I would add a layer of insulation between the 55 gallon drum and the ground. Also, a plastic drum with pvc pipes will last a lot longer. The gasses coming out of your drum could be piped through a simple radiator before venting outside the greenhouse to add efficiency. Shalom
We are eliminating the drum. We don't believe it provided enough air flow. As for the gasses created, at this scale, they are fairly insignificant. If it was a bigger system, the off gassing would be a concern. It is a harnessable resource, but also dangerous. There are laws that regulate the storage and pressurization of those gasses in many places as well. If you have a system with this integrated, we would love to see it!!!
Identifying what went wrong gives this video series some real value to the larger community. Not enough green nitrogen-rich material will definitely result in very minimal composting chemistry. (We currently have this problem since we lack a good supply of green compost ingredients - our kitchen scraps are not enough, and we don't have a working wood chipper.) I'll be researching this topic some more so I'll look for confirmation of copper tubing as a composting reaction inhibitor. I'd be happy to report back with my findings. Logging the compost pile's internal temperature seems like the right way to manage the whole system. If we attempt this next year I'll want to automate the monitoring & heating system with a microcontroller like an Arduino or similar, and we are thinking about raising all our plants in pots inside small, climate controlled poly tunnels that are inside a glassed in greenhouse. That way each compost heating barrel would only be heating a small volume of air inside a low poly tunnel. The controller could be programmed to alert us when the composting process is ending so we could get a replacement barrel ready, like using a series of rechargeable batteries one after another. Also, I might use mineral oil instead of water as my thermal transfer fluid so I wouldn't have to worry about busted pipes from freezing. We'll see because it is still early days yet in our research & development project. Thanks for sharing your experiment and reporting the details of what happened. Hope your forthcoming changes will have a satisfactory result next time...
Are you planning on building another compost heater for the fall? I can't wait to learn from your Hard lessons I wonder if. Lime would help. And one of those big plastic square tubes for water. I believe there are 260 gallons square. Thank you for your honesty that it failed. Let's see a successful job. With the high price of oil, it might be really cool.
Hey there! It is on our list, but I am unsure of if it'll be this year or not. We are getting extra help on the homestead now and catching up immensely. We are full of hope my friend!
Right off the bat, the barrel is way too small You can burn the biomass. That will create some heat for a day or two, plus it releases CO2 which is great for plant growth.
This is how we learn, from our own mistakes. Great job. On to bigger and better things
Exactly!
Extremely valuable lessons, not a fail!
Thank you Evan!
I would add a layer of insulation between the 55 gallon drum and the ground. Also, a plastic drum with pvc pipes will last a lot longer. The gasses coming out of your drum could be piped through a simple radiator before venting outside the greenhouse to add efficiency. Shalom
We are eliminating the drum. We don't believe it provided enough air flow. As for the gasses created, at this scale, they are fairly insignificant. If it was a bigger system, the off gassing would be a concern. It is a harnessable resource, but also dangerous. There are laws that regulate the storage and pressurization of those gasses in many places as well. If you have a system with this integrated, we would love to see it!!!
Identifying what went wrong gives this video series some real value to the larger community.
Not enough green nitrogen-rich material will definitely result in very minimal composting chemistry. (We currently have this problem since we lack a good supply of green compost ingredients - our kitchen scraps are not enough, and we don't have a working wood chipper.)
I'll be researching this topic some more so I'll look for confirmation of copper tubing as a composting reaction inhibitor. I'd be happy to report back with my findings.
Logging the compost pile's internal temperature seems like the right way to manage the whole system. If we attempt this next year I'll want to automate the monitoring & heating system with a microcontroller like an Arduino or similar, and we are thinking about raising all our plants in pots inside small, climate controlled poly tunnels that are inside a glassed in greenhouse. That way each compost heating barrel would only be heating a small volume of air inside a low poly tunnel. The controller could be programmed to alert us when the composting process is ending so we could get a replacement barrel ready, like using a series of rechargeable batteries one after another.
Also, I might use mineral oil instead of water as my thermal transfer fluid so I wouldn't have to worry about busted pipes from freezing. We'll see because it is still early days yet in our research & development project.
Thanks for sharing your experiment and reporting the details of what happened.
Hope your forthcoming changes will have a satisfactory result next time...
We hope so too! We did an update video a few months back explaining where things went haywire. Fingers crossed for next time!
Thank you for the update.
Our pleasure!
Gweat video
Thank you!
Are you planning on building another compost heater for the fall? I can't wait to learn from your Hard lessons I wonder if. Lime would help. And one of those big plastic square tubes for water. I believe there are 260 gallons square. Thank you for your honesty that it failed. Let's see a successful job. With the high price of oil, it might be really cool.
Hey there! It is on our list, but I am unsure of if it'll be this year or not. We are getting extra help on the homestead now and catching up immensely. We are full of hope my friend!
Iite bulb took more the 1 try
It takes a while to figure out the right combination for sure! Thanks for watching!
Hot water definitely killed microbes.
Unfortunately it was one of many factors. But we are trying it again! Thank you for stopping by 😀
Right off the bat, the barrel is way too small
You can burn the biomass. That will create some heat for a day or two, plus it releases CO2 which is great for plant growth.
Ooooo we appreciate the tip on it creating more co2. The barrel was def way too small and we are going with a mound next time. Thanks for watching!