Heating Water By The Heat Generated Within a Compost

Heating water using the heat generated by microbes breaking down compost material

Certainly not a new concept but definitely one worth pursuing

In my first experiment I used left over irrigation pipe spiraled though the compost heap of approximately 1.2m³ and directly to a shower rose on the side of the plastic house. It worked, however the water smelt like plastic and I couldn’t control the temperature.

The second time, I purchased ‘hot water piping’, 100m of 13mm diameter and connected to a shower mixer. This worked a treat and I could get a 2 minute shower on full pressure and a 3 minute shower when reduced. It took about 20 minutes to heat the water enough for another shower. This lasted for four weeks before dropping to a temperature under 40°

Check out this video below and stay tuned for the next experiment – to ‘thermosiphon’ the water to a hot water cylinder capable of holding 180L

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