Travis Johnson
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I hope you are all sitting down because I had this crazy and wild idea for heating my house. You see research has shown that solar, wind and geothermal systems just don't work very well here in Maine. At least the return on investment is so long that fossil fuels work out better.
So I got to thinking. If the ground is not warm enough by itself to heat my radiant concrete slab, why not create warmth, but without fossil fuels. Now we all know that compost piles generate heat...lots of heat, so why couldn't I create a compost pile, run PEX tubing through it, and then circulate water throughout the compost pile to warm the water which in turns warms my radiant floor?
Now this sounds crazy I know, but I don't think I need boiling water to warm my floors, just 80 degree water or so. I think a compost pile would get temps well above that. I also know that on the farm our haylage pile stays hot all winter long. So hot that its all you can do to stick your hand in it. For the cows they love the hot meal, but for me, I am thinking I might be able to tap into that natural heat source.
This is just a wild and crazy idea, but my thought is to create a small haylage bunker near my house. A little ways off, but not too far. Anyway I would haul in a few truckloads of haylage in the fall, run pex tubing through the pile, pack it down with my tractor, then cover the top of the pile with insulated panels that way the heat is retained. I am thinking maybe once or twice in the winter I would have to mix up the pile to keep it churning, but I am not sure. The good thing is, the cost for this would be rather minimal, and I have the machinery and land to cut all the haylage/sileage I need even if it meant several truckloads.
A friend at work claims it would not work because "if I thought of it, someone else has too and proved it would not be feesable." I am not sure I agree with that short sighted statement however. Wood splitters did not become mainstream until the oil embargo of the 70's even though tractors, hydraulics and hydraulic rams were around long before then. So anyway at the cost of sounding like a complete moron, I thought I would post this idea here.
A picture of our haylage operation last year in case some of you don't know what haylage is...
So I got to thinking. If the ground is not warm enough by itself to heat my radiant concrete slab, why not create warmth, but without fossil fuels. Now we all know that compost piles generate heat...lots of heat, so why couldn't I create a compost pile, run PEX tubing through it, and then circulate water throughout the compost pile to warm the water which in turns warms my radiant floor?
Now this sounds crazy I know, but I don't think I need boiling water to warm my floors, just 80 degree water or so. I think a compost pile would get temps well above that. I also know that on the farm our haylage pile stays hot all winter long. So hot that its all you can do to stick your hand in it. For the cows they love the hot meal, but for me, I am thinking I might be able to tap into that natural heat source.
This is just a wild and crazy idea, but my thought is to create a small haylage bunker near my house. A little ways off, but not too far. Anyway I would haul in a few truckloads of haylage in the fall, run pex tubing through the pile, pack it down with my tractor, then cover the top of the pile with insulated panels that way the heat is retained. I am thinking maybe once or twice in the winter I would have to mix up the pile to keep it churning, but I am not sure. The good thing is, the cost for this would be rather minimal, and I have the machinery and land to cut all the haylage/sileage I need even if it meant several truckloads.
A friend at work claims it would not work because "if I thought of it, someone else has too and proved it would not be feesable." I am not sure I agree with that short sighted statement however. Wood splitters did not become mainstream until the oil embargo of the 70's even though tractors, hydraulics and hydraulic rams were around long before then. So anyway at the cost of sounding like a complete moron, I thought I would post this idea here.
A picture of our haylage operation last year in case some of you don't know what haylage is...