.

Cheers

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Great.  Congratulations.  Photo??

Here are some photo's

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Hi Ian.

Looking good. What part of the country are you? I'm in New Hampshire and it can get pretty cold and plenty of snow. I'm going to build a Greenhouse this next summer and I'm checking out all my options. Please keep us informed. I have a hill that I can build a Walapini but in the spring, I get a lot of water that comes from the top of the hill so I've had thoughts of digging the hole and reinforcing it with earthen bags or stacking concrete bags that are joined with rebar and wet down to harden as a way to shore up my walls. Do you have a rough idea of what you spent to build your Greenhouse? Thanks...

                                                               Jack 

Dude, that is epic! 

Please, please, please keep us updated with what happens this winter - I'm so intrigued.

Jere - This in ground green house must require a pretty low water table. Dig one of these in NW Washington and you would have a swimming pool. ;-)

Dig one of these in NW Washington and you would have a swimming pool.

True enough.  You could cut one in the side of a hill though.  I've heard Washington has some of those :)

No hills here.  I have a 24 x 40 above ground that I will post photos oof ..

Jack, I am at Lat 51N, 120W  BC, Canada. 70km north of Kamloops. We are in the transition zone between the warmer Okanagan and the much colder northern interior plateau. The soil here is clay below the top soil zone as we are situated in the North Thompson river valley. That's a plus for me as my north facing wall is relatively water tight. I trenched and installed a lot of gravel to take care of the run-off in spring. As for costs, well the cash outlay for the structure ran close to $2000.00. The timbers for the walls I picked up at an auction for $400, of which I only used one lift. The rafters are 4" sewer pipe joined top and bottom with T's and elbows. Cost $360. Electrical supplies $150. Lights, ducting and fans I picked up for $300 from a defunct grow op. Only using a small portion of this stuff (There was a 45' Sea Can full to the roof). The hole was dug in trade for a 50gal portable fuel tank and electric pump. Labour? well my grandson helped with a lot of stuff to the tune of $200. I worked about 200 hrs all told. The biggest freebie was the heater I found in an old abandoned logging camp while hunting for fire wood. Greenhouse plastic was the biggest single expense $500 for the double layer. I have no doubt that you can find stuff a lot cheaper down there. My suggestion before starting to dig is to  drill some test holes with a post auger as deep as you can and see what kind of moisture is present. Bear in mind that your north wall should be as high as possible, with very little exposed to the elements.



Jack Dunbar said:

Hi Ian.

Looking good. What part of the country are you? I'm in New Hampshire and it can get pretty cold and plenty of snow. I'm going to build a Greenhouse this next summer and I'm checking out all my options. Please keep us informed. I have a hill that I can build a Walapini but in the spring, I get a lot of water that comes from the top of the hill so I've had thoughts of digging the hole and reinforcing it with earthen bags or stacking concrete bags that are joined with rebar and wet down to harden as a way to shore up my walls. Do you have a rough idea of what you spent to build your Greenhouse? Thanks...

                                                               Jack 

Phil, the lowest point of mine is 5ft below ground level, while the back wall is 12ft high. I really advocate getting a post hole auger that can dig at least 6ft to check for water conditions. Again, this is not a project to undertake without doing the homework first.

Phil Slaton said:

Jere - This in ground green house must require a pretty low water table. Dig one of these in NW Washington and you would have a swimming pool. ;-)

That's how mine is built. Its hard to take advantage of the geothermal cycle without the big back wall.

Jeremiah Robinson said:

Dig one of these in NW Washington and you would have a swimming pool.

True enough.  You could cut one in the side of a hill though.  I've heard Washington has some of those :)

These are photos of my conventional green house.  The size is 24' x 40'.

 

Since I stopping raising Trout, I have removed from the green house 4-1,200 gallon tanks and am replacing them with 12-275 gallon IBCs .. 12 on each side of the green house.  The green house is a genuine mess now.  But it will be shipshape in a few weeks.  The lack of IBC tanks restricts my Tilapia inventory, thus I have a delivery backlog, that is not earning me any income.  So you can bet that the IBCs will be installed soon.

These are photos of my conventional green house.  The size is 24' x 40'.

 

Since I stopping raising Trout, I have removed from the green house 4-1,200 gallon tanks and am replacing them with 12-275 gallon IBCs .. 12 on each side of the green house.  The green house is a genuine mess now.  But it will be shipshape in a few weeks.  The lack of IBC tanks restricts my Tilapia inventory, thus I have a delivery backlog, that is not earning me any income.  So you can bet that the IBCs will be installed soon.

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