#hotcompost

[michaelpaulhenderson]

Getting the pile hot! #hotcompost #theparkwaygarden #michaelpaulhenderson https://www.instagram.com/p/CRZP9FzFwGM/?utm_medium=tumblr

[diguplondon]

Steaming hot compost on the New Year’s day! 2019 will be a good year ;) #compost #composting #hotcompost #bokashi #bokashicomposting #organic #growyourfood #steaming #sustainable #effectivemicroorganisms #savetheplanet #returntoearth #exciting https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGY25DH1D-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=32949ae5rbh

[hollylchase]

I missed turning my compost on Thursday 😳 (shifting gravel instead), so did it yesterday. Pile 1 seemed to be only 30-ish degrees but a deeper delve got about 50. Pile 2 was about 40. I thought that was a bit low so added some more greens as I turned it. Both piles are the minimum dimensions so I had the brain wave of combining them. Don’t know whether this was a good idea but we’ll see. Today it was about 30 degrees after a small dig into it but I finally covered it to keep the rain off. Hoping the temperature goes up in the next few days.

Today I turned out my normal compost bin to try and speed that up so I’m back to two piles again.

[modernharvestfarms]

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#compost #cookingcompost #sterilesubstrate #hotcompost

[hollylchase]

Day 7, 2nd turning of pile 1. Slightly lower temperature, getting quite dark in the centre. The outside was a bit crispy because of the hot weather but added more water as I turned it. Still pretty warm once I’d finished.

You can see the difference in colour in pile 2 (final photo) and a really high temperature. Do I need to add something to cool it down?

[hollylchase]

Day 5, first turning day for pile 1, and pile 2 started.

[hollylchase]

Day 4. It’s working!

[tettura]

Hot compost! - heat your shower water, or even your home!

Certain kinds of compost generates heat. By running a length of piping through a big compost pile, you can thermally couple a compost pile with your shower or your home heating system. This guy is experimenting with connecting an old-fashioned radiator on the second floor of his house to a compost pile outdoors. The water circulates by natural convection (thermal siphon), and the experiment seems reasonably successful. 

Interesting notes:

The temperature on the cold-weather side of the pile was up to 20 C colder than the other side. Next time they might experiment with using hay bales to insulate the pile better.

The thermal siphon totally worked! One interesting detail was that everywhere the pipe travelled horizontally, they gave it a slight rise to maximize the thermal rise effect. 

Here are some notes on heat generation with hot composting : http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html