PalmsNorth.com

Well I bit the bullet and decided to protect my two trachys today. It was partly cloudy most of the day and mid 50s, so perfect protecting weather in a t-shirt. Could get some snow Sunday and then even colder weather next week ... BLAH ... well I guess it is December next week, so I knew this was eventually coming. I did something different this year ... I took a photo documentation of closing them up in case anyone else is interested in my method. Also, this year I converted my boxes into four panels each which will make assembly easier as they get taller ... no lifting a 12 foot box over the top, lol.

Ok, here they are before I started.





First, I cleared all the rocks away to get a smooth surface.



Then, I tied them up using big zipties ... these are found in the heating and air conditioning aisle at Home Depot ... used for connecting flexible ductwork to hard duct.



Next, I built three sides of the enclosure and placed the electric heaters. The first enclosure is 8 feet tall and the second is 6 feet tall.





Finally, I fastened the styrofoam to each side except a portion of the south side to let sun in. Also, shoveled stones around the enclosures to close any air gaps up at the bottom.



New addition this winter is a window in each enclosure. This will make venting easier on the warmer days and also allow for quick and easy inspection. Lots of palm in there!



Hopefully I can get these off in mid March. Took me 6 hours from start to finish, so about 3 hours per palm.

Appreciate your extra effort to document this for everyone.
Questions...
So, the heat is a 1500 W with fan, on a thermocube? Nothing else?
How do you monitor temps in there?
Roofs will handle the snow on their own, or with you going out to sweep it off?
Manual venting on the warm days?

photo documentation of closing them up

appreciate that you did that Tim.
Easier to understand stages than guess how something went together.
Me anyway.

The styrofoam is on the outside?

You'll get a lot of solar gain from the increase in plastic window size.
And a REAL window is a great idea.

The roofline? in a couple more years...

Barb

very nice. great to see how every one is doing it. I looked at the styrofoam sheets at HD and they had an R rating of like a 5. I'll post pics tomorrow of my palm huts and my methods. I chose to go with fiberglass insulation with an R rating of 13. I use 2 60W light bulbs on a 20/30 (correction) thermocube for heat. keep up your good work.

TerdalFarm wrote:Appreciate your extra effort to document this for everyone.
Questions...
So, the heat is a 1500 W with fan, on a thermocube? Nothing else?
How do you monitor temps in there?
Roofs will handle the snow on their own, or with you going out to sweep it off?
Manual venting on the warm days?

Each electric heater is set on "Low" which is 750 watts. The heaters have their own thermostat. I figured out where 40F was by placing them outside on a 40F day and turning the dial until it kicked on. Marked that location and that is where they sit all winter. So no thermocube or anything ... all self-regulated by the electric heaters.

I monitor temperatures with a remote thermostat. It's in a busy location in my house, so myself and my wife can always see what the internal temperature is for each box.

The roofs are constructed of 2x2s with 1 1/2 inch foam insulation on the inside. The top is 1/2 inch plywood and I've had no snow load issues. I will occasionally brush it off if I'm around, but not really worried about it.

Venting is manually done. On a day that will get above freezing, I unplug the heaters and open the windows. We don't have many days above 32F though from December 15 to February 15. With everything closed up, I get about 30F above outside temperatures inside the box. It doesn't get too hot in there because most sides are foam. Think of it this way ... if the sun is beating in a window on your house all day, you won't see that much solar gain inside because of the small surface area of the window. Works the same way in my boxes. If the entire things were exposed plastic, then we'd see much more heat inside.

lucky1 wrote: appreciate that you did that Tim.
Easier to understand stages than guess how something went together.
Me anyway.

The styrofoam is on the outside?

You'll get a lot of solar gain from the increase in plastic window size.
And a REAL window is a great idea.

The roofline? icon_lol.gif in a couple more years... icon_lol.gif

Barb

The foam is on the outside and fastened with lag screws/washers. Works great. It is 1 1/2 inches which is R-7, so pretty good insulation for the low profile. I also like foam better than fiberglass since it won't grow mold. As much as I like how the structures work, I can't wait to get them off.

oppalm wrote: very nice. great to see how every one is doing it. I looked at the styrofoam sheets at HD and they had an R rating of like a 5. I'll post pics tomorrow of my palm huts and my methods. I chose to go with fiberglass insulation with an R rating of 13. I use 2 60W light bulbs on a 10/20 thermocube for heat. keep up your good work.

Wow, 10/20 thermocube ... you're brave. I keep my windmill palms at 40F all winter. They enjoy their zone 10 winters, lol. Fiberglass is cheaper than foam, but I'm always worried I'll end up with a mold fest if I use it outside.

Wow those look great! Very professional!
Much more elaborate than mine.
It's no wonder they look so good all year.

Kent I look forward to seeing your protection methods as well.

I too like the pics in "stages" much easier to understand for us rookies

Those are nice, good job.

Thanks for sharing. Warm there too huh? odd November, 66 the past two days insane! I know it's comin' like you said though....All too soon!

Thanks again everyone.

And yeah, it has been warm here this fall. Didn't get a frost til November and the past two days have been in the mid 50s. Raining outside now too.

Let's hope the snow and cold stay away for most the winter.

Most of the winter sounds good.

I second that...

Tim, I hadn't even thought of mold ... yuk.
Thanks for mentioning it.

Barb

First real cold weather heading our way for the weekend so time to button up experimental windmill protection since this is my first attempt.

Windmill is well protected on this south side, but I can add lights, bubble wrap and plastic if I need to. Christmas lights and root ball and crown wrapped in 6ft of heat tape.


Brought in other big potted windmill I had sunk in the ground. Thinking about making that spot permanent in ground next year, but for now have part of 3rd car garage sectioned off for all the palms that are normally outside. Garage stays warm enough, but tarps are for the sudden gusts that can happen when we have to raise the door to bring car in/out. 100W CFL daylight spectrum light on 12hrs a day.

Tim looks great all pro job! My palms would be happier at 40f. Mine still make it through -17c - 1f nicely in their palm huts.



John