Jean pain compost method and intro

I'm thadeous and am currently working on
Jean pain compost pile to heat my home
Has anyone else tried this if so I would love
To hear about it.i forgot to say hello ATS members.i jus got a little exited. I have been
Playing with different energy harvesting methods for about 11 years. I would like to use this ATS platform to talk with others about energy harvesting methods.

reply to post by Thadeous


Welcome...never heard of the method. Interesting seeing as I live in the bush. Can you explain the technique.

We will start at the beginning
Have you ever made a compost pile?

reply to post by Thadeous


Yes, large property, gardens etc and mave much compost to keep the vegies going...

reply to post by Thadeous


Never heard of the specifics but I am assuming it utilizes the heat given off by decomposition. I have seen it done a few different ways. However you need A LOT of compost. A pile of old leafs won't cut it.

I think it is a good idea if you have the means to make it happen.

Wonderful then you have probably notice heat coming from the pile when you turned it and if you have your a step ahead of me there being this is my first compost pile
But jean pain took advantage of that heat in three ways that can see looking at stuff on the web
First way is the obvious to you since you have successfully composted is the heat generated kills pathogens kind of a sterilization of the compost
Second way is the one I'm working with right now is he coiled plastic water line through the pile ran water through the pipe to collect the heat from the pile the run pipe into a water to air heat exchanger inside home or building
Third way is in the center of his pile he put a steel tank methane digester and harvested the methane gas for cooking and to run combustion engines

Yes a lot material is needed the pile I'm working on right now is roughly 15 feet diameter by 8 feet tall
I am using saw dust and wood chips from a cabinet maker , lawn clippings , and horse manure and hoping I'm getting the ratio right
Jean pain used fresh wood chips from brush and to my little understanding of compost no nitrogen needed to be added

reply to post by Thadeous

Thanks for putting me onto this. Plenty of horse manure, wood chips, slashed pasture here. I run water from a gravity/header tank. Went to the websites. Will try this out.

I have a question for bally001
Did you ever record the temps of your compost piles
And if so how quick did you get a temp above 100 deg. Fahrenheit

reply to post by Thadeous

Sorry no recordings but compost is damn hot due to little rain and high temps. Heat has killed of all weeds. Presently one vege patch is over mulched so in the heat the vegies suffer.

Once I make a large enough compost mound up near the header tank I'll take temps. I also need to reconstruct plumbing to accomodate a new hot/warm water flow.

Cheers.

reply to post by bally001


I would enjoy hearing about that when you get into it and try to keep some kind of written record of your project I would like to compare notes

No worries. New project for me. Was converting an old gas hot water heater to a fuel system. Will try this way over summer here in the interim.

I guess I could get into more of my intro, I started on ATS a few years ago but got derailed so now I have to make up for lost time been looking through the post and there is some cool stuff on here. I was amazed that the first post i made a few years ago are still on here. I read a couple and was fascinated with how my thought pattern has changed wondering if anyone else on here has had that experience.
i guess that is a good enough intro
glad to be back and hope i can dig a little deeper this time.

reply to post by bally001


in what way were you converting it?

reply to post by Thadeous


I had the gas one replaced. The old upright gas heater has a tank in it. Simply put, remove the gas and electrical fittings. Build brick supports and flue, fire beneath, water intake at bottom, hot water and pressure release valve at top. Various homemade models on the net. Like mulching, thought I'd recycle and will give it a go. I'd also like to make my own solar panels, have plenty of roof space.

reply to post by bally001

I have one of those gas water heaters in my barn . I had the same plans for it but then the tank on my air compressor went out so I am using it a as an air tank right now

reply to post by bally001

For safety reasons I would look into making that water heater into an open boiler system
If you are going to use the water to heat a structure