Time to pull the heater out of the worm compost bin.
This winter, I had to rig up a thermostatically-controlled heater to keep the worms happy. Although the good folks at Worm Wigwam sent along another compost heater after the bear destroyed the original one, the replacement heater just got too hot, driving the worms out of the bin. The heater is simple enough: it’s a coil of heater wire with a basic fixed-setting thermostat attached in-line, which is stapled to a sheet of plywood with a mylar reflector.
To overcome the overheating problem, I purchased a Dwyer TS-13010 industrial temperature control (AKA, a thermostat) for about $55.00 and wired a standard, grounded edison socket to it. The included probe got placed under the heater, beneath the first inch of kitchen scraps, and the heater was plugged into the thermostat assembly. I set the thermostat to 64 degrees, and the worms were happy all winter long. They quickly devoured anything that was under the heater, but I frequently had to shovel the refrigerated waste that was at the edges so that it would be under the heater.
It’s also time to clean the WormCam camera, shake the spiders out of the ethernet port, and update the firmware. Hopefully, this will increase the WormCam uptime.
People have asked why there’s a fork in the WormCam compost bin.
The fork is made of compostable cornstarch, and the manufacturer boasts that it will easily decompose in a compost pile. So, I took said fork and placed it in view of WormCam so I can see how fast it turns into compost. So far, no change, and it’s been there for three weeks.
Welp, winter’s here.
Yes, it may be only the first half of October, but we’ve had snow. One of our month-long houseguests has already slipped on the ice and hurt herself. We’ve winterized our camper, even though we’re still planning on using it if the weather turns pleasant. Sure seems like winter to me. Since this is Nevada, and it’s at the feet of the Sierra Nevada, I predict the weather will change in 3…2…
Now that it’s getting cold, I have to worry about our herd of composting worms living in our unheated garage. Last winter, the problem was easily solved for us by a hungry bear. He broke in through a window and ate all the worms after tearing down the worm bin. He also destroyed the freezer and ate all of Miss Fish’s harvest-fresh goodies. He then pooped all over the floor before leaving.
This year, we’re hoping for a reprieve from bears. We’d like to have enough compost for next year.
In the unheated garage, the temps easily dip below freezing, guaranteeing that all worm activity grinds to a halt. My solution was to buy an industrial thermostat with a temperature probe, which will control a compost heater. It’s still in the planning stages, but I’ve got a prototype up and running. So far, the worm bin temperature is maintaining at 57 degrees, and the worms are still happy and active.
I’m considering the heating system. The default heater is a sheet of plywood with a flexible element attached to the underside. Theoretically, it rests on top of the compost pile, and it keeps the worms warm and happy. Experiments with the heater last year showed that the temp got up into the high nineties/low hundreds, and the worms abandoned ship like Republicans fleeing the McCain campaign. I can use the same heater but override the internal thermostat with the new thermo control that I got. This would work great, except that the heater board would block the view from WormCam. I could use a light bulb inside the bin, but worms hate light, and they’ll burrow down and avoid the surface where all the fresh garbage is located.
Currently, I’m toying with the idea of placing a 25 watt light bulb in a tin can, and using a little muffin fan and some flex duct to push heated air into the bin. It isn’t very energy-efficient though, since the ratio of wattage to effective heat output is really poor.
In the end, I suppose I’ll just trim a hole in the default heater board and re-string the heat element around the hole. Best of both worlds: efficient heat, low wattage, plus, a view for WormCam.
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