I have a similar problem, or at least I will have when I get my greenhouse built.
It's really not a huge deal to run power underground in outdoor rated plastic conduit... And by all means do use a ground fault circuit interrupter like dcarch said! You wouldn't need the heat very often, but the electricity would be useful for other things like lights and timers.
For my situation, it seems like a small propane heater fits the bill better than electric. I'm in north Arkansas, and we get a total of about two weeks or so when I'd have to run it (solar heat would do for the rest of the time.) Seems like in zone 8 it would be even less. You can get a little burner that screws on top of a small bottle, or use something like a turkey fryer or camp stove that uses the propane grill type refillable bottle. Depends how big your hoophouse is...
When I worked at a nursery in zone 7, we used a propane grill to heat a 40 x 100 greenhouse to about 55 degrees...
|