500 hot showers from one, small compost pile

[Paul Wheaton]

I made a new youtube video:

YouTube

It's pretty short.

100 feet of poly pipe in a small compost pile providing hot water for interns and workshop participants.

[farmgal]

dude thats sweet!! Its about 15 degree's out here now and I see steam coming from my compost pile, the chickens love it.

My question is while takin a shower, the new water that displaces the existing water in the line, does it warm up quickly? or do you have to shower befor the time it takes for the existing water in the lines is displaced??

also how many feet of line is under the pile?

[Harry Chickpea]

Paul, thanks for posting that. A few questions and comments.

Looks like the shower was used in the summer months. How much heat would a similar pile give in the winter? How do you extract the black pipe from the finished pile without damaging it. It seems as though it could be a pain to get out.

I'm thinking that if this works in winter you may have solved a problem I have. The water from our cistern gets very cold in the winter and I want to pre-heat it before it gets to the house, so that the electric heater doesn't have to work so hard.

FWIW, your video could work better if you had a lavalier microphone with a wind screen. There are parts where you are inaudible. Even the ear foam from a cheap earphone set placed over the mike on the camera would help.

[Paul Wheaton]

My impression is that all of the water that comes out is the same temp.

For another discussion I did the math and figured out that the 100 feet of 1/2 inch poly pipe holds about a gallon. With a 3gpm shower head, that first gallon will be gone in about 20 seconds. So if folks stay in the shower, it must be heating all that water.

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

Looks like the shower was used in the summer months. How much heat would a similar pile give in the winter? How do you extract the black pipe from the finished pile without damaging it. It seems as though it could be a pain to get out.

It's funny you say "pain". Cuz if you are in an area that freezes, you want a bigger pile. Check out this discussion on the Jean Pain Method.

As for getting the pipe out: dunno. But with the compost being spent, I would think it wouldn't be too tough.

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

I'm thinking that if this works in winter you may have solved a problem I have. The water from our cistern gets very cold in the winter and I want to pre-heat it before it gets to the house, so that the electric heater doesn't have to work so hard.

You're just talking about warning your hot water, right? Not your whole house water. Right?

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

FWIW, your video could work better if you had a lavalier microphone with a wind screen. There are parts where you are inaudible. Even the ear foam from a cheap earphone set placed over the mike on the camera would help.

Well, I didn't know there would be that sound.

This was my new camera which has WAY better sound than my old camera.

You're right that the sound quality was problematic. But I'm not exactly a professional video guy. this is just my little pocket camera that has a video mode.

I encounter lots of excellent info on my travels of looking at farms. And when I think of it, I whip out the camera. In this case, Brian was cool enough to play along and repeat what he had already told me while I pretended to be getting new information. Usually I end up having to do a ton of editing, but this turned out excellent in one whack!

[Harry Chickpea]

Actually, I was considering the whole water to the house. If you started in the summer with water in the 60s and the pipe only holds a gallon, and my water is in the low 40s and has about 50' of underground pipe after the pile, I might expect only a 10 or 20 degree rise in temperature. If that was during the two cold months, it could end up saving a bit of money. I already have the extra pipe and some old hay, So with some chopping and some nitrogen, this might work.

Thanks again for posting the idea.

[Freya]

Thank you very much for posting that! I think it might be a good idea to add into my greenhouse too (I was considering compost heat there too)!

The talk about planting the thirsty plants around it has my head swimming with some new ideas.

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

Actually, I was considering the whole water to the house. If you started in the summer with water in the 60s and the pipe only holds a gallon, and my water is in the low 40s and has about 50' of underground pipe after the pile, I might expect only a 10 or 20 degree rise in temperature. If that was during the two cold months, it could end up saving a bit of money. I already have the extra pipe and some old hay, So with some chopping and some nitrogen, this might work.

Thanks again for posting the idea.

The one down side of warming water for the whole house (instead of just your hot water) is that when the water arrives, it may have been warm enough to develop some pond scum. It might be better to leave it cold so that icky things don't develop.

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Freya

Thank you very much for posting that! I think it might be a good idea to add into my greenhouse too (I was considering compost heat there too)!

The talk about planting the thirsty plants around it has my head swimming with some new ideas.

You might want to check this composting in a greenhouse thread.

[Freya]

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

You might want to check this composting in a greenhouse thread.

[Caitedid]

Paul- Thanks for posting this. We're putting in a permaculture demonstration area for class credit this summer, and it's really neat to see stuff like this being done. Caite

Now you have me thinking about doing this out by the barn. Wouldn't it be nice ot have a hot water tap out there so I can give my chickens and goats warm water in the winter instead of having to haul it out there?!

[Ken Scharabok]

Remember there is always the Navy Shower. Ten seconds to wet down, soap all you want, then 50 seconds to rise off. When water ran low on the ship someone would actually time you. A Marine Bath (wash face, armpits and crouch) takes something like two cups of water.

No reason ten sections of garden hose (about 5-gallons) could be put in the pile.

If circulated through a water heater you could likely get a lot of hot water.

[Freya]

Navy showers apply in RV's and trailers too. Well at least it did when I was growing up.



Paul has there been a thread or video that detailed which water thirsty plants might do the best planted close to the shower? I heard bamboo. Any to seriously avoid?

[Paul Wheaton]

In the video we talked about it a bit. Willow is famous for being thirsty.