Author Topic: Compost for warmth  (Read 811 times)

Canvo

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Compost for warmth
« on: October 13, 2019, 07:10:45 AM »
I’m interested to know if anyone here has tried using heat generated from a composting heap to keep cold sensitive plants warm through winter? I had some large piles of wood chip that were too hot to keep your hand in when approaching the centre, which got me to thinking this might be a cheap, relatively safe, longish term source of heat. I’m sure others have tried and hopefully refined this idea.

SeaWalnut

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Re: Compost for warmth
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2019, 04:02:15 PM »
Ive used compost to keep the water flow meter and valve from freezing.
For heating the greenhouse il use wood fire,rocket stove.
At first sight i can tell you that compost heat has little power to heat .Think of it in Kwh power of heat.
If you burn the compost then youl get lets say 4 kwh for one one kilo of compost.
Compost on its own will have to make a lot less heat than 4 Kwh per kilogram.
You can get an idea about how much heat by weighting the compost before and after.The difference would be heat.

Canvo

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Re: Compost for warmth
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2019, 01:41:07 AM »
Thanks for the response Seawalnut, my situation is a little different in that the particular tree/s I want to keep warm are in a community garden. So unfortunately a fire for me is s no go, so i was hoping for ideas using something quite passive and safe to add just a couple of degrees inside the clear cover i will make.

Tropheus76

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Re: Compost for warmth
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2019, 08:33:42 AM »
In the deep winters we get here in Central Florida( :P  ) I prep by putting in very heavy mulch around my mangos and a couple others and when we are predicted to get out once or twice a year freeze I mound it up the trunk as high and thick as I can, then throw a heavy sheet or tree blanket over it to theoretically hold in the heat. But I put the initial mounding early in the winter, maybe early January which allows the whole heating process to start working. While I have no definitive proof that this is what mostly has saved my mangos the last couple winters, I am going with it lol.