i have been experimenting with various ways of collecting heat from a compost heap my latest model was built with a with help of Johan ..thank you matey for all your help

Saturday 30 June 2012

am up early today

the temperature in the compost is 37c getting close to the first target of 40c which is impressive as the majority of the mixture was sitting in the chamber for over a year and was very wet and at first i thought i would have to remove it. By simply adding dry cardboard to the mix and rotating the drum constantly the cardboard has soaked up the extra moisture has given the right conditions for the Bactria to get working.

i have been adding my own food waste to the mix everyday and had a small bag of grass clipping into it .however i will have to pay a visit to Vauxhall City Farm and get1/2 a barrel of there lovey farmyard muck to add some bulk to the chamber as its very noticeable how much compost has been consumed.

the guide is one part green waste to 2 parts brown waste

the exta bulk in the chamber should raise the temperature to a level to kill of harmful pathogens.

Friday 29 June 2012

this morning i have rotated the composter

temperature is 37c outside it is 18c

the moisture content appears to be about right for getting the high thermal Bactria to start doing there job

i am targeting 60c to 70c as this will pasteurize the compost and kill off harmful Bactria and should keep the high thermal Bactria alive.

i now have to look at ways to insulate the chamber to keep the heat  and also to connect up the water supply  to test how much i can heat the water 

Wednesday 27 June 2012

checking the compost today opening the hatch i could feel the heat and the humidity :)

temperature was 31c

outside was 15c . early morning in london

today i have added a small amount of fresh grass cuttings and will rotate the drum later today to mix it in 

Tuesday 26 June 2012

i have been rotating the composter every other day since my last post

temperature of the compost is now 27c air temp was 14c

showing a steady but slow increase 

Friday 22 June 2012

checked temperature of the compost and its at 22c  outside it is 18c

i am not going to rotate the drum for a few days, this will allow the compost to settle down and hopfully start to heat up

i still have not added any cut grass 

Thursday 21 June 2012

since my last post

i have added more cardboard and have been rotating the drum every day

the temperature is 22.5  air temperature out side is 17c

the adding of cardboard to absorb excess liquid appears to be working and getting the microbe's munching on the food they have been given.

my next target is to get above 40c which is at the level that the super greedy high heat giving Bactria start to take over from the low heat Bactria

since restarting i have not added any grass to the mix as i want to see how high i can get the temperature with  what was left in the chamber for nearly a year    

Monday 18 June 2012

i have added plenty of cardboard which i tore up into small pieces, this is taking its time drying out the wet compost i dont expect any real heat until the cardboard becomes moist and able to mix in with the existing wet stuff . i am turning the drum twice a day  there is still wet and dry areas in the chamber

chamber was 17.5c outside was 16c

Friday 15 June 2012

Time to restart the composter experiment after a very long time 


15 june 2012 

my composter has sat in the back garden for close on a year without doing anything . this was in part as last year i spent most of that time looking after my dad who was terminally ill and past way on December 18th 2012 .  

His care was my priority and i looked after him in his home till the end. we said our goodbyes 2 days before he past away. 

my father was always  tinkering with things and tought him self to strip are car down and repaired everyone else in his neigbourhood . 

I know he would be disappointed  if i do not carry on with my experiment. 

so on examining what was in the drum was very wet. my solution to this is adding newspaper and cardboard to soak up the excess water and hopefully get the aerating going to get the bacteria to get munching in a happy environment. 

today i have found plenty of dry cardboard around the bins in our square and have torn it up into small peaces the buity of cardboard being corrugated it allows more air into the heap. and should start warming up quickly .. i now need to go and get a thermometer to check the temperature   

i have rotated the drum several times throughout the day to mix the compost and cardboard to soak up excess water in the drum it appears so far to be doing the job as i can not hear the trickle of water.

the temperature in the heap is 16 C  the outside temperature is 16c

i suspect it will take time to get working as the compost is very wet tomorrow i will be rotating it several time again and decide if i need to add more cardboard to help it dry out more.

i have asked my local gardeners to save me some grass cuttings as this would raise the temperature quickly tho i am keen to see if i can get some heat out of the existing material just by drying it out a bit.