My Hotbin is working!

moments_of_sanity

At the end of last year I treated myself to a Hotbin, I wasn't entirely convinced it would work as I have been composting for some time with limited success.

Today has been a beautiful day weather wise so I decided to get out and 'turn over' the contents of my Hotbin, only to find that I have a large amount of it ready to use :j I am going to mix it with some compost and try growing my parsnips and carrots in plastic bottles as per another thread on here. I am soooooo excited to get compost from my garden, all that trekking to and from the bin and constant nagging of people to save all compostable waste has paid off.

DawnW

what is a hotbin? Any chance of a link?

moments_of_sanity

DawnW wrote: »

what is a hotbin? Any chance of a link?

It's a compost bin that keeps the temperature up and composts food, peelings, cuttings, bread, eat bones etc down really quickly. I have put a link here ( not very good at this so hope it works)

http://www.pottyinnovations.co.uk/hot-bin-composting.html#.UWr_Wcu9KSM

I bought mine as a 'returns' from them and paid £75, it's a lot of money but I am so pleased with the results

MoneyMate

Sounds promising hope all goes well, never got my more traditional brick open topped composter to work this fast (Food for Thought) Great :beer:

OffGridLiving

MoneyMate wrote: »

Sounds promising hope all goes well, never got my more traditional brick open topped composter to work this fast (Food for Thought) Great :beer:

Could you not install insulation around the bricks to hold the heat in? That's all this composter seems to be doing.

Lots of free insulation available in skips around building sites that are offcuts too small for them to use, but may be perfect for a composter.

Leif

Given that I have a wooden bin with a cover made from a piece of carpet, presumably I can get faster composting by lining it with offcuts of insulation sheet, such as Celotex.

I am tempted to give this a try.

moments_of_sanity

Leif wrote: »

Given that I have a wooden bin with a cover made from a piece of carpet, presumably I can get faster composting by lining it with offcuts of insulation sheet, such as Celotex.

I am tempted to give this a try.

I would imagine that would work, I looked at my Hotbin this morning and it was reading 60 degrees so hopefully it is starting to generate the heat again after I took it all out yesterday.

We put absolutely every piece of kitchen waste in, including chicken carcass and this composts down as well. The only problem I can see with not having an enclosed one is vermin getting to it?

We have no compostable waste going into our dustbin at all now and the quality of compost is far better than anything I have had from a Dalek (which was minimal).

Eenymeeny

I was told that polystyrene attracts rats... Sorry I don't have anything to substantiate the claim but I was using it as a filler at the bottom of pots and a nurseryman warned me about it. I haven't used it since!
Well done on obtaining good results, my compost is still a bit soggy, I'm hoping that it'll dry up soon...

moments_of_sanity

Eenymeeny wrote: »

I was told that polystyrene attracts rats... Sorry I don't have anything to substantiate the claim but I was using it as a filler at the bottom of pots and a nurseryman warned me about it. I haven't used it since!
Well done on obtaining good results, my compost is still a bit soggy, I'm hoping that it'll dry up soon...

The Hotbin is made from polypropylene not polystyrene, when I rang them to enquire what it was made of they said it was the same material as car bumpers?? I don't have a problem with rats at all, the worst problem I have is that my cat likes to sharpen his claws on the side of it! :rotfl:

Leif

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

The only problem I can see with not having an enclosed one is vermin getting to it?

It would not be hard to make one that was enclosed, although I wonder if rats would eat through insulation board? In my case there is no meat waste, just veg, so rats are not a problem anyway. I don't know how to fix insulation board to itself

I had a huge compost heap, including wood shreddings, at the bottom of my garden and even in winter it was so hot inside I thought it was on fire. It must have been steam that was coming off, and the grey fungi looked like ash. With a normal compost heap it can get very hot if it is large enough, this one was over 1m high and 2m wide. But the outside was cold.

The concern I would have about the hotbin is the small size. One load of grasscuttings would fill it.

moments_of_sanity

Leif wrote: »

It would not be hard to make one that was enclosed, although I wonder if rats would eat through insulation board? In my case there is no meat waste, just veg, so rats are not a problem anyway. I don't know how to fix insulation board to itself

I had a huge compost heap, including wood shreddings, at the bottom of my garden and even in winter it was so hot inside I thought it was on fire. It must have been steam that was coming off, and the grey fungi looked like ash. With a normal compost heap it can get very hot if it is large enough, this one was over 1m high and 2m wide. But the outside was cold.

The concern I would have about the hotbin is the small size. One load of grasscuttings would fill it.

We put grass cuttings in ours and yes they do fill it but within 48 hours the level has dropped hugely. Only problem with adding too much grass is that it can make it anaerobic so I do make sure I add shredded paper in with it to try and reduce the moisture.