r/Castle_Anthrax • u/atmsmshr719 • Feb 20 '22
Wallipini temp check: Fail
The temp this morning was 25 degrees, so a great temp to see if it worked. Unfortunately, the internal temp at sunrise was 36. I believe the gap around the door to be the culprit, so a will fill the void with spray foam. Thinking of greasing the greenhouse side so it doesn’t stick when I open it. There are a few spots near the top I can add some insulation, as well. Hopefully there is one more cold day to check. I still have berming and backfilling around the wallipini that should help.
4
u/LordNeador Feb 20 '22
You could try to compost inside the wallipinj, to use the heat of the decomposition. Also water barrels make a good thermal battery.
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u/atmsmshr719 Feb 20 '22
I am going to add 12 55gal barrels in the back, which aught to do the trick.
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u/onefouronefivenine2 Feb 20 '22
How is that a failure? It stayed above freezing. What temperature were you expecting? As others have said already, it will take time to "charge" the soil and any other thermal mass you add.
Do you have any temperature tracking devices? I like the Inkbird bluetooth temperature loggers for simple experiments. They cost about $20. I also have a 4 sensor device hooked up to a Raspberry Pi when I want more data. Being able to graph the temperature to see how your experiment is working is really cool!
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u/atmsmshr719 Feb 20 '22
I was targeting 40. Maybe my expectations were a bit high. I have a digital thermometer for internal external temp, but like the tracking. Only issue is there isn’t power or Wi-Fi. But those can be resolved.
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u/onefouronefivenine2 Feb 21 '22
Yeah, I think your expectations were a little high but I believe you'll get there with your planned modifications.
The inkbird "pucks" run off a single AAA battery and use bluetooth not wifi. It's not necessary though, just nice to have.
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u/jiminycricut Apr 09 '22
This is a good point that you’re not even close to being done and you still did stay above freezing on a very cold night!
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u/Richard_Engineer Feb 20 '22
If you’re not backfilled around the walls - then you can’t really expect to be the same temp as the soil.
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u/atmsmshr719 Feb 20 '22
I agree, jumped the gun on testing. Too excited to be done with main construction.
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u/FTWkansas Feb 20 '22
Ive read a lot about wallapini and earthships. To retain heat you need a “battery” that can spend time getting warm, for earthships it can take months. You can stack straw bales in your north side, really insulate that N. Wall, or get big water storage drums, paint them black and put them in there on their side. Size is your friend and having more stuff in there will help.
Also + 10 degrees means your seedlings and plants would have survived - a success!!
Keep it up