Building Compost Heater V2

We receive a large load of horse manure mixed with wood shavings about once every four weeks from a local stable and the material is hot when it arrives at the farm. We are using this material to build version 2 of our compost heater. We encountered some problems with version 1 (see 11/24/08 post) and decided to redesign our concept. In V1 the compost was heavy and put a lot of pressure on the poly and we felt it might break though the plastic. We tried putting in some battens between the hoops and the poly to alieviate the pressure but they were hard to get into place. Meanwhile, the partially-finished pile cooled and froze so we decided to start over at our small, 32x13 heated hoophouse.


The basic plan is to build a pile along the side of the hoophouse and run 300' of 3/4" garden hose through the hot core of the pile and circulate hot water into hoophouse. We are now building the pile and will work out the plumbing details later. We first add an 8" layer of hot compost followed by a 2" layer of fresh chicken litter, mix it in a bit and water it in.

Since our water source is about 200' away and most everything is frozen, it is difficult to get a hose to the project. We have quite a bit of snow now so we're using that for a moisture source. After two or three layers we add more hose on top of the pile in the center. We have placed some 1x2 furring strips between the hoops and the compost pile.

The second picture shows the first few layers of the pile, about 3 feet high, and the hoses running through the pile. We have since added a second hose run and will add one more hose. We'll cover the pile with dry compost or dry leaves and cover the whole thing with a tarp; If we can keep the outside of the pile dry and insulated we should be able to force heat either into the ground or into the hoophouse.




Bucky comes out to the farm (We live a few miles away.) nearly every day. No matter how cold the temperature is, he spends most of his day trotting alongside the tractor, searching for mice (he eats them!), or curled up on his bed in the hoophouse. He is very protective of the farm perimeter and alerts us to every intruder. Yesterday we heard some loud barking and we saw two deer racing across the field in a foot of snow with our dog following behind. When the deer were off the farm, he turned and trotted back to the farm wearing a somewhat smug expression.

Blizzard watch for this afternoon so we better get things in order!