Compost bin
 

Thus spake Andy Clews unto the assembled multitudes:
I wouldn't have thought a compost heap would get hot enough to smoke :-)

They do give off a lot of water vapour though (not quite steam).

....followed by various postings asserting that heaps CAN catch fire.

Blimey! I stand corrected. I've heard of Spontaneous Human Combustion
but I'd never heard of Spontaneous Compost Combustion before :-)

Thanks :-)




--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
(Remove DENTURES if replying by email)

Compost bin
 

Andy Clews writes:

Thus spake Andy Clews unto the assembled multitudes:
I wouldn't have thought a compost heap would get hot enough to smoke :-)

They do give off a lot of water vapour though (not quite steam).

...followed by various postings asserting that heaps CAN catch fire.

Blimey! I stand corrected. I've heard of Spontaneous Human Combustion
but I'd never heard of Spontaneous Compost Combustion before :-)

There's a sawmill on the Devon/Cornwall border that after tipping all
the sawdust in the same heap for a century or so has trouble with
digger drivers who don't pay attention when told not to try digging
through it. The core is so hot it ignites if exposed to the air, there
was talk of using it to heat the sheds but I don't know if that ever
happened.

In the surrounding woodlands the effect of the fallout plume from the
arsenic refining chimney is still visible from the air 150 years after
the mine closed down...

Anthony

Compost bin
 

our local council compost all green waste at a very high temperature and one
can help oneself to the result for free
Used tons of the stuff on my patch and absolutely no weeds etc so far
"Sue" wrote in message
...

"K" wrote
Our council is piloting a scheme where they collect garden rubbish,
compost it and sell it back to us! I think I'll carry on composting my
own. It might just be a tad cheaper :O))

And at least you know what's in it. Judging from what gets thrown in the
'green' skip at out local household dump there'd be likely to be all sorts
of diseased stuff and perennial weed roots go into the mix. I think local
collection and composting is a good idea, but would their processing be at
high enough temperatures to destroy all nasties, I wonder?

Sue