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Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2022 11:35 pm
by MW0OMZ
I've been wanting to have a go at this for some time now
but sooo many other projects to finish first ;)

Permaculturenews.org article

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:51 am
by Stinsy
There are a few parts of that article that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

When I got to:
Once compressed, it has all the same uses as other compressed gas, including running diesel engines with a slight modification to the carburetor.
I stopped reading…

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:17 am
by Joeboy
Stinsy wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:51 am There are a few parts of that article that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

When I got to:
Once compressed, it has all the same uses as other compressed gas, including running diesel engines with a slight modification to the carburetor.
I stopped reading…
:) :lol:

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:37 am
by Stan
He used the methane to power a Citroen 2CX, amongst other things.

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:18 am
by MW0OMZ
Stinsy wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:51 am There are a few parts of that article that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

When I got to:
Once compressed, it has all the same uses as other compressed gas, including running diesel engines with a slight modification to the carburetor.
I stopped reading…
Yes, a mistake by the Permaculture writer.
Jean Pain piles are very much worth doing.
I wouldn't bother with the methane side of
things, but space heating and hot water at
60 degrees is very useful.

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:23 am
by Joeboy
MW0OMZ wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:18 am
Stinsy wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:51 am There are a few parts of that article that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

When I got to:
Once compressed, it has all the same uses as other compressed gas, including running diesel engines with a slight modification to the carburetor.
I stopped reading…
Yes, a mistake by the Permaculture writer.
Jean Pain piles are very much worth doing.
I wouldn't bother with the methane side of
things, but space heating and hot water at
60 degrees is very useful.
When I read the article I loved the idea of spaceheating from composting piles. Plus thermosiphon, a cherry on the cake.

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:25 pm
by robl
I came across a guy who built a huge insulated rotating composter for heating his house - it rotates back and forth with a motor, and has a blower to bring in oxygen. It's a lot of work I think, but very interesting. I'd love to see it in action somehow! I briefly thought about making one, but there doesn't seem an easy way to dip your toe into something like that, and Mrs RobL thinks I'm mad enough already. Committing to a life of double mowing, drying, bagging, storing, etc seems like hard work. I think there is a fire risk too. I've had a go calculating how much biomass we could grow on our land, and I don't think it would quite be enough - I think 100m^2 could give enough dry material to release 1MWh of heat every year, if the right stuff is growing, so maybe we could get 2 or 3MWh. To make up the shortfall in winter I'd be wandering down the street "borrowing" green wheelie bins.... :roll: It's perhaps suitable for somebody with a huge "yard", and a sit on lawnmower.

https://mb-soft.com/public3/globalzl.html

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:09 pm
by Moxi
Wasn't one of the contributors to the old place getting his hot water from compost piles ? I seem to recall some photos of black HDPE pipe work and I think it was even used as their Avatar ??

Moxi

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:24 pm
by Stinsy
robl wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:25 pm I came across a guy who built a huge insulated rotating composter for heating his house - it rotates back and forth with a motor, and has a blower to bring in oxygen. It's a lot of work I think, but very interesting. I'd love to see it in action somehow! I briefly thought about making one, but there doesn't seem an easy way to dip your toe into something like that, and Mrs RobL thinks I'm mad enough already. Committing to a life of double mowing, drying, bagging, storing, etc seems like hard work. I think there is a fire risk too. I've had a go calculating how much biomass we could grow on our land, and I don't think it would quite be enough - I think 100m^2 could give enough dry material to release 1MWh of heat every year, if the right stuff is growing, so maybe we could get 2 or 3MWh. To make up the shortfall in winter I'd be wandering down the street "borrowing" green wheelie bins.... :roll: It's perhaps suitable for somebody with a huge "yard", and a sit on lawnmower.

https://mb-soft.com/public3/globalzl.html
The pile would have to be next to your house though and is bound to be a bit wiffy...

Re: Jean Pain Pile

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:54 pm
by openspaceman
Stinsy wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:24 pm

The pile would have to be next to your house though and is bound to be a bit wiffy...

Not to mention aspergillus mould spores