As i suspected my compost heap has not warmed up

this may be because it is too small and not retaining heat or that i do not have right ratio of greens to browns in my mix

i suspect i will need to empty the heap and put more green waste into it

i will do this over the next couple of days.

i am on the search for grass clippings

PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS

Hi everyone

i am very keen to get any feedback from visitors to my blog

any suggestions on ways to improve the system are welcome

i have now filled up the new compost heap with old straw bedding and animal muck from vauxhall city farm.

i think i might have too much browns to greens in the heap.

i will check it in a couple of days time.

meanwhile i will be on the look out for grass cuttings as this is ideal for adding to the browns to start the heap warming up

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November 2009 hot water compost heap

the lessons i learnt from last seasons hot water compost heap were

1. It was too far from the flat for practical use

2 the garden hose in the heap did not allow for practical turning of the heap.

last winter was one of the coldest in london for many years but the hot water i got from the heap was used to provide me with hot showers.

the site of me in my swim-wear in the back yard standing under a hot shower when the air temperature was close to freezing must have given my neighbours good reason to get me sectioned.

the effect of piping hot water on a cold day was wonderful and all for free.

this season i have built a compost container from reclaimed scaffold boards supplied by a local scaffold firm.

the container is raised off the ground and a removable floor is in place to enable the compost heap to be released and turned over.

i have placed the garden hose around the perimeter of the container

hot water from compost

Building the compost heap

With gas bills ever rising i have been looking at various ways i can reduce my bills, i have ruled out solar heating as i am on the ground floor of a converted victorian house. my back yard is small and gets less than 2 hours of sunlight per day.

I have known for a long time that compost heats up and have always thought how can i harvest the heat for some practical use.

my first attempt in january 2009 was a heap approximately 1m x 1m x 1m

I had placed 150m of garden hose though the heap and connected it to the outside cold tap with the garden hose connecter on the end.

i was pleasantly surprised to how quickly thew heap warmed up.

In 3 days the temperature had reach 60c

the water was far too hot to put my hand under it.

below is a temperature chart for how my heap warmed up

Air Compost date

temp temp ⁰C

3 3 9 Jan 2009

0 32 10 Jan 2009

3 42 11 Jan 2009

10 60 13 Jan 2009

4 59 14 Jan 2009

4 65 15 jan 2009

8 67 17 Jan 2009

5 62 18 Jan 2009

7 59 19 Jan 2009

7 56 20 Jan 2009

5 55 21 Jan 2009

10 55 22 Jan 2009

7 50 23 Jan 2009

8 45 24 Jan 2009

1 44 2 Feb 2009

2 36 5 Feb 2009

7 15 15 Feb 2009

my first attempt of collecting hot water from the compost has been a great success.

a few things i had overlooked

turning the compost heap is impossible with all the garden hose with in it.

i decided that i would leave the heap to rot down over the summer before attempting a new heap.

hot water from compost