Jamie Tunistra

Photo courtesy of Modine

Greenhouse Management: From your perspective on the industry, what are some of the options available to growers for heating?

Jamie Tunistra: It really just depends on the grower. If they’re growing in the winter, then I’d say they should be looking at a high-efficiency heater. I say that because their growing periods are longer — more money and more time are spent growing plants in colder seasons. Given the fact that one of the biggest expenses is fuel, that matters. They’ll get the biggest bang for their buck. ... If their season is shorter, maybe they don’t want to invest in such a high-efficient unit that’s higher in price, they can look at a mid-efficient unit. We make a specific mid-efficient unit for the greenhouse. You could switch those out, but that’s my recommendation to get the biggest bang for your buck.

GM: What are your recommendations on how to maintain your heater?

JT: The average life for heating equipment — and this is a broad stroke — is around 15 years. It could be 10 years and some people get 20, 25 years. It depends on the usage and on maintenance. In order to make equipment last longer — and this applies to anything mechanical — you want to maintain it. Every year, growers need to have these units inspected and cleaned and tuned up. One, it’s to get the best fuel savings you can when it’s operating cleanly. But it’s also to intercept any issues that could cause the unit to fail in the future. In the greenhouse world, this is even more critical. It’s a harsh environment with high humidity and chemicals being sprayed. You want to make sure these units are being tended to once a year to be sure and maybe more often.

GM: As far as maintenance goes, how much can growers actually do themselves, and when should they consult a heating professional?

JT: Any time you’re dealing with a gas-firing piece of equipment, you want to have a licensed contractor. That’s the most important thing with this equipment. There are a lot of do-it-yourselfers out there that can do a lot of this stuff on their own, but when you have to do the measurements of gas and checking for proper combustion, it’s critical to have a licensed contractor out there to do a check. At Modine, we provide checklists for maintenance that growers can follow and that’ll help them hit their key points. It’ll get the things that are most critical to check in front of them. A savvy greenhouse owner can do something like a visual check on their own just to make sure throughout the year that the units are functioning properly. And that’s good. But when you are into voltage and gas pressure, a licensed professional is necessary.