Energy of the Phase Change in Condensation -- Where Does it Go?

In general: whatever is providing the "cool" to condense the water is what gets warmed up.

For condensation to continue, heat has to be removed from the greenhouse, else it reaches equilibrium. Glass is opaque to thermal infrared radiation, so I suspect it gets through the glass by conduction.

Moist air is lighter than dry air,so it rises.

It meets with the structure above,which is below the dew point of the air,so it condenses.The dew point will vary based on air temp and humidity.

All of the water vapor that is condensed is a zero sum value,taking as much to cool as was used to heat it,but since this heat is conducted by the aluminum,some of the heat is conducted outside by the aluminum,if the outside is cooler than inside.

The cool water accumulating in the container will absorb some of the heat from the surroundings by conduction, convection,and evaporation.

The vapor will return to the ceiling to be dripped again.

The north side will condense more because of the temperature differential.

The pipes in the ground will help heat the greenhouse in the winter more than they will help cool it in the summer due to the larger temperature difference,provided that they are buried below the frost line.

A large diameter pipe will give better results because the air will have more time to exchange heat with the soil.

If you want to go big time,bury a terracotta pipe below the frost line,and it will provide cooling and heating for your whole house,but plan on going below the frost line and at least 500 linear feet of 6 inch tile.

The tile will absorb moisture,absorb odors,and remain at about 55 degrees F all year long.Just make sure you do not enter the water table in your area.

Good luck.

<...what happens to the heat released in condensation?...>

It has transferred to a cooler medium outside the greenhouse, such as:

• Cold air passing
• Outer space
• Raindrops
• Snow
• etc.

As always, it goes into the conservation of energy.

Hi, and thank you very much for the comments. I also have a question about the condensation in the plastic air pipe that goes through the water container under the soil. Should I treat the heat it releases as it condenses as independent of the temperature drop as the air travels through the pipe and loses its heat to the water or is it just part of the temperature drop as the heat is transferred to the water as the air cools? I

Image went in sideways, sorry.

Anyway, the computer fan blows air down into the black plastic pipe, that goes down into the water compartment and under the water and then returns the air to the greenhouse at the other end of the planter. And this one inserted sideways too!

Ps. I edited them on the computer and they still won't go in correctly. Sorry!

When full, the water comes up to within 2 inches of the wood above so it completely covers the black pipe. And I have a syphon that collects and takes out condensation from the pipe. It's typically 50 or 60 ml per day. The fan is powered by a solar panel and its output varies. The air temperature typically drops by about 8 degrees C from when it enters into the black plastic pipe to when it comes out at the other end of the planter. I measured the greenhouse and it contains 20.3 cubic meters of air. I also took down (from the web) the amounts of water in saturated air at different temperatures. So, the greenhouse air can contain max 191 g water at 10C, 260 g at 15C, 352g at 20c, 447g at 2r C and 618g at 30C. I don't have the figures with me but I think I estimated about 5 watts being transferred as the air cooled and about 3 watts for approximately 12 hours produced by the condensation. But again, I don't know how much of the 3 watts from condensation gets conducted to the water outside the pipe and how much gets lost to the air being blown through the pipe. It's probably a difficult question and maybe not a practical one but attempts to answer it are welcomed. Thanks, Brian