Originally Posted by Sean Straw

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:45:39 +0000, growvege
wrote:

Hi we have had a hotbin for 3 weeks now, it would not heat up, but it
was my fault lol, put to much compost from my darlic compost bin into
it.

'darlic' ? The closest I come is "dalek" -

Dalek Compost Bin

I would expect any proper compost bin to be geared towards generating
a proper composting environment - provided that the original material
has a proper C:N balance and the mass has some aeration. If the
environment is right, the compost mass will produce heat. What about
your old bin makes it NOT also a "hotbin" ?

So changed to a grass and old food mixture, it shot up to over 70c .
Then i added more food waste and grass and garden waste, it not is at
48c.

Sounds like you've got WAY too much "N" and not nearly enough "C".
Shredded straw, dried grass or leaves ("leaf mold") would increase
your "C".