After purchasing the parts to upgrade the aeration system, the temperatures have been high enough that the tire valve and clip-on chuck have functioned with no troubles. That temporarily removed my motivation to make the planned upgrade.
This is the tire valve fitting I made for a soda-bottle-rocket launcher. It was repurposed to make the connection to the aeration hose for the biomeiler. Yesterday, my luck ran out. The clip-on chuck was frozen and wouldn’t let air into the tire valve. Today, the chuck was working, again, but the spring that makes it clip onto the tire valve broke. Clearly it was time to make the upgrade.
A few minutes of attention from my heat gun persuaded the aeration hose to release its grip on the tire valve fitting and to allow me to insert the male side of the quick-connect coupling. The clip-on chuck was replaced by the female side of the quick-connect coupling.
Previously, the compressor had to push air through the clip-on chuck, through the tire valve, and into the biomeiler material. The back pressure had the compressor top out at about 25 psi. Now, the airflow is less constrained and the compressor tops out at about 5 psi. According to the data sheet that came with the compressor, it delivers 0.9 cfm of air at 30 psi. The pressure/volume relationship is not linear, which means I can’t give a numerical figure, but it is safe to say that the airflow into the pile is now significantly better.
One reason I am aerating the pile with an air compressor, rather than a fan, is that I wanted an air compressor to use for other purposes. Another reason is that I wanted a positive displacement pump in order to guarantee that air was getting into the pile and not just dead-heading the pump. If I were using a fan, the pressure reading, alone, would not guarantee that there was also a flow of air into the pile.
This sounds as though you now have extra parts to use for another project, and you have successfully completed the update. You have had a busy time of it now that the weather is more cooperative. Success is a great motivator!