# Compost pile furnace



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'm intrigued with the idea of using a large sawdust pile for a decades long heating source but I'm not in a position to build one until I find a new piece of property. That hasn't stopped me from researching it and I ran across these videos on Pain's compost heater and methane producer. It only produces for 18 months whereas a sawdust pile produces heat for decades.

http://www.electricitybook.com/composting-for-heat/

Is anyone doing this in the US?


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,
If you look in this section, there is some info on heat from compost:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#CompostHeat

A couple of them are in the US, including Marc's.


I had hoped to have a try at it last winter, but did not make it -- maybe next winter. I think its an interesting idea.

Gary


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've dug into old sawdust piles that were at least 20 years old that were too hot for my hands.

If I had the room and the time I would look for a DOE grant to do some research to try and determine how many btu's a person could extract from a given amount of sawdust. Or I would just do it myself since it wouldn't cost that much.


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