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Free heat from yard wastes

pixie

pixie

Well-known member
This site was very interesting.
http://mb-soft.com/public3/globalzk.html

The author describes the theory and practical application of using cut grass, leaves and other materials to heat a building. Excellent for greenhouses as it produces carbon dioxide and water vapor.

One of the pages has a description of how to make a chamber to control decomposition and distribute the heat produced. Cost in materials: $200
 
I'm not done reading but right off it says if you live near Chicago you may pay $2000 a year for heating and as I live near Chicago I have to say that is pure bunk. Yes, I do pay over $2000 per year for my utilities (more like $2700/year), but most of my expense is in the summer months cooling the house. The heating bills are actually much lower than the cooling bills. And that $2700 includes cooking gas, lighting, heating water, running the well pump, freezers, etc.

Still, the concept of the article is really interesting. I've plenty of bio-waste from fallen leaves, cut grass, corn stubble in the field, etc that could be used . . . and honestly I'd love to put a greenhouse down in the back of the property and have no way to heat it. Interesting. Very interesting.
 
Believe it or not, this works. I have built methane generators that also had piping to carry some of the generated heat off to provide a heat system for other buildings. Other than the cost of pumping, it was basically a no cost process after initial installation. This and other similar concepts have been used in India and other "poorer" nations for many years. Methane use goes back all the way to the 50's.
 
Yea but I have also seen saw dust piles in Lumber mills catch on fire . I would be afraid to have this thing in my house . I think it could be a fire hazard .
 
I've got 30 or so deer that live within a few hundred yards of my home that figured this out several years ago. I throw the yard waste in a pile in the woods behind my home, and the deer use the pile in the winter as a bed. It is probably a few degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Cleaned up my leaves last week, the the damn deer were standing off a few yards watching me screw up their bed. Eventually they rearranged the pile to their liking.
 
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