The tire valve on the aeration hose jammed again. I considered solving the problem, but it was -25F, which was too cold for my motivation level. So, I gave up. After being indoors long enough for my brain to thaw, an idea came to me. I will replace the tire valve on the aeration hose […]
Biomeiler Aeration Problems Read More »
This year begins with good news. The temperature readings in the biomeiler are, overall, rising. All but two of the thermocouples in the pile were reading 0.2 mV higher this evening than on 12/30/24. An increase of 0.2mV corresponds to approximately 9F degrees of temperature increase. Since the air temperatures dropped by 10F degrees
Biomeiler Temperatures Rising Read More »
This morning, I began the aeration of the biomeiler. The temperature readings in the pile indicate that the interior is beginning to compost. The goal of aeration is to switch the composting to an aerobic process, rather than have it be completely anaerobic. For our purposes, the important difference between the two is in
Biomeiler Aeration Begins Read More »
The latest temperature measurements of the biomeiler have had strange variations. The high temperatures were not so high that I couldn’t believe them, but they were higher than I expected. The rate of temperature change, however, was fast enough to trigger my suspicion. The thermocouple I was using for the reference junction had a plug
Thermocouple Troubles Read More »
When I went to do chores, I noticed that some snow had collected at the intake end of the air pipe. If snow gets pulled into the air pipe, it will melt when it gets to the warmer part and water could collect. If it were only a little snow, it wouldn’t matter because the
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After I added the last wood shavings to the biomeiler, I began the activation process. According to the thermocouples, the pile has been inactive since it was assembled. No part of the pile measures hotter than 32 F. That was partly strategic. I wanted to begin with a non-composting pile so I can rule out
Biomeiler Activation Underway Read More »
Finishing the crust and covering the insulating the top of the biomeiler was going to require more shavings than I had in the storage bin. So, I got a load of shavings on Saturday and added them to the biomeiler on Sunday, after I got home from church. It was good that I got the
Biomeiler Crust Complete Read More »
Getting the PEX pipes into the coop without drilling holes in the walls was the goal. My solution was to use my angle grinder to cut flaps in the wye fitting outside the coop and in the air duct inside the coop, before the intake fan. The cutting went pretty smoothly. Fortunately, the wye fitting
Biomeiler Attached to Coop Read More »
To measure temperatures in the biomeiler, I buried thermocouples in strategic locations. This is an ideal way to measure temperatures in such a situation. The way a thermocouple works is that two types of metal are welded together and that junction is placed at the location where the temperature is to be measured. At
Thermocouple Issues Read More »
The last layers contain a much greater volume of material than the inner and outer cores. It has taken days and I’m still not done. Inner core – 28.3 cubic feet Outer core – 84.8 cubic feet Mantle – 141.3 cubic feet Crust – 197.8 cubic feet Total volume – 452.2 cubic feet or 16.7