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, [email protected] 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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