[AT] A really stupid question...

charliehill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Mon Apr 19 04:11:15 PDT 2010


I read an article recently where a guy was building compost piles over a 
grid of coiled pipe and pumping water through the pipe and a heat exchanger 
to warm his building.

I agree with the others that it won't catch fire (most likely) however I 
wouldn't leave the pile in the middle of a dry hay field or inside a barn. 
It won't likely get hot enough to burn up your spreader while you are 
spreading it.

There is a paper mill near here.  They have huge piles of chips.  Big enough 
that they run dozers over the top of them.  Over the years the chip pile 
will "take heat" and catch fire on the inside.  It's not an everyday or 
every  year thing but it happens.

 These are real fires with smoke not just water vapor comming out of the 
pile.  They sometimes have to inject huge amounts of water into the bottom 
of the pile to put it out.  There isn't enough room to spread the pile out 
and it burns out a hole on the inside which makes it too dangerous to run 
equipment on top of it.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve W." <falcon at telenet.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] A really stupid question...


> Dick Day wrote:
>> Really?  I remember, many years ago, my mom's relatives, who are dairy
>> farmers, had just put up hundreds of large square bales in their new 
>> shed.
>> The shed was less than a month old. They said the fire was started by a 
>> bale
>> catching on fire.  I remember they saying it was due to the heat building 
>> up
>> in the center of a bale.  The shed was a total loss.
>
> That is common if hay is green or just a bit wet when put up. What
> happens is the bacteria and other microorganisms get going too fast on
> the bales. This generates a lot of heat and with a lot of bales stacked
> together the heat builds up. We have at least one barn fire a year from
> this, usually when folks try farming for the first time.
>
>
>>
>> I guess that's why I panicked.
>>
>> Should I let it "bake" for a while longer?  What is the optimal time to 
>> let
>> it sit before spreading?
>
> That depends on what you want out of it. If your spreading it to add
> nutrients to the soil then you want to spread it NOW and with the
> grass/hay short so it has time be absorbed in and not damage the hay.
>
> If you want to use it in a garden or sell it as composted manure then
> wait a couple years. The easy way to tell if it is finished turning is
> to smell it. If it still smells like horse manure it isn't done.
>
>>
>> Thank you so much.  I told you it was a dumb question :)
>>
>> Dick
>
> Now if you have a HUGE commercial style compost pile you can get them to
> light on fire. That is usually because the material is too dry and has
> too much straw/paper or other fuel sources in it.
>
> If you want to make some great compost horse manure actually works
> better than cow manure because it is usually better digested and
> composts faster. It also doesn't generate the methane odors that cow
> manure does because of the different bacteria at work on the manure.
>
> I built a three bay composter and toss the leaves, grass clippings and
> organic trash in it along with some shredded newspaper, straw and horse
> manure. As long as I remember to turn it once a week or so and water it
> if needed I get a couple of nice batches of compost every year to add
> more raised beds.
>
>
> -- 
> Steve W.
> (\___/)
> (='.'=)
> (")_(")
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