Great plan man! Traditional scandinavian log homes had the downstairs as a barn so the heat from the animals and the compost too would help to heat the house from below. Heating with compost is a time honoured tradition
@@createvision8109 Wood mostly. The times when they had the animals in their house and not barn, is quite some time ago, and the ones who lived this small, they had other worries than smell, I promise you. I.e. Winter.
Yes. Actually a problem with old barns is that the dirt cellar freezes, cracks and get destroyed in the winter after they stopped having animals there.
Move the pile closer to the house to reduce any loses in the long lines. Use an insulated box. Put the coil in the top lid so it catches the rising heat. Lid lifts off with coil attached and you can stir the pile. Put your air circulation pump on a t-stat. Check out ink bird.
Nice pile and great job making this work in practice. I've been doing compost heating of greenhouse for several years (with a much smaller pile). Tried "active aeration" one year and it failed - when I opened up the pile, the compost was really dried out around the aeration pipe. I have had great luck in cold climates covering piles with a tarp. Pile retains much more moisture, and I have no ammonia or loss of pile temperature. In general, I think the "experts" vastly overestimate the need for aeration in general.
@@0lazar0 Here was my final compost-heated greenhouse implementation (from 2020): ruclips.net/video/eMHbHAKeMC0/видео.html If it is possible, I would build a large, COVERED compost pile INSIDE your greenhouse. You will want to cover it to keep ammonia and humidity out of the greenhouse (you can vent the compost pile). I don't think you will need to bother adding a heat exchanger to your compost pile. I would have preferred to build a pile inside my greenhouse, but the greenhouse was too small. My compost pile was also too small to stay hot for a long period of time.
@@MorganBrown good idea,mine green houses are big (like this one on profile picture) Good sugestions thank you man Im going to make compost pile inside greenhouse and make smaler greenhouse inside First one for better insulation and for protection from ammonia It gonna heat for 2-3 months then i can remove it because it will be warm outside
In The Netherlands farmers used to pile compost against the outside walls of their home to heat the walls and thus the inside of the house. That way you can remove a couple of the steps you made.
Jeroen Kuiper -- Ancient dwellings found all around the world were made out of Stone and wood , piling compost in the area around those monolithic buildings would be very smart . Unfortunately in the United States around the end of World War 2 , housing manufacturing switched from good base materials to cheaper more" stick " built designs , as a result "old world " solutions will need a " little " help in order to work .
Thank you for sharing this technique. Is there a traditional name or terminology for this practice I may Google? I'm interested to look at illustrations and considerations about the roof / rainfall and angle towards the sun.
I love some videos about compost. Please keep us updated on the pile. This thing is going to have lots of benefits for you from free heat to fertile soil amendment in the spring. Additionally, you may be able to get a hold of some old used solar panels to run those fans and heatpump. I am going to subscribe in hopes that you update on the compost pile. Have a great winter!
It’s 3 degrees outside here in Michigan.....I keep my manure spreader.in the barn with the horse stalls......it heats the barn to the point the water buckets don’t freeze
Like one other commenter said I had access to a tree service chipped waste, mixed 50/50 straw and manure and sold compost after 6 months. I found four 8 ft 4in pvc with cross holes drilled in it standing up aerated the pile well. Great idea sir! Also I had an old mercedes 123 WD wagon that I ran exclusively on atf from a friends shop where he built transmissions. Great money saving ideas you have and a great video to boot! Thanks!
I live in a 1890-1915 house, I had insulation blown in in 95, single pane windows on downstairs from 1915, last year I salvaged 2" foam board from a construction site and screwed it to the north wall of my house, then I went to Lowe's a couple of times and got 2" styrofoam 4X8 rigid insulation and finished up the 30' X 20' part of my house, so that was 80' of foam board, I used 200 gallons less propane in that year. This year I've done 60' of the north and west wall of my house, I actually boarded up the single pane windows with foam, it'll come off in the warmer part of the year. It's warmer in the house, I'll find out in Sept what my propane use was at the Co-op. I'm hoping it's going to be less. Great vid of compost.
A 19th century mill owner in northwest UK use the same idea on a grand scale, combine with green houses grew Pineapples through winter. Great set up. Cheers
Now that the pile has enough moisture I would put hay bales on top to insulate more and keep your heat in. Also would put the pipes in the ground and cover with hay bales. Bridges freeze before roads because the cold air surrounds it. Ground is an insulator.
I was just about to comment this. Dig a trench a minimum of 6 feet down and run the tubes through that. It'll help with heat loss. You could even have the tubes run underground under the pile too and if you have it running in reverse in the summer it'll heat the ground and you'll be able to use that heat later in the cold seasons. Sort of like a combo of compost and geothermal heat
@@shanebep3135 or just run a line of hay bales to the house cut a channel in the top put pipes in then run a line of bales ontop of that, super insulated pipes then
@@shanebep3135 If you can dig the pipes down to 6 feet depending on your location forget the hay bales and just dig lots of holes and install geothermal.
cold ground is a major heat conductor for the negative... unless you're well down. That's why when you camp out, you always want to get a thermal break between your sleeping pad and the ground - before you pile up on top of yourself... entirely possible a doubled over blanket will warm you more by reducing conduction into the ground.
@@lylestavast7652 apples and oranges. On the ground with a blanket vs hovering in the air with a blanket on top of you. There is a reason bridges freeze before roadways. One side of the road is insulated by the earth. The both sides of the bridge are exposed to cold air.
@@macinfloydvolk because ... you know.....it was prob built 80 years ago. Back in the day people used to use glass bottles that trap air, besides that....they didnt have no spray foam, no fiberglass pads....times change Scott.
@@macinfloydvolk horsehair plaster was used not only as strong wall material, but the wooden slats behind and the horse hair plaster does help a little bit to retain heat. The houses in the town i live in, are old coal mining houses and they are all built that way. Adding insulation certainly helps!!
Compost heating hit my radar a couple of years ago, it really seems like a superb way to heat. Not only do you get the heat for your dwelling/buildings, but you have a pile of excellent growing medium come Spring. Have you read the work of Jean Pain? He did an extensive amount of experimentation with compost heating. His piles were enormous, he eventually figured out that chipped wood was best primary ingredient, for compost piles built for long-term heat. I've wondered about how I might build my heap, especially the Pex coils. I've often thought that, because heat rises, that I would position them closer to the top of the pile, with some way of insulating the top, controlling the release of heat from the pile. The thought was to keep the hose in a place that would facilitate turning the heap, midway, mixing in/on more biomass, to keep the party going, as it ran out of fuel. I like your aeration solution, I'll likely mimic it, when I am able to start building my pile. I actually thought my flluid lines would suck enough heat from the pile to control temperatures within, good to know a little extra cool air is needed. Thanks for the video, I hope you keep developing this, looks like a win-win.
i understood Jean Pain, used wood chips because he was a forester and by taking the underbrush from the trees he protected his forest from the fires that are invigorated by the mistral winds in the south of france.
I'm impressed! Consider using 55 Gal drums that can be easily turn. Having the drums filled up at different times COULD give a more even temperature range and it would be easier to empty the spent ones, use the composted material as fertilizer, and refill with fresh fuel. Having several smaller units could also help you get them closer to the rooms where you need the heat. Having drums could also allow you to connect the hoses in series or parallel so you can adapt your system to the space requirements. My SWAG is that each drum would provide anywhere from three to six months of good heat for an average sized bedroom or shower. Keeping a greenhouse above freezing probably would be better with the open pit concept. Thanks for sharing!
I used to have a compost pile that I covered with straw in the corner of my horse's pen and on cold winter days he would stand in the pile with his blanket on. He was toasty warm. On warmer days I'd turn the pile to aerate where he tamped down the pile. In Colorado.
I do tree work for a living and find my chipped loads with a good proportion of green leaves mixed in with the chip make the hottest load compared to a brown load of mainly wood chips, they heat up too if left, just not as fast or as hot as the greener loads.....I only leave a load on the truck max 2 days ( over a weekend) or its proper steaming .....always wondered if it could be worth trying something like this.....
Find the local arborists that would be glad to dump their loads at your house vs. carting to the dump. A farmer that would donate some cow or pig or horse poop...
They do have methane gas recovery from landfill sites and generate electricity and sell to the grid cos I went for a job at one once.....but don't know if generated heat would last as long...?
Great idea!! But I do have a couple suggestions. 1. Put the compost pile under ground. It'll help insulate the heat better. 2. Set your coil on cement blocks or something. Eventually the compost will settle causing the coil to eventually be on the ground. 3. Bury the lines going to the house below the frost line. 4. Cover the top of the pile.
I am a homesteader in the south of Sweden. I built in my cabin a mass heater magazinewith bricks and clay, still unfinished, and I plan to insert heat from a compost pile into it. Most of the information in Europe of these solutions comes out of Germany, they call it "BioMeiler" and since I don´t speak german I have hard time finding good info. I consider using instead of water pipes (since I have no indoor water radiators) metal rods of aluminum, insulated the same way you insulate. Though this is a smaller and simpler version of a remote heating system used in cities here in Scandinavia I am a bit uncertain if it is sufficient to distribute the heat correctly. However, the solution with the fan sending air into the pile was genius. The mix with straw and manure is the best? I have seen others using wood chips (I believe that is what the Germans use) Many thanks for the detailed video and kind regards from Alingsås, Sweden
@@user-bl5zi1vb4p web.archive.org/web/20171026012050/www.compostpower.org/sites/default/files/Design%20Guide%203.pdf found this . great info green woodchips and saw dust is the best and last the longest. woodchips take up to 2 years to break down. not much mass in manure and hay. 1 part wood chips 1 part sawdust .5 parts manure
this work was pioneered by Jean Pain in the south of france in the 60ties. there is a video of german people interviewing him and one of them has english subtitles :)
When I was at Pragtree farm (where TILTH started) we heated our hot tub the whole winter with compost, It was similar except we used wood chips and manure, The wood chips create a longer lasting heat, We also had the pex tubing coiled several times through the pile rather than once,
I am putting in a 24'x12'x7 ft tall wood chip and horse manure compost pile this weekend with 400 ft of poly in it. Gonna heat my 1000 sq ft shop floor. I will let you know.
Good luck with your project. Having your home insulated with blow in foam and sealing it up is a worthwhile investment and it will make your alternative heat sources much more practical. It makes a tremendous difference for me for both heating and air conditioning.
Paul wheaton has a video on his channel on this topic. Nice to see someone trying it. I am going to buils an outdoor bathroom that uses this method to heat water for a shower. Next year you would get alot more heat from your pile if you put it closer to your home. Just a suggestion, thanks for doing this and sharing to the masses!
The algorithm might have chosen you. I got this video suggested to me, prepare for a potential incoming storm of subs. Also this is a great idea. I'm getting a property in the next few years I'll probably set something up like this.
Man... you deserve way more followers! This is freaking amazing! This is the type of stuff I love and have always wanted to try. Love your content, keep up the good work!
Great video . I'm trying to make hot compost to heat my biogas digesters. The digesters make enough biogas to power my small gas generator. My food scraps power things are my house pretty cool.
@@blackranch7883 nope the generator used to be gasoline. I dropped the gas tank and carburetor. I put the biogas line right into where the carburetor used to be. The motor starts right up. I’ve got a few videos on my RUclips channel showing how I run the system. Pretty cool. Biogas and hot compost are the way to go. Free energy
Hey dude very cool I love your basic concept I think for your cold times possibly a dark tarp some big rocks you can pull the tarp over your compost pile how the Rocks around the edge of it to hold it down in the Wind and keep some of that heat in your compost pile when it's really cold great idea thank you for the video
We heat our nursery this way and it does a good job. Compost pile will roll steady at 130°F / 54°C for over a year. We use woodchips and leaves and inoculate with microbes and due to this it doesnt run as hot or go anaerobic. Would love to compare notes with you.
What a great idea!!. I'm in forsure, I could use this for our chicken coops in the winter and a section of the garage for my trapping/ skinning area. ?, I live in the U.P of Michigan and winters can get really cold. How hot is staying in the dead of winter?. You mentioned it was 38 outside at the time of the video and that was 3 months ago, hope to hear back from you.
Super cool!!! I have always wanted to do that. I would think that if your pile was four times bigger than that, you should get 120* out of that radiator for several months. That's just a guess. I would also build the pile closer to the house. I would love to know what the temperate of the water is when in leaves the radiator? The reason for that would be that maybe it would be more efficient if you ran the water more slowly. That could maybe allow the water to heat up a little more while going through the pile? I also wonder if the diameter of the pipe would have an affect on the efficiency?
Definitely looking forward to some update videos. I just uploaded a video of my little setup on compost hot water. I'm trying to heat my biogas digesters with the compost heat. Your videos has been very helpful. Thanks
I allwase imagined a building with compost piled up on 2 sides like a concrete trailer 8n the middle of a manure shavings bunker lol .it stays hot so y not make it heat your home .love the vid
Why does everyone think that compost piles (for heating) need to be managed on a flat surface? Why not use a box structure with an angle of 45 degrees. Use some big long radiators on the bottom of the box, insert air from between the radiators, and connect the radiators for the hot water flow, Harvest compost from the bottom of the box, reload to the top. No need to mess with pex pipes inside the pile. Just let gravity do the work.
@The PetrO ClaN The 45 degree angle implies you harvest the compost at the bottom and add new material at the top. Gravity should move the material down. All the tubing put in when setting it up on a flat surface will create a lot of work , that I want to avoid. But composting is almost never perfect anyways. A post processing is inevitable and highly recommended if you want the worms and other critters to create a more nutritional compost. Commercial compost manufacturers are focussed on creating max volume and killed pathogens and weed seeds.
This looks like a decent idea for someone who has already upgraded their home and buildings to "draft free", >R-30 ceiling and >R-19 insulation in the walls, double pane windows and efficient insulated non conductive doors. Without those items being done, whatever energy you pour into the house isn't going to stick around for very long. Also, when your pile iniyially heats up you will reach a peak temperature early on, with declining temperatures begining soon after. In order to maintain an event temperature for weeks or months, you will need to get a couple or four compost pile thermometers, the ones with the long spike to reach the center of the pile. Perhaps one in the middle and one a little more shallow. Record these temps daily or weekly. You can add temperature probes to the inlet and outlet lines from and two the pile and your heat exchanger(s) inside. This will relate your pile's profile for heating. Elaine Ingham is a compost guru and PhD holder on building compost and studying soils. The waste oil idea isn't bad if you have a reburning stove to promote complete combustion of what you are burning -a hot fire is essentialand a secondaty reburner as well. The orfice you are using to introduce the oils into the stove/ furnace, should be for a lean fire, supplemented by wood or wood products. Back to the compost: I am at 39°N latitude and 900' elevation so the heat now comes on from ~Nov. 1 - Mar. 31. The temps get down close to or below freezing from Dec.1 - Feb. 28. If you build three zones of pile with three loops of tubing and a manibfold valve tieing them together, you can wet each zone to heat up when needed and use them throughout the coldest months. You can put any one zone in service and turn it if you like. As the winter tales off, turn them all and transport to another location to complete the process. Then repeat for next year. These compost heat sources can be used to heat greenkouses or hoop houses also. Are you using a tank inside to store your heated water? Are therd other heat sources to the tank? Wood heat boiler, lpg furnace, solar collectors? If so, you can coordinate inputs by temperature needed to keep the residence and buildings comfortable. Use the air draft on the wood furnace set point. Use the pump current set point from the compost loops annd solar collectors. Lpg should be the last resort due to expense. Great video. Thanks.
You could alternatively make "chimneys" by using a brush handle. Stick the handle into the pile, wiggle it about to make a hole, do that in several spots and you'll get air into the pile
I am glad you know what are you doing. Just few questions As the bacteria grows heat is generated and piles gets shrunk,do you keep adding high nitrogen (manure or high quality hay) or you just let it cool off .if you let the pile cool off how long can you heat the area (of what size) ? What is the dimensions of your pile? Make sure moisture is not more then 50% in the pile.
this is brilliant, 100ft of tubing for heat exchange & your key air perforated tubing & genius free heat any1 can do this on a smaller or larger scale too, & if needed hve a solar box back the mulch pile up in super cold climates. Love this great idea 189 comment showing. 160 degs is ideal ck to keep it going, not too hot or cold.
Seems like burying the lines deep underground for the winter cold would help get hotter air to the home. Also an inkbird thermostat that is for beer brewing would be cool in the fan box. Throw the probe in the compost. If the pile gets to hot it will automatically turn on the fan. With a pile 3times that size and insulation in your home. Might not even need an oil burner. My question: how long will a pile last?
If you make holes in the pile from top to bottom, 1 foot spacing, using a blunt wooden pole like a broom stick, that will let the air in. Push the pole in and 'stir' it around a bit to open the hole up. Plus cover it with a tarp.
Hi Random Farmer, With winter over how well did your pile perform? What design changes can you come up with to improve turning the compost? Cheers, Bill
And, you've answered a significant question for me. With waste vegetable oil, it's pretty straightforward to turn that into biodiesel. But what to do with animal fat wasted like butter, lard, and beef tallow? It seems that you're saying you can burn it for heat. That would be optimal, and I am very intrigued. Of course, if you can turn any type of waste grease into fuel, it's carbon-neutral...or better. Depending on circumstances, using animal fats for fuel can't for sure be better that dumping it in the land fill, because, one: it's serving another important energy purpose during it's break-down cycle...which is INCREDIBLE, and, two, this hydrocarbon is being used in an aerobic way as opposed to an anaerobic way, which produces much nastier waste
It's more material, but setting the system up as radiant floor heating with a radiator like your current setup would be really cozy on the feet. I'd only setup the radiant heating in the highest traffic areas. Definitely bury your lines below frost level, as applicable. It's 3' where I live ... :)
Hey Grom, Paul Wheaton has a bunch of videos on his RUclips channel, and at richsoil.com . In one of them he talks to a guy that has woofers (people that come to work, in exchange for food and board and experience). In that video, the guy talks about using a compost pile for showers, the pile is good for over 500 showers, and some cold water needs to be mixed in to cool the compost water down.
Hi farmer, the heating thing in your house is a convector- stead a radiator.....-so it doesn't 'radiate' heat. It needs some duct to make the air stream past it thus warming up the air.... greets Paul.
I will not be building another. I had my fun but found the whole thing to be very impractical. There's a reason this isn't more wide spread despite what many other channels may tell you. It's a great concept but the heat you will extract doesn't make up for the labor and engineering required.
Wow Fantastic Used in that same coiling and tubing methodology you can dig deeper down into the ground where the temperature is stabilized at around 68 degrees and coil 3in corrugated pipeline back and forth back and forth back and forth in an array and just pumped that into your house and it will give you year-round climate control
Arduino or STM microcontroller, DS18B20, an opto-isolator + relay, and you could create your own temperature control. Add a wifi chip to the Arduino and you could have remote temperature, and pile humidity monitoring/control, all from a smart phone or computer or separate Arduino base station.
Is that a 1/12hp circulating pump? I found one online that's 1.75 Amps, 115v which would pull ~200W. That + the fan which I'm guessing probably runs 100W when it's really going, would put you at 300W/hr. A small solar array that's 640 kW would probably be able to keep you nice and toasty, and off-grid. Also, your 50ft or so run on those pipes probably burns a lot of heat, putting it closer to the home would save you plenty. Great video!
AWESOME!! And totally DO-ABLE for anyone!! THANK you>>>I will definitely try this next winter when I have more animal manure available. VERY cool>>>>or should I say WARM!!
You can do this for hot water as well just need some copper coils. You can also cool the house with geo thermal by digging a trench in the ground over 2’ under and run pipe through it for free cooling
I'm very interested in this. I live in Ireland. It's so wet and cold here. I'd like to run a few radiators off off it. Is that possible? Thank you for the information
Over all a good idea. Have you had it catch fire yet? How do you mitigate against the pile getting too hot? Wet or green hay can spontaneously combust. I’ve known a few farmers who had barns burn down because hay was a little wet when it was put up. Also know someone who had a chicken manure compost pile in a barn which caught fire.
Get 2 friends over and spend 4 hours blowing insulation in , and you will really be pleased with the difference. Patching the walls after is not a big deal. Just do it, it was the best thing I did.
Cool Idea. Ive always been interested in ideas like these. What is the trade off? As you are using electricity to run the pump , fan and the ventilation for the pile?
Nice job! If you put a heat pump on that thing, you'd get a boiling hot house. ;) And like Jase wrote: insulation should really be the highest priority. I don't know if you can get "glass wool" and what price it is at your place, but it's better and usually also cheaper than rockwool. Besides, rockwool is bad for your lungs. Foam insulation is very bad for you as well. I live in Scandinavia, we can get Lambda 37 glasswool for around $3,50 per square meter. Best type as of this writing is Lambda 30, but Lambda 37 is not bad at all.
That was fantastic, how did it work out for you the rest of the winter? I am considering doing that but to hear water and get hot water into the house. what do you think?
I have gotten it to about 146 degrees f on a warmer sunny day. Its an inline circulator pump like whats on a boiler system. Thanks for the interest, looking to do an update soon as some things have changed.
@@therandomfarmer4231 I was kind of wondering how you got the air out of your lines. I assume it’s a closed loop system. Again I truly think that was a great video, to the point and very helpful. I’m in the process of making a smaller system to heat my biogas digesters. Keep these compost heating videos coming. Thanks
I just made one of these compost heating systems in Auchencairn, Scotland for domestic hot water, using grass and weeds. It measures 1,8m x 1.8m - 6ft x 6ft; and has a circular circumference of 6 metres - 18 linear feet. I have installed 25 metres of PEX pipe to collect any heat from the compost, which will be gravity fed from a higher set storage tank..
@@Happy.Chappy Sadly the central core of the heating area in the compost died off, as I may have put too much nitrogen fertiliser into my water activater mix? I disconnected both of the water feed inflow pipes, and connected them up to a surface 0.900 x 0.600 solar heat panel, which when the Scottish winter sun is out, can heat the water temperature up from +6° to +28°..
@@jeffreybresnahan I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps it was too wet or not enough air in there? Don't give up! I plan to experiment with compost for heating myself. May even start a channel to document the findings and discuss with like minded people in the comments. I'll let you know if I do. Solar and wind power are also an interest, with cheap/easy/DIY in mind. Your panel sounded like it did ok!
@@Happy.Chappy You can use a small 12volt DC solar powered pump, with a simple 12 volt solar panel for the circulation of your water? I will use both less water for wetting down next time, and cattle slurry for the nitrogen activator rather than fertiliser. Just to note that within ten day's of first activation, it was heating up the water temperature to over 30° Centigrade, prior to my adding the fertilizer mix and it failing?
@@jeffreybresnahan just to be clear, I'm a complete novice myself. Just in the research phase right now. My understanding is the compost will fail if: It's too wet It's too dry Not enough air Not enough carbon (browns) Not enough nitrogen (greens) I also wonder what was in the fertiliser you added? Certain substances and chemicals will slow down or kill the good bacteria we need to heat up the pile. The solar panel and pump is a great idea if it's necessary. I'm hoping I can get my set up to passively circulate, using the rising heat and falling cold of the water (I think it's called a thermo-siphon?).
Hi, we started with our bioreactor two days ago and it is now over 70°C. We cool it with water down to 55°C. It is only Sheep manure and straw and we want to add some leaves and autumn stuff. How long your bioreactor was at 60°C? We are worried if our high temperature will kill the system and stop heating
I'm impressed for sure. I have a question for you. I had seen others do 3 sets of coils. Like they put a coils, then compost, then a coils, then compost. I'm sure you know what I mean. Anyways, do you feel layering them like this is a more efficient system or just a bigger pain in the ass LOL. We live in Michigan so it gets damn cold. I'm asking these questions because I would prefer to run 1 coil like you did but I want to heat my house with it without running any other system. One more stupid question, do you feel it would be more beneficial to build a smaller system and put a top on it? I noticed you didn't have a top, is this standard procedure not having a top? Thank you for your video. I hope to hear back from you. However I see now that it was a year ago you made this video I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.
This was 1 long coil that has been layered between bottom, middle and top. I would just make a few loops then add compost than continue a loop on top of that until it's evenly looped through the whole pile but it's only one large section of tubing. A thick layer of straw and leaves was my top as it insulated the pile very well but still allowed it to breathe. Hopefully this was helpful.
Karen from the HoA would like to speak with you
Hoa should be against the law. Most unAmerican thing ever.
Btw you can end an HOA with 2/3rds vote.
Haha
🤣🤣🤣❤️
HOA’s are the Karens of the community.
Great plan man!
Traditional scandinavian log homes had the downstairs as a barn so the heat from the animals and the compost too would help to heat the house from below. Heating with compost is a time honoured tradition
Didnt it smell in the house? What was the floor made if?
In scotland too!
@@createvision8109 Wood mostly. The times when they had the animals in their house and not barn, is quite some time ago, and the ones who lived this small, they had other worries than smell, I promise you. I.e. Winter.
Yes. Actually a problem with old barns is that the dirt cellar freezes, cracks and get destroyed in the winter after they stopped having animals there.
We know.
Move the pile closer to the house to reduce any loses in the long lines. Use an insulated box. Put the coil in the top lid so it catches the rising heat. Lid lifts off with coil attached and you can stir the pile. Put your air circulation pump on a t-stat. Check out ink bird.
Add insulation to the house too, otherwise it's just getting pumped in and disappearing into the universe as quick as it gets there
Pile could catch on fire and burn house down if it’s too close.
What about when it will be necessary to remove the pipes and renew the pile? Any suggestions?
Nice pile and great job making this work in practice. I've been doing compost heating of greenhouse for several years (with a much smaller pile). Tried "active aeration" one year and it failed - when I opened up the pile, the compost was really dried out around the aeration pipe. I have had great luck in cold climates covering piles with a tarp. Pile retains much more moisture, and I have no ammonia or loss of pile temperature. In general, I think the "experts" vastly overestimate the need for aeration in general.
Hi man i want to try this thing to heat my greenhouse (dimensions 8x40 meters) do you have any advise for beginer 😁
@@0lazar0 Here was my final compost-heated greenhouse implementation (from 2020): ruclips.net/video/eMHbHAKeMC0/видео.html If it is possible, I would build a large, COVERED compost pile INSIDE your greenhouse. You will want to cover it to keep ammonia and humidity out of the greenhouse (you can vent the compost pile). I don't think you will need to bother adding a heat exchanger to your compost pile. I would have preferred to build a pile inside my greenhouse, but the greenhouse was too small. My compost pile was also too small to stay hot for a long period of time.
@@MorganBrown good idea,mine green houses are big (like this one on profile picture)
Good sugestions thank you man
Im going to make compost pile inside greenhouse and make smaler greenhouse inside First one for better insulation and for protection from ammonia
It gonna heat for 2-3 months then i can remove it because it will be warm outside
@@0lazar0 Good Luck!
@@MorganBrown thanks 🤝
In The Netherlands farmers used to pile compost against the outside walls of their home to heat the walls and thus the inside of the house.
That way you can remove a couple of the steps you made.
Jeroen Kuiper -- Ancient dwellings found all around the world were made out of Stone and wood , piling compost in the area around those monolithic buildings would be very smart . Unfortunately in the United States around the end of World War 2 , housing manufacturing switched from good base materials to cheaper more" stick " built designs , as a result "old world " solutions will need a " little " help in order to work .
Thank you for sharing this technique. Is there a traditional name or terminology for this practice I may Google? I'm interested to look at illustrations and considerations about the roof / rainfall and angle towards the sun.
Why not just have a short "basement" under the home where leaf & straw can be piled in, with an air insulation layer above and below the leaf layer.
I love some videos about compost. Please keep us updated on the pile. This thing is going to have lots of benefits for you from free heat to fertile soil amendment in the spring. Additionally, you may be able to get a hold of some old used solar panels to run those fans and heatpump. I am going to subscribe in hopes that you update on the compost pile. Have a great winter!
It’s 3 degrees outside here in Michigan.....I keep my manure spreader.in the barn with the horse stalls......it heats the barn to the point the water buckets don’t freeze
Like one other commenter said I had access to a tree service chipped waste, mixed 50/50 straw and manure and sold compost after 6 months. I found four 8 ft 4in pvc with cross holes drilled in it standing up aerated the pile well. Great idea sir! Also I had an old mercedes 123 WD wagon that I ran exclusively on atf from a friends shop where he built transmissions. Great money saving ideas you have and a great video to boot! Thanks!
I live in a 1890-1915 house, I had insulation blown in in 95, single pane windows on downstairs from 1915, last year I salvaged 2" foam board from a construction site and screwed it to the north wall of my house, then I went to Lowe's a couple of times and got 2" styrofoam 4X8 rigid insulation and finished up the 30' X 20' part of my house, so that was 80' of foam board, I used 200 gallons less propane in that year. This year I've done 60' of the north and west wall of my house, I actually boarded up the single pane windows with foam, it'll come off in the warmer part of the year. It's warmer in the house, I'll find out in Sept what my propane use was at the Co-op. I'm hoping it's going to be less. Great vid of compost.
Yes, insulation is the way to go. Don't forget to insulate the roof or ceiling. That brings a lot
Don't isolate your water pipes away from the warmer house air,or they will freeze
It has been 3yrs - what has the difference in usage been, if any?
A 19th century mill owner in northwest UK use the same idea on a grand scale, combine with green houses grew Pineapples through winter. Great set up. Cheers
Now that the pile has enough moisture I would put hay bales on top to insulate more and keep your heat in. Also would put the pipes in the ground and cover with hay bales. Bridges freeze before roads because the cold air surrounds it. Ground is an insulator.
I was just about to comment this. Dig a trench a minimum of 6 feet down and run the tubes through that. It'll help with heat loss. You could even have the tubes run underground under the pile too and if you have it running in reverse in the summer it'll heat the ground and you'll be able to use that heat later in the cold seasons. Sort of like a combo of compost and geothermal heat
@@shanebep3135 or just run a line of hay bales to the house cut a channel in the top put pipes in then run a line of bales ontop of that, super insulated pipes then
@@shanebep3135 If you can dig the pipes down to 6 feet depending on your location forget the hay bales and just dig lots of holes and install geothermal.
cold ground is a major heat conductor for the negative... unless you're well down. That's why when you camp out, you always want to get a thermal break between your sleeping pad and the ground - before you pile up on top of yourself... entirely possible a doubled over blanket will warm you more by reducing conduction into the ground.
@@lylestavast7652 apples and oranges. On the ground with a blanket vs hovering in the air with a blanket on top of you. There is a reason bridges freeze before roadways. One side of the road is insulated by the earth. The both sides of the bridge are exposed to cold air.
Interesting video. It sounds like you would benefit from insulating your house.
lol
I mean how does a house NOT have any insulation?
@@macinfloydvolk because ... you know.....it was prob built 80 years ago. Back in the day people used to use glass bottles that trap air, besides that....they didnt have no spray foam, no fiberglass pads....times change Scott.
@@macinfloydvolk Because americans and their cardboard houses
@@macinfloydvolk horsehair plaster was used not only as strong wall material, but the wooden slats behind and the horse hair plaster does help a little bit to retain heat. The houses in the town i live in, are old coal mining houses and they are all built that way. Adding insulation certainly helps!!
Compost heating hit my radar a couple of years ago, it really seems like a superb way to heat. Not only do you get the heat for your dwelling/buildings, but you have a pile of excellent growing medium come Spring.
Have you read the work of Jean Pain? He did an extensive amount of experimentation with compost heating. His piles were enormous, he eventually figured out that chipped wood was best primary ingredient, for compost piles built for long-term heat.
I've wondered about how I might build my heap, especially the Pex coils. I've often thought that, because heat rises, that I would position them closer to the top of the pile, with some way of insulating the top, controlling the release of heat from the pile. The thought was to keep the hose in a place that would facilitate turning the heap, midway, mixing in/on more biomass, to keep the party going, as it ran out of fuel. I like your aeration solution, I'll likely mimic it, when I am able to start building my pile. I actually thought my flluid lines would suck enough heat from the pile to control temperatures within, good to know a little extra cool air is needed.
Thanks for the video, I hope you keep developing this, looks like a win-win.
i understood Jean Pain, used wood chips because he was a forester and by taking the underbrush from the trees he protected his forest from the fires that are invigorated by the mistral winds in the south of france.
I'm impressed! Consider using 55 Gal drums that can be easily turn. Having the drums filled up at different times COULD give a more even temperature range and it would be easier to empty the spent ones, use the composted material as fertilizer, and refill with fresh fuel. Having several smaller units could also help you get them closer to the rooms where you need the heat. Having drums could also allow you to connect the hoses in series or parallel so you can adapt your system to the space requirements. My SWAG is that each drum would provide anywhere from three to six months of good heat for an average sized bedroom or shower. Keeping a greenhouse above freezing probably would be better with the open pit concept. Thanks for sharing!
Love every tick of that temperature probe rising...wow...
How does this video not have a gazillion views! Life changing!
I used to have a compost pile that I covered with straw in the corner of my horse's pen and on cold winter days he would stand in the pile with his blanket on. He was toasty warm. On warmer days I'd turn the pile to aerate where he tamped down the pile. In Colorado.
I do tree work for a living and find my chipped loads with a good proportion of green leaves mixed in with the chip make the hottest load compared to a brown load of mainly wood chips, they heat up too if left, just not as fast or as hot as the greener loads.....I only leave a load on the truck max 2 days ( over a weekend)
or its proper steaming .....always wondered if it could be worth trying something like this.....
I did not know that.
Find the local arborists that would be glad to dump their loads at your house vs. carting to the dump. A farmer that would donate some cow or pig or horse poop...
I could imagine a municipal landfill heating a large building with the heat from rotting debris.
They do have methane gas recovery from landfill sites and generate electricity and sell to the grid cos I went for a job at one once.....but don't know if generated heat would last as long...?
@@mikefeddersen2476 they harvest the gas from it to run generators here and create electricity
Great idea!! But I do have a couple suggestions. 1. Put the compost pile under ground. It'll help insulate the heat better. 2. Set your coil on cement blocks or something. Eventually the compost will settle causing the coil to eventually be on the ground. 3. Bury the lines going to the house below the frost line. 4. Cover the top of the pile.
I totally agree with all of that! I also think the pipe diameter might matter, as well as the speed of the water going through the pipe.
I am a homesteader in the south of Sweden. I built in my cabin a mass heater magazinewith bricks and clay, still unfinished, and I plan to insert heat from a compost pile into it. Most of the information in Europe of these solutions comes out of Germany, they call it "BioMeiler" and since I don´t speak german I have hard time finding good info.
I consider using instead of water pipes (since I have no indoor water radiators) metal rods of aluminum, insulated the same way you insulate. Though this is a smaller and simpler version of a remote heating system used in cities here in Scandinavia I am a bit uncertain if it is sufficient to distribute the heat correctly.
However, the solution with the fan sending air into the pile was genius.
The mix with straw and manure is the best? I have seen others using wood chips (I believe that is what the Germans use)
Many thanks for the detailed video and kind regards from Alingsås, Sweden
hello hay and manure ends after 2 months (my own experience)
@@mehmetkaya2053 - What about mixing manure and wood chips, added big amounts of water on it?
@@user-bl5zi1vb4p web.archive.org/web/20171026012050/www.compostpower.org/sites/default/files/Design%20Guide%203.pdf
found this . great info green woodchips and saw dust is the best and last the longest. woodchips take up to 2 years to break down. not much mass in manure and hay. 1 part wood chips 1 part sawdust .5 parts manure
@@blackranch7883 - Wonderful. Thanks.
this work was pioneered by Jean Pain in the south of france in the 60ties.
there is a video of german people interviewing him and one of them has english subtitles :)
When I was at Pragtree farm (where TILTH started) we heated our hot tub the whole winter with compost, It was similar except we used wood chips and manure, The wood chips create a longer lasting heat, We also had the pex tubing coiled several times through the pile rather than once,
I am putting in a 24'x12'x7 ft tall wood chip and horse manure compost pile this weekend with 400 ft of poly in it. Gonna heat my 1000 sq ft shop floor. I will let you know.
I think in floor heat is the way to go, ill bet you get even better results than I did. Good luck!
Post videoes
@@therandomfarmer4231 how is the heat coming along now? Where are you located?
How did the heated floor go @montana tinbox living
Way to contribute to the cause. I have not had a chance to check out your channel. Yet! But man what a great idea put to use!
Great compost heat video very clear and informational . Any updates on how this is doing would be great thanks.
Good luck with your project. Having your home insulated with blow in foam and sealing it up is a worthwhile investment and it will make your alternative heat sources much more practical. It makes a tremendous difference for me for both heating and air conditioning.
Congratulations on the 1K
Paul wheaton has a video on his channel on this topic. Nice to see someone trying it. I am going to buils an outdoor bathroom that uses this method to heat water for a shower. Next year you would get alot more heat from your pile if you put it closer to your home. Just a suggestion, thanks for doing this and sharing to the masses!
The algorithm might have chosen you. I got this video suggested to me, prepare for a potential incoming storm of subs. Also this is a great idea. I'm getting a property in the next few years I'll probably set something up like this.
You are definitely not from the costs😂😂
I’ve always wanted to try this. Subscribed and waiting on results.
Try putting a plastic tarp over the top. I did and my pile heated up very quick.
It sounds like he has no problem in getting heat in fact he has to cool it down at times
New sub here. That’s a huge compost pile 😀
Man... you deserve way more followers! This is freaking amazing! This is the type of stuff I love and have always wanted to try. Love your content, keep up the good work!
Just a thought here, you could potentially build a cinder block container over your length of hose so you could flip your pile.
Great video . I'm trying to make hot compost to heat my biogas digesters. The digesters make enough biogas to power my small gas generator. My food scraps power things are my house pretty cool.
you dont have to use a converter/regulator to power the genny . I take its a propane genny
@@blackranch7883 nope the generator used to be gasoline. I dropped the gas tank and carburetor. I put the biogas line right into where the carburetor used to be. The motor starts right up. I’ve got a few videos on my RUclips channel showing how I run the system. Pretty cool. Biogas and hot compost are the way to go. Free energy
I always wanted to have an all season greenhouse with two large deep compost trench’s on either side.
We are putting up a green house in the next few weeks and we will be using a compost trench to heat it
This is the best thing ever. Thanks!
Hey dude very cool I love your basic concept I think for your cold times possibly a dark tarp some big rocks you can pull the tarp over your compost pile how the Rocks around the edge of it to hold it down in the Wind and keep some of that heat in your compost pile when it's really cold great idea thank you for the video
We heat our nursery this way and it does a good job. Compost pile will roll steady at 130°F / 54°C for over a year. We use woodchips and leaves and inoculate with microbes and due to this it doesnt run as hot or go anaerobic. Would love to compare notes with you.
How big is your pile? Do you pump air in too? Thanks!
Excellent setup and video!
I love compost heating videos!
What a great idea!!. I'm in forsure, I could use this for our chicken coops in the winter and a section of the garage for my trapping/ skinning area. ?, I live in the U.P of Michigan and winters can get really cold. How hot is staying in the dead of winter?. You mentioned it was 38 outside at the time of the video and that was 3 months ago, hope to hear back from you.
Next year you should find a big old cast iron rad that will hold your heat for a very long time. Aside from that great work.
Super cool!!! I have always wanted to do that. I would think that if your pile was four times bigger than that, you should get 120* out of that radiator for several months. That's just a guess. I would also build the pile closer to the house. I would love to know what the temperate of the water is when in leaves the radiator? The reason for that would be that maybe it would be more efficient if you ran the water more slowly. That could maybe allow the water to heat up a little more while going through the pile? I also wonder if the diameter of the pipe would have an affect on the efficiency?
Definitely looking forward to some update videos. I just uploaded a video of my little setup on compost hot water. I'm trying to heat my biogas digesters with the compost heat. Your videos has been very helpful. Thanks
I’m curious to know how long this pile has continued to generate heat for. Great video. 👍🏻
if built 8 high and green sawdust/woodchips
>12 months
@@blackranch7883 wow.really!
Mate I'd get round to fixing the fact you've zero insulation in your house first....
Better to pay now than pay 3 times for it energy costs
It's cheap lmao. Drill holes at the top and fill with blow in. Both of you are stupid.
I allwase imagined a building with compost piled up on 2 sides like a concrete trailer 8n the middle of a manure shavings bunker lol .it stays hot so y not make it heat your home .love the vid
"it's been pretty cool". Hope it warms up soon then! ;) Nice video
Why does everyone think that compost piles (for heating) need to be managed on a flat surface? Why not use a box structure with an angle of 45 degrees. Use some big long radiators on the bottom of the box, insert air from between the radiators, and connect the radiators for the hot water flow, Harvest compost from the bottom of the box, reload to the top. No need to mess with pex pipes inside the pile. Just let gravity do the work.
@The PetrO ClaN Slit between the radiators and/or smooth rigid pipe(s) with holes, on top of radiators can be used for active or passive aeration
@The PetrO ClaN The 45 degree angle implies you harvest the compost at the bottom and add new material at the top. Gravity should move the material down. All the tubing put in when setting it up on a flat surface will create a lot of work , that I want to avoid. But composting is almost never perfect anyways. A post processing is inevitable and highly recommended if you want the worms and other critters to create a more nutritional compost. Commercial compost manufacturers are focussed on creating max volume and killed pathogens and weed seeds.
Wrapping the tube with mylar will improve its insulation, you really wanna be reflecting that infrared heat back in.
This looks like a decent idea for someone who has already upgraded their home and buildings to "draft free", >R-30 ceiling and >R-19 insulation in the walls, double pane windows and efficient insulated non conductive doors.
Without those items being done, whatever energy you pour into the house isn't going to stick around for very long.
Also, when your pile iniyially heats up you will reach a peak temperature early on, with declining temperatures begining soon after.
In order to maintain an event temperature for weeks or months, you will need to get a couple or four compost pile thermometers, the ones with the long spike to reach the center of the pile. Perhaps one in the middle and one a little more shallow. Record these temps daily or weekly.
You can add temperature probes to the inlet and outlet lines from and two the pile and your heat exchanger(s) inside.
This will relate your pile's profile for heating. Elaine Ingham is a compost guru and PhD holder on building compost and studying soils.
The waste oil idea isn't bad if you have a reburning stove to promote complete combustion of what you are burning -a hot fire is essentialand a secondaty reburner as well. The orfice you are using to introduce the oils into the stove/ furnace, should be for a lean fire, supplemented by wood or wood products.
Back to the compost:
I am at 39°N latitude and 900' elevation so the heat now comes on from ~Nov. 1 - Mar. 31. The temps get down close to or below freezing from Dec.1 - Feb. 28.
If you build three zones of pile with three loops of tubing and a manibfold valve tieing them together, you can wet each zone to heat up when needed and use them throughout the coldest months.
You can put any one zone in service and turn it if you like.
As the winter tales off, turn them all and transport to another location to complete the process.
Then repeat for next year.
These compost heat sources can be used to heat greenkouses or hoop houses also.
Are you using a tank inside to store your heated water?
Are therd other heat sources to the tank? Wood heat boiler, lpg furnace, solar collectors?
If so, you can coordinate inputs by temperature needed to keep the residence and buildings comfortable.
Use the air draft on the wood furnace set point.
Use the pump current set point from the compost loops annd solar collectors.
Lpg should be the last resort due to expense.
Great video. Thanks.
How is your compost pile coming . Is the compost pile still making heat to where it was before?
This a really cool idea, also it looks like you have a lovely place
Awesome project! 👍🏼
You could alternatively make "chimneys" by using a brush handle. Stick the handle into the pile, wiggle it about to make a hole, do that in several spots and you'll get air into the pile
I wonder how many BTUs are lost in the long travel from the pile and the
I am glad you know what are you doing.
Just few questions
As the bacteria grows heat is generated and piles gets shrunk,do you keep adding high nitrogen (manure or high quality hay) or you just let it cool off .if you let the pile cool off how long can you heat the area (of what size) ?
What is the dimensions of your pile?
Make sure moisture is not more then 50% in the pile.
this is brilliant, 100ft of tubing for heat exchange & your key air perforated tubing & genius free heat any1 can do this on a smaller or larger scale too, & if needed hve a solar box back the mulch pile up in super cold climates. Love this great idea 189 comment showing. 160 degs is ideal ck to keep it going, not too hot or cold.
Seems like burying the lines deep underground for the winter cold would help get hotter air to the home.
Also an inkbird thermostat that is for beer brewing would be cool in the fan box. Throw the probe in the compost. If the pile gets to hot it will automatically turn on the fan.
With a pile 3times that size and insulation in your home. Might not even need an oil burner.
My question: how long will a pile last?
A house without insulation? In Sweden we call that a shed.
Great video 👍
If you make holes in the pile from top to bottom, 1 foot spacing, using a blunt wooden pole like a broom stick, that will let the air in. Push the pole in and 'stir' it around a bit to open the hole up.
Plus cover it with a tarp.
Hi Random Farmer,
With winter over how well did your pile perform? What design changes can you come up with to improve turning the compost? Cheers,
Bill
And, you've answered a significant question for me. With waste vegetable oil, it's pretty straightforward to turn that into biodiesel. But what to do with animal fat wasted like butter, lard, and beef tallow?
It seems that you're saying you can burn it for heat. That would be optimal, and I am very intrigued.
Of course, if you can turn any type of waste grease into fuel, it's carbon-neutral...or better. Depending on circumstances, using animal fats for fuel can't for sure be better that dumping it in the land fill, because, one: it's serving another important energy purpose during it's break-down cycle...which is INCREDIBLE, and, two, this hydrocarbon is being used in an aerobic way as opposed to an anaerobic way, which produces much nastier waste
I think this idea is ingenius!
It's more material, but setting the system up as radiant floor heating with a radiator like your current setup would be really cozy on the feet. I'd only setup the radiant heating in the highest traffic areas. Definitely bury your lines below frost level, as applicable. It's 3' where I live ... :)
Thank you for sharing
Love and Light to all
Yo this is neat. Can I come be a farm hand for a week?
Hey Grom, Paul Wheaton has a bunch of videos on his RUclips channel, and at richsoil.com . In one of them he talks to a guy that has woofers (people that come to work, in exchange for food and board and experience). In that video, the guy talks about using a compost pile for showers, the pile is good for over 500 showers, and some cold water needs to be mixed in to cool the compost water down.
Found the shower video
ruclips.net/video/-Jm-c9B2_ew/видео.html
Hi farmer, the heating thing in your house is a convector- stead a radiator.....-so it doesn't 'radiate' heat. It needs some duct to make the air stream past it thus warming up the air.... greets Paul.
Great video. I like Your solution to the temperature control. What size pex do you use for the coils under the pile? Thank You for sharing.
He said 1 inch I think
I wasn't sure if heard correctly. Thank You
Will you be building another compost heating pile and how long last year did the heat last. Thanks
I will not be building another. I had my fun but found the whole thing to be very impractical. There's a reason this isn't more wide spread despite what many other channels may tell you. It's a great concept but the heat you will extract doesn't make up for the labor and engineering required.
Awesome! I’m trying to heat my greenhouse like this.
Wow
Fantastic
Used in that same coiling and tubing methodology you can dig deeper down into the ground where the temperature is stabilized at around 68 degrees and coil 3in corrugated pipeline back and forth back and forth back and forth in an array and just pumped that into your house and it will give you year-round climate control
Arduino or STM microcontroller, DS18B20, an opto-isolator + relay, and you could create your own temperature control. Add a wifi chip to the Arduino and you could have remote temperature, and pile humidity monitoring/control, all from a smart phone or computer or separate Arduino base station.
Is that a 1/12hp circulating pump? I found one online that's 1.75 Amps, 115v which would pull ~200W. That + the fan which I'm guessing probably runs 100W when it's really going, would put you at 300W/hr. A small solar array that's 640 kW would probably be able to keep you nice and toasty, and off-grid. Also, your 50ft or so run on those pipes probably burns a lot of heat, putting it closer to the home would save you plenty. Great video!
AWESOME!! And totally DO-ABLE for anyone!! THANK you>>>I will definitely try this next winter when I have more animal manure available. VERY cool>>>>or should I say WARM!!
You can do this for hot water as well just need some copper coils. You can also cool the house with geo thermal by digging a trench in the ground over 2’ under and run pipe through it for free cooling
Amazing on your views for this video and earned subscribers. Congratulations great video.
I'm very interested in this. I live in Ireland. It's so wet and cold here. I'd like to run a few radiators off off it. Is that possible? Thank you for the information
Over all a good idea. Have you had it catch fire yet? How do you mitigate against the pile getting too hot? Wet or green hay can spontaneously combust. I’ve known a few farmers who had barns burn down because hay was a little wet when it was put up. Also know someone who had a chicken manure compost pile in a barn which caught fire.
respectful sir you are makin compose in large scale it is best way to make compost ok thanks very much I am watching your
Get 2 friends over and spend 4 hours blowing insulation in , and you will really be pleased with the difference. Patching the walls after is not a big deal. Just do it, it was the best thing I did.
One of my friends paid me to help him do his house back in the 90s. Awesome stuff.
Cool Idea. Ive always been interested in ideas like these. What is the trade off? As you are using electricity to run the pump , fan and the ventilation for the pile?
Mother Earth news project from the 80s
Nice job!
If you put a heat pump on that thing, you'd get a boiling hot house. ;)
And like Jase wrote: insulation should really be the highest priority.
I don't know if you can get "glass wool" and what price it is at your place, but it's better and usually also cheaper than rockwool.
Besides, rockwool is bad for your lungs. Foam insulation is very bad for you as well. I live in Scandinavia, we can get Lambda 37 glasswool for around $3,50 per square meter. Best type as of this writing is Lambda 30, but Lambda 37 is not bad at all.
That was fantastic, how did it work out for you the rest of the winter? I am considering doing that but to hear water and get hot water into the house. what do you think?
You said it cooled down because of a lot of rain. I wonder if it would be worth while to put a tarp loosely over it to keep the rain off?
It most likely would have. If the pile becomes over saturated it really slows the decomposition down.
I was just thinking about this for burying some water pipes outside, putting a compost pile where the well house used to be.. they won't freeze.
Has your baseboard been hotter then 100 before. What kind of pump are you using thanks.
I have gotten it to about 146 degrees f on a warmer sunny day. Its an inline circulator pump like whats on a boiler system. Thanks for the interest, looking to do an update soon as some things have changed.
@@therandomfarmer4231 I was kind of wondering how you got the air out of your lines. I assume it’s a closed loop system. Again I truly think that was a great video, to the point and very helpful. I’m in the process of making a smaller system to heat my biogas digesters. Keep these compost heating videos coming. Thanks
One question: Did you add any water yet?
This is awesome. I’d love to see updates
Any issues with expansion? Didn't see an expansion tank. Great work, nice video!
Did you top off the pile?
It had a few feet headspace and as the material decomposes it shrinks
Not a big compost expert, but as far as I know you're not supposed to do that
I just made one of these compost heating systems in Auchencairn, Scotland for domestic hot water, using grass and weeds.
It measures 1,8m x 1.8m - 6ft x 6ft; and has a circular circumference of 6 metres - 18 linear feet.
I have installed 25 metres of PEX pipe to collect any heat from the compost, which will be gravity fed from a higher set storage tank..
How did it go Jeffrey? Really wanting to try a small system like that myself. Did you not add any extra carbon? Just lawn grass and weeds?
@@Happy.Chappy Sadly the central core of the heating area in the compost died off, as I may have put too much nitrogen fertiliser into my water activater mix?
I disconnected both of the water feed inflow pipes, and connected them up to a surface 0.900 x 0.600 solar heat panel, which when the Scottish winter sun is out, can heat the water temperature up from +6° to +28°..
@@jeffreybresnahan I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps it was too wet or not enough air in there? Don't give up!
I plan to experiment with compost for heating myself. May even start a channel to document the findings and discuss with like minded people in the comments. I'll let you know if I do.
Solar and wind power are also an interest, with cheap/easy/DIY in mind. Your panel sounded like it did ok!
@@Happy.Chappy You can use a small 12volt DC solar powered pump, with a simple 12 volt solar panel for the circulation of your water?
I will use both less water for wetting down next time, and cattle slurry for the nitrogen activator rather than fertiliser.
Just to note that within ten day's of first activation, it was heating up the water temperature to over 30° Centigrade, prior to my adding the fertilizer mix and it failing?
@@jeffreybresnahan just to be clear, I'm a complete novice myself. Just in the research phase right now.
My understanding is the compost will fail if:
It's too wet
It's too dry
Not enough air
Not enough carbon (browns)
Not enough nitrogen (greens)
I also wonder what was in the fertiliser you added? Certain substances and chemicals will slow down or kill the good bacteria we need to heat up the pile.
The solar panel and pump is a great idea if it's necessary. I'm hoping I can get my set up to passively circulate, using the rising heat and falling cold of the water (I think it's called a thermo-siphon?).
Hi, we started with our bioreactor two days ago and it is now over 70°C. We cool it with water down to 55°C. It is only Sheep manure and straw and we want to add some leaves and autumn stuff. How long your bioreactor was at 60°C? We are worried if our high temperature will kill the system and stop heating
30 to 1 ratio means 1 part manure to 30 parts dry grass?
I'm impressed for sure. I have a question for you. I had seen others do 3 sets of coils. Like they put a coils, then compost, then a coils, then compost. I'm sure you know what I mean. Anyways, do you feel layering them like this is a more efficient system or just a bigger pain in the ass LOL.
We live in Michigan so it gets damn cold. I'm asking these questions because I would prefer to run 1 coil like you did but I want to heat my house with it without running any other system.
One more stupid question, do you feel it would be more beneficial to build a smaller system and put a top on it? I noticed you didn't have a top, is this standard procedure not having a top?
Thank you for your video. I hope to hear back from you. However I see now that it was a year ago you made this video I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.
This was 1 long coil that has been layered between bottom, middle and top. I would just make a few loops then add compost than continue a loop on top of that until it's evenly looped through the whole pile but it's only one large section of tubing. A thick layer of straw and leaves was my top as it insulated the pile very well but still allowed it to breathe. Hopefully this was helpful.
Aren’t you supposed to tarp over the top to maintain a constant moisture level?
This is awesome man!
7 more subscribers bud hopefully you hit the 1K
But it does not work through the winter ? Only helps in autumn and early winter months when there is no snow?