hot water from compost

2014-05-03T19:17:00.002+01:00

the new site will be

http://andyvauxhall.wix.com/hot-water-composter-

should be up in the next 2 weeks

New web site coming soon

2014-05-03T17:07:00.001+01:00

Hi readers , i am colating all the information on this blog and putting it on to a website over the next few weeks

there will be adverts on the pages as these will help me rasie funds to continue experimenting with ways to harvest the heat from compost , i will put up details on how you can build your own system , and hopefully have it presented in an easier way to get the information to you

i will post the link up soon once i get a few pages together

regards

Andy

2012-08-01T11:23:00.001+01:00

good morning from Olympic city of London

today i have collected what i consider the rolls royce of composting material . straw soiled by farm animals. i have incorporated this to my existing chamber mix. from past experience this should raise the temperature within a few days.

2012-07-29T12:09:00.001+01:00

this morning i have rotated the chamber and a bit disappointed that the temperature has not reached 40c but had dropped down to 30c

this week i will be using some of the compost to feed my plants as bananas and brugmainsia are heavy feeders and will benefit from a good mulching with warm compost.

i will visit the local vauxhall farm in the week and collect soiled straw to place in the chamber as this produces higher temperatures from previous attempts using it

2012-07-20T08:56:00.000+01:00

this past week i have been adding vegetable waste from the local deli on the corner of the square i live in.

my composter is now just over half full . the temperature is 34c

it has become a little bit difficult to rotate as it is heavy. i will be asking my neighbour for some muscle power to help me rotate this next few days

i am still hopeful i cn achieve temperatures above 40c this next week

2012-07-04T17:04:00.000+01:00

today the temperature in chamber was 30c

i spent the day weeding one of my neighbours gardens and collected lots of weeds which have filled up the drum. as it had been raining in the morning the weeds are very wet . all this has been mixed into the compost and i expect temperatures to start rising again in the next few days. hopefully above 40c

2012-07-03T18:07:00.000+01:00

today on checking the temperature 30c

i have collected my first lot of vegetable waste from the local cafe . and as it was in a cardboard box the whole lot has been put into the chamber.

i also explained that they can add coffee, and any tissue paper to the waste too, hopefully i should be able to fill the chamber up over the next week and raise the temperature above the 35c

2012-07-02T23:10:00.000+01:00

today as i rotated the drum it was a pleasure to see steam rising out of the chamber. i have noticed the my compost has been reducing in mass. and need to source out more organic matter to keep my Bactria feeding and gaining more heat.
the local Italo Deli in Bonnington Square are kindly saving me their organic waste to add to my compost. i may even have to ask some neighbours to help too.

have added more cardboard today to absorb excess moisture as getting the right humidity is all done by eye. this year i have been adding more cardboard than previous attempts.

the temperature was 30c . i suspect the drop is due to the mass of compost that has dropped .

i am only using vegetable waste cooked /uncooked so far as adding meat is possible but not until i have a constant temperature above 60c

2012-06-30T07:45:00.003+01:00

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.

2012-06-29T10:02:00.002+01:00

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

2012-06-27T07:33:00.001+01:00

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

2012-06-26T08:11:00.001+01:00

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

2012-06-22T11:06:00.001+01:00

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

2012-06-21T11:46:00.000+01:00

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

2012-06-18T11:52:00.001+01:00

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

2012-06-15T11:36:00.000+01:00

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.

my first attempt has failed

2011-06-13T16:52:00.000+01:00

hi everyone

the past month or so i have had to accept something is wrong with my heap and the only way to deal with it was to empty the chamber, as you can guess its not a pleasant task to carry out , which is why i had not done it until today.

on inspection of the compost i can see it is very wet in places and compact. this will have not been ideal for the bacteria to make them selves at home and generate the heat. there are also parts that are dry.

i have had difficulty in turning the chamber so i have repositioned the handles on to the barrel this will be easier to rotate

i have left 1/3 of the existing compost inside the chamber and i shall attempt to restart.

changes i need to do are turn the chamber once a day if possible, good exercise considering the size.

i am hoping this will mix the wetter stuff into the dryer stuff

will update before end of week

the existing temp inside chamer is 18c .. the same as external temp today

2011-05-10T19:12:00.000+01:00

now it is grass cutting season in full swing. i have added grass to the chamber on friday last week this morning the chamber temperature was showing as 47c

now this is a big smile on my face as the magical 40c has been breached i am not sure how long it will stay at these figures but those high thermal bacteria now have a chance of taking hold.. the more they multiply the higher the temperature maybe i can reach the magical 60c soon and then i will be confident on plumbing the system in

restart of the composter

2011-04-08T09:24:00.000+01:00

since my last update i have not paid much attention to my

composter

today i have received 2 black bags of damp grass cuttings which were already warming up , this has put a big smile on my face i have added them to the chamber and am expecting temperature to rise in next 24 hours hopefully above 35c ( i can hope)

i was pleasantly surprised to see the existing contents of the chamber at 25c

i shall allow the contents to settle in over the weekend and then give the chamber a good rotation to mix in the grass cuttings.

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
12	25	08:00	Fri, Apr 8, 2011	0	0	0

2011-02-24T07:53:00.002+00:00

i have not been home much this past week so my daily log is behind and as expected the compost has cooled down to 17c

also the compost has reduced by 1/3 .

i have been to the farm and collected soiled straw and hay one bag full (approximately .25m volume)

i have also rotated the drum

i will also be making the door to keep the heat in tomorrow

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1
7	24	08:00	Wed, Feb 9, 2011	6	1	0
10	28	11:00	Thu, Feb 10, 2011	7	2	0
9	30	08:00	Fri, Feb 11, 2011	8	3	0
7	19	13:00	Tue, Feb 15, 2011	12	7	1
10	17	10:00	Thu, Feb 24, 2011	17	0	1

2011-02-15T14:50:00.000+00:00

Having returned home from a few days away i find the compost has cooled to 19c i have rotated the drum and hoping it will recover.

i am bit disappointed it has not maintained a higher temperature, but that is all part of the game to see how this will work

several things to try out rotating drum will mix air in. but i am still convinced i need to add more green nitrogen rich material into the drum , this may not happen for a few weeks till grass cutting season

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1
7	24	08:00	Wed, Feb 9, 2011	6	1	0
10	28	11:00	Thu, Feb 10, 2011	7	2	0
9	30	08:00	Fri, Feb 11, 2011	8	3	0
7	19	13:00	Tue, Feb 15, 2011	12	7	1

2011-02-11T09:07:00.000+00:00

a slight increase in temp from yesterday i am more convinced i do not have the compost ratio between green and brown in my chamber i have far too much brown (woody stuff) my understanding is that brown stuff heats up at lower temp but last longer and green stuff (grass) heats up to higher temp quickly but does not last long

as no real source of green until the grass cutting season in a few weeks

as away the weekend i will update monday . i may be able to source some soiled hay at the farm which is not as good as fresh grass cuttings but should help raise temp

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1
7	24	08:00	Wed, Feb 9, 2011	6	1	0
10	28	11:00	Thu, Feb 10, 2011	7	2	0
9	30	08:00	Fri, Feb 11, 2011	8	3	0

2011-02-10T11:09:00.000+00:00

the temperature has risen by 4c since yesterday, as it is raining today i will leave the chamber alone and give it a rotation later if it dries up

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1
7	24	08:00	Wed, Feb 9, 2011	6	1	0
10	28	11:00	Thu, Feb 10, 2011	7	2	0

2011-02-09T16:27:00.000+00:00

am bit disappointed that there has been no increase in temperature over night, if there is no increase tomorrow morning i shall rotate the chamber to give it a good mix and see if its an oxygen problem it may be a case of adding water to the mix if it is on the dry side,

i really would love to get some grass into the chamber, but it is only february and none of my contacts are cutting grass as yet.

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1
7	24	08:00	Wed, Feb 9, 2011	6	1	0

2011-02-08T16:32:00.000+00:00

this afternoon i have collected more dug/bedding from the farm and filled the chamber to just below the hatch .

i also placed a layer of palm leaves on top of previous layer which should help with aerating the heap

the temperature has slightly risen from this morning , i will now let it settle and cook

Air Temp 0c	Compost Temp 0c	time	date	day count	counter from filling	rotation
8	8	12:00	Thu, Feb 3, 2011	0	0	0
11	16	07:00	Fri, Feb 4, 2011	1	1	0
9	22	08:00	Sat, Feb 5, 2011	2	2	0
11	27	13:00	Mon, Feb 7, 2011	4	4	0
4	24	07:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	5	0
8	25	16:00	Tue, Feb 8, 2011	5	0	1