Looks good to me. You'll cover the top, right?

Looks good to me. You'll cover the top, right?

top will be covered and at this point I think I'll shrink wrap it from top to bottom with a little venting to help moisture.

I'm just getting sick of pulling heavy doors out of my shed. They take up a ton of space and the original ones are getting to the point where they're separating and I foresee rotting. With these drums, I can toss them out behind the shed and not worry about them over summer.

There's some tweaking that I foresee needing to be done, so I'm thinking doing one this year to get my system in place.

Then all that is left is the electric heat in there to keep it from getting too cold, but not hot. I like pipe heating tape, but most here use c9 (incandescent) christmas lights on a thermocube.

Pretty cool, that should do it. Those drums will cut down the wind chill bigtime. The fronds on the inside should have a frost cloth around them, wound snugly. Only thing I see, if the fronds touch the cold drum plastic they will get frost burnt for sure. Shrink wrap the outside with vents, and C9's around the base as you said, and then add mulch to the outside perimeter, and you're golden.

I used these very same plastic drums last winter much like you described. I didn't stack them. Some I left the bottom and just turned them upside down. Others I did cut top and bottom off and used tinted plexiglass over the top. For the palm that were more exposed to windy conditions I used 5ft pieces of rebar and pounded into the ground two feet right next to the barrel then simply used a ratcheting strap to hold barrel tight. For the taller palms I simply took a longer piece of 1 inch PVC and slid it over the rebar and used the straps further up using the PVC as support extension to the rebar.

The issue?? storage of the barrels in the off season. I have a lot of palms to protect now. I can get the barrels from work easy enough but looks unsightly piled up next to my shed outside.

In my case, this year with the wrapping, i will add some fiberglass insulation ( 2-3 inches) around the foliage to prevent the leaves to touch directly the cold enclosure. That caused a few burn tips on the exterior leaves of the palms, expecialy with the Trachy's. Did not have burn tips on the Butia. maybe because the leaves on the Butia are smaller and resist more when touching the cold enclosure 😕 ...
With that, those palms will be ok and hope they will not have dommage next winters 😉 ...

Ben

I may try to see if spray able foam will stick to the inside of the barrel. Don't think it will, but would be added measure of insulation.

I like Beny's idea, however I would use the Roxul (fire, water and mold proof) insulation, instead of the standard pink. Besides its not fiberglass, where the micro-chard's won't splinter inside the fronds, causing further damage.

I agree also, the Pindo leaves seems to be more resistant to the enclosure surface.

905, what specific type of Roxul insulation do you use? I GOOGLED it, and there are various types.

I've always liked the idea of using "BAT" insulation, but feared moisture retention and mold.

Scott

Hi Scott, Comfortboard, I've attached the link below. They are found at lowes.
I find the easy to store as they are somewhT rigid and small enough to handle easily. They can be pliable as well to a certain degree.
It maybe worth a try.

http://www.roxul.com/files/RX-NA_EN/pdf/Brochures%20and%20Sell%20Sheets/Residential/ComfortBoard%20IS%20Basement.pdf

Thanks, so this is a semi rigid "board" type insulation?

I will still use plastic barrels for first level protection, but as you know has NO insulation value, so am looking for something to line the barrel with.

Thanks!

Scott

Just a thought ... but if you doubled up the cut barrels and placed insulation in between them would that be an option. (Not sure how many barrells you have access to) But in essence you would have an insulated barrel

Very true...the key still is to use insulation that won't get saturated with wetness.

and then shrink wrap the sides and fasten some type of top to cover and also be able to vent it.

The more i'm thinking of this the more it is making sense.

If I only had access to these barrells.

The cut length wise would allow some flexibility and rebar or something pounded in ground would give it stability.