[Stoves] on't waste the heat, grow red wigglers and glorious greens

[Gerrie Baker]

Antifreeze in the greenhouse on Foley Mountain is food grade propylene 
glycol which was good to -40 below zero as there are heating pipes 
overhead to ensure the roof gutters do not ice up.  I don't know enough 
to compare systems however compost creates heat and one cow gives of 
considerable BTU's so it is fair to say heating is assisted by indoor 
composting and animals penned within the greenhouse on winter nights.  
Also, when there is a snow cover on the roof the structure holds the 
heat quite well until daybreak.  Cloudy nights are warmer than star 
filled ones and the worst for heating is a windy and clear night.   For 
backup there is a large Mighty Therm propane furnace which has never 
operated when needed as it was installed without a vapourizer.  It works 
well until the temperature really drops and that is when it is needed 
however the gas contracts in the cold and the burner will not stay lit.  
The wood waste biomass boiler works well with the auger chip fuel as 
well as with large logs inserted directly into the chamber.  The three 
doors are the size of a street manhole and can accommodate a four foot 
log - if you are able to lift it into the firebox.  The combination is 
char, animal and food waste feeding the worms that convert this material 
into nutrient rich, pH balanced plant food in a sustainable cycle.  This 
simple cycle is the foundation of the farm and can support year round 
food production  but I need help doing it.  G

Regards, Gerrie Baker, aka The Worm Lady

Dedicated to delivering organic waste solutions through education and demonstrations of worm composting habitats indoors and outside.  Focused on converting garbage to gardens and encouraging people to grow their own healthy nutritious food and beautiful edible flowers.

The Worm Factory
874 Grady Road, Foley Mountain
Westport, ON  K0G 1X0

613-273-7595

www.thewormfactory.ca


On 16/10/2011 7:24 AM, ajheggie at gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday 16 October 2011 03:22:44 Gerrie Baker wrote:
>> Thanks for your input.  The boiler supplies a closed loop radiant floor
>> Kytec pipe heat distribution system filled with food grade glychol.
> The antifreeze is necessary because outside temperatures are so low in
> winter? What concentration? Hydronic systems in UK usually just have
> antioxidants but solar thermal systems also use propylene glycol.
>
>
>> A
>> conveyor lifts wood waste into a hopper and three multistage augers
>> transfer the biomass chips into the furnace where the fuel is
>> concentrated and fans blow in air and the fire reaches high
>> temperatures heating the steel plates and water circulating pipes.
> So it's a sophisticated chip stoker, I had missed that and thought we were
> considering a proposal to use TLUD combustion in combination with a high
> thermal mass, in this case water.
>
>
>
>> It
>> is inside the boiler chamber (second stage of the furnace) that large
>> logs are converted to biochar when the air is shut off.
> This bit worries me, what happens to the offgas from this pyrolysis of
> solid wood once the air supply is shut off?
>
> We've moved away a bit from relevance to cook stoves but the principals
> remain the same.
>
>
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