Indoor Gardening With Tube Heaters This Winter

Tube heaters are precisely what they sound like: a tubular-shaped device that gives off low-level heat. Tube heaters are low-cost, economical heat sources. They create enough background heat to prevent frost damage and are essential for maintaining an even temperature.

Tube heaters are vital in rooms where it would be challenging or uneconomical to install a traditional heater, this includes places like: greenhouses, garages, and garden sheds.

Garden tip: During lights on, maintain the room’s temperature between 25°C – 30°C. During lights off/nighttime, maintain the temperature above 20°C.

How Do Tube Heaters Work?

Tube/Tubular heaters work through any of the three principles of heating:

• Convection
• Conduction
• Radiation

A tube heaters emit heat by either:

• Convection via a forced-air system
• Conduction via a suitable liquid
• Radiation into the material

Tube heaters especially vary depending on the watt density, size, shape, and its housing.

Electric tube heaters, like Grow Gadgets tube heaters, are widespread across various applications. They’re available in almost any size or shape. In short: Tube heaters are great for places that need quick, cost-effective heating.

People use tube heaters for a range of applications outside grow tents, for jobs like:

• Fermentation temperature control in home brewing
• Garages and garden sheds to avoid frost damage
• Greenhouses to overwinter plants and keep the frost at bay

Their compact size and simplicity make them incredibly versatile. Using them with thermostatic controls allows exact heat transfer and temperature maintenance.

Why use a Tube Heater in an Indoor Garden?

Tube Heater for Frost Protection

Tube heaters are popularly used in autumn, winter, and spring. Their main use is to prevent frost damage in sheds, greenhouses, garages, and indoor gardens. If you have a mains PowerPoint available, then the ability to thermostatically control a tube heater makes them more appropriate to use over a gas heater or an Apollo paraffin greenhouse heater.

Tube heaters are perfect if you need help preventing the temperature from dropping too low during “lights off” or during cooler seasonal weather. 

Tube Heaters Help Avoid Cold Related Plant Shock

If your grow room temperature drops too low, it generally stunts the plant’s growth and development. Maintaining a stable temperature is important because temperature swings can cause issues with humidity. An overly humid grow tent will eventually lead to mould and pest infestations.

Cold shocked plants commonly show signs of drooping or dropped leaves, that curl in on themselves. Eventually, growth and development ceases, as the plants go into survival mode.

Garden tip: During cold weather, use Evoponic Liquid Heat alongside your heating equipment. This awesome product is a secret weapon for cold weather gardeners. Liquid Heat acts as an anti-freeze for your plants and helps them cope with the cold weather. It works to protect plants against stress in cold and frosty conditions. Additionally, it prevents flower abortion and helps to maintain high growth rates throughout winter.

Protection From Damp and Mildew

The environment in your grow room is a delicate balance of temperature, humidity, and airflow. It’s highly detrimental to knock any of these factors significantly out of balance. They undeniably lead to dampness, mildew, and mould, which are some of the most dangerous conditions for your plant’s health.

At some point, you will undoubtedly encounter one of two types of mould in your grow room:

• Powdery mildew
• White mould.

In the event that you find either mould, it may already be too late. They usually take hold quickly and can ruin your crop before you realise that you even have an issue.

Using low-level background heat certainly helps to regulate the environment, preventing it from dropping to the point where problems can occur. 

Steady Background Heat

Tube heaters are a quick, simple, economical solution to heating your grow room. Tube heaters can help you to keep consistent conditions in your grow room. If you thermostatically control them, it removes temperature spikes and sudden drops in temperature, which can upset the balance of your grow room.

Using Tube Heaters is helpful if you live anywhere prone to cold temperatures, as it removes temperature spikes and dips.

Most indoor gardens are housed in areas prone to temperature fluctuations and where central heating is not practical or has a limited effect. If you need additional heating in your grow room to maintain a steady temperature, tube heaters are the perfect solution. 

The Grow Gadgets Tube Heater is IP55 rated, low profile, and work well where using paraffin heaters and gas isn’t practical. They work well in grow rooms, greenhouses, sheds, and garages where traditional hot water radiators aren’t suitable. They’re a low-cost alternative that help to heat cold air on long, bare walls and under large windows.

What’s The Best Tube Heater For Me?

The size of tube heater that you need depends on several factors. These include:

• How big the space is
• The type of environment
• How well insulated the room is

Bigger Means Hotter

The length of a tube heater determines the heating output. One metre is equivalent to around 120-150 watts of heat, so around 40-50 watts per foot. This means, the longer the heater, the more heat it generates. 

Tube heaters usually come with a pre-wired 3-pin plug on. Alternatively, get a qualified electrician to hard-wire the mains wires into the supply or via a temperature controller. As tube heaters operate at a relatively low current, you can use multiple tube heaters in your room.

Garden tip: Always check your electrical requirements with a qualified electrician.

How Long Can I Operate A Tube Heater For?

The period you can run a tube heater is determined by how cold your room gets and what you need the heater to do. Tube heaters are very economical and, if required, affordable to run continuously, during freezing weather.

Thermostatic Tube Heaters

Obviously, consistent temperature is a critical element for success in your indoor garden. If you don’t want to run your heaters continuously, use a wireless thermostat or look for models with an integrated thermostat. The Lighthouse oil-filled radiator is a great example of an effective thermostatic greenhouse heater.

Thermostatic controllers allow you to set the temperature parameters. They’ll control when the heater turns on and off, maintaining the room temperature.

Thermostatically controlled heating equipment will help you to boost your growing game to the next level. There is a great selection to choose from depending on what type of tube heater you are using.

Wireless Thermostats For Tube Heaters

The wireless thermostat for heaters act as a room thermostat. They’re perfect for regulating any indoor garden heating equipment. They pair perfectly with tube heaters/oil-filled radiators for greenhouse heating.

Wireless smart thermostats are perfect for large or small rooms. Use them to set the required temperature, and let the thermostat automatically control the connected heater to activate and deactivate as required.

Wireless remote thermostats monitor your indoor garden’s temperature and send on/off control signals to the wireless receiver. User adjustable settings allow you to set the required temperature range.

This excellent value-for-money thermostat will bring you much more precise environmental control and impressive results.

It’s simple to use, just place the unit inside your tent, which will constantly monitor the temperature and adjust your heat source’s output status.

The TrolMaster Hydro-X Controller

The TrolMaster Hydro-X Controller is an efficient, affordable environmental controller. It’s capable of maintaining all environmental factors inside your grow room, and comes with a 3-in-1 Temp/Humid/Photocell sensor. 

The TrolMaster Hydro-X controller monitors your growing environment and controls connected devices, such as humidifiers and heaters. Just set the parameters you want to control, and the Hydro-X controller will constantly monitor them. 

When your pre-set parameter value is exceeded, the controller enables the connected device to correct the reading. The controller disables the connected device when the sensor reports the parameters are back within the pre-set parameters.

Suppose you decide to use the TrolMaster Hydro-X Controller to keep your temperatures in check. In which case, you’ll need the TrolMaster DST-2 Temperature Device Station.

The TrolMaster DST-2 Temperature Device Station allows you to connect and control any heating and cooling device with its own 3-pin plug via the TrolMaster Hydro-X controller. The DST-2 Temperature Device Station can manage any heating or cooling device that operates up to 10A at 240 volts.

The DST-2 Temperature Device Station is Plug & Play with everything you need to get going straight away. An LED indicator shows the unit’s power and communication status. The DST-2 communicates with the Hydro-X controller via an RJ12 cable and simply connects via a single button.

The Importance of Temperature Control in the Grow Room

Temperature control gives you a huge advantage growing indoors. It produces consistent results and predictable schedules. Growing inside means you’re not subject to external forces like conventional farmers. The ability to control the temperature indoors allows you to set the ideal “weather conditions”.

Many factors can affect temperature. Examples include the heat intensity of your grow lights, the strength of your air conditioner, and the construction of your grow room. Every type of plant prefers its own precise temperature. To maintain normal conditions, keep temperatures between 25 °C-30 °C during hours of light, and no lower than 20 °C during lights off/night.