He also distilled enough methane to run an electricity generator, cooking elements, and power his truck. In my electricity book, i tell you how to make a methane digester. May 18, 2009 jean pain 1930 1981 was a french innovator who developed a compost based bioenergy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. Autodidact inventor of the methods of jean pain, processes allowing, from brushwood and residuals woods, to produce a hightfertilizing precompost, to collect heat by contact with the fermenting heap, and to produce biogas. Created by tom gilbert highfields composting team tom gilbert highfields composting team. Building a jean pain style compost pile midwest permaculture. Explaining how the compost furnace will heat the greenhouse. Back in the 1970s, a frenchman by the name of jean pain of built a compost pile from woodchips about the size of a garage. Are you heating that massive system or just the hot house system had a read of the jean pain book.
The jean pain way the permaculture research institute. In addition to a fine howto guide on constructing compost heat recovery systems, gaelan documents the many errors that inventors fell victim to in efforts to produce an efficient system capable of going the long distance of multiple heating seasons. By contrast, jean pain, the greater moncton sewerage commission and compost power have all employed hydronic heat capture methods. Jean pain a french innovator who developed a compost based bio energy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. Through the 1970s, french gardener jean pain was a pioneer in developing. The pain mound is a large pile of woody biomass, aka mulch. Jean pain 1930 1981 was a french innovator who developed a compost based bioenergy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. Jean pain composting the permaculture research institute. Over the span of a few years of experimentation, he developed a method that can be scaled up or down to suit a persons heating needs. He put the details of this system in a book entitled another kind of garden. In the picture below you can see jean, his methane storage tubes in foreground and the compost pile in the background. A brief history of compostheat recovery a compostpowered present and future the science of compost and heat recovery largescale isobar systems project planning guide for a smallscale jean pain system project planning guide for a largescale modified jean pain system greenhouse application design understanding feedstocks for.
Jul 18, 2014 the system works by pulling air down into the floor of a compostproduction area, actively aerating the compost. On todays show, we will be exploring the possibility of heating your tiny house with compost. The genius of jean pain organic gardening mother earth news. Anyone using compost to heat water will probably follow a variant of the jean pain method from the 1970s. Jean pain composting all the energy you need, from the garden. Jean pain made the compost heating and energy producing compost famous years ago in france. Permaculture, homesteading, and compostpowered heating in the vermont hills. He was able to create a compostbased energy production system that was capable of producing 100% of his energy needs. Oct 01, 2012 by contrast, jean pain, the greater moncton sewerage commission and compost power have all employed hydronic heat capture methods. Jean pains compostbased bioenergy system natural building. Jun 01, 2010 back in the 1970s, a frenchman by the name of jean pain of built a compost pile from woodchips about the size of a garage. Jean puts his methane digester inside a compost heap to keep it warm and. The system works by pulling air down into the floor of a compostproduction area, actively aerating the compost.
The compostpowered water heater is an indispensable handbook for anyone interested in diving into the details of how to do this for your own home or farm. Here is a revolutionary approach for heating rooms and generating hot water. He also ran a compost water heating systemone that was capable of warming a 93squaremeter 1,000 ft 2 home. Compost water heater with the jean pain method walden labs. What if your residential heating system ran on compost. He heated water to 60 degrees celsius at a rate of 4 litres a minute which he used for washing and heating. Peter bane of the permaculture activist has also written a great article on jean. Jean pain was able to grow tomatoes to a height of 2. See more ideas about compost, alternative energy and permaculture. Dec 15, 2011 jean pain was able to grow tomatoes to a height of 2. Author gaelan brown has worked with engineers and compost scientists to refine methods of composting that can heat greenhouses, barns, buildings, and hot water, all without combustion.
He was charged with protecting over a thousand of acres of woodland from fire, but his quick and able mind, love of life long learning, and a deep concern for the future of our earth led him to accomplish something much more indeed. Jean pain 12 december 1928 30 july 1981 was a swissborn french inventor and innovator who developed the compost heater, a compostbased bioenergy system, that produced 100%. Nov 05, 2016 how to turn wood chips into a great compost heap take a leaf out of a french inventors book for a compost heap thats cheap as chips. Jean pains book another kind of garden is available for download as a. The book glosses over the details of how separation was done in pains system, but i suspect from the photographs that a batch process, instead of a continuous one, might have been used. Mar 15, 2012 if youre interested in more information, you can see the original inspiration for this project on youtube. His system of chipping underbrush to protect against fire in the south of france, produced huge compost piles rich in nitrogen. In the book another kind of garden, the methods of jean pain are. Smallscale jean pain composting water heater what id never seen, however, was a compostwater heating system that was quite as small as the one in. I want to build a proof of concept for a smaller scale jean pain compost system.
Weve only added a little more nitrogen sources and water. May 05, 2014 heating with compost is true ingenuity at work. He heated water to 60 degrees celsius at a rate of 4 litres a minute which he. This past sunday the chicagoland permaculture meetup and living off the grid meetup joined forces to build a compost pile that would provide heat for the grow beds of a greenhouse. How to turn wood chips into a great compost heap alys. Compost heaters are used primarily for demonstration purposes as small systems for heating a house. Sometimes known as jean pain composting or the jean pain method, we can learn a lot from the work of this frenchman about resiliency.
How to turn wood chips into a great compost heap take a leaf out of a french inventors book for a compost heap thats cheap as chips. I do like the idea of the compost heating system, heat with the compost and then use the leftover for soil amendment. Compost heat recovery system by tom gilbert highfields. He uses hot compost, chicken manure added to wood chips and sawdust. Some tips, tricks, and techniques for your perfect wind power in the book another kind of garden, the methods of jean pain are revealed.
In 1972 ida pain, his wife, write the book an other kind of garden telling. The jean pain system is a specific type of a compost heater with a combination of aerobic decay of the heap with anaerobic decay in a sealed container in the. A compost heater or biomeiler is a structure for the energetic use of biomass for the heating of buildings the method was developed by jean pain in the 1970s. As of today, 2714, air piped in from the compost is 56 and even with that its keeping the inside temp 10 deg above ambient. He addressed several of his homesteads energy inputs and did brilliant energy cycling along the way. Our compost heat recovery system innovates this technology for widespread use. Jean pain was a visionary in the provence region of france during the 1970s. Nov 15, 2012 it seems that jean pain uses very thin wood chips, and allows the brushs own foliage to provide the compost s starter. As the pain mound decomposes, heat is produced and harnessed using a hydronic loop. Jean pain a french innovator who developed a compost based bio energy system that produced of his energy needs. In the hydronic method, a network of pipes in embedded under, around or directly within an active compost pile.
On top of this, pain developed his own air heating system. To do this i intend to get 4 55 gallon drums that i have at the farm. He uses several of these in series, with false bottoms for aeration. A brief history of compost heat recovery a compost powered present and future the science of compost and heat recovery largescale isobar systems project planning guide for a smallscale jean pain system project planning guide for a largescale modified jean pain system greenhouse application design understanding feedstocks for. I know a dutch mushroom farmer that uses a modified jean pain mound that i hope to implement on my farm. Jean pain 12 december 1928 30 july 1981 was a swissborn french inventor and innovator who developed the compost heater, a compostbased bioenergy system, that produced 100% of his energy needs. Compost not heating up to proper temperatures will result in a smelly mess or a pile that takes forever to break down. Inside the pile he had coiled around a single, very long hose that he could run clean water through. Jean pain was an inventor, gardener and forester who. Its only about 140 pages and i read it in one sitting. I want to produce burnable methane, hot water, and humus from chipped green brush material. The hot air is then run through a patented heat exchanger, producing steady volumes of 120f to 140f water which can be used for space heating, process heat, or.
He heated water to 60 c 140 f at a rate of 4 litres per minute 0. Through the 1970s, french gardener jean pain was a pioneer in developing methods of using compost to generate fuel and heat water. Jean pains methods, wood valorization by chipping, composting, heating. What are the ingredients of hot compost for heating water. Aug 16, 20 the genius of jean pain through the 1970s, french gardener jean pain was a pioneer in developing methods of using compost to generate fuel and heat water. Author gaelan brown details the experimentation and the work that has been done in harvesting the heat from a compost pile and using that to heat a greenhouse, barn. It seems that jean pain uses very thin wood chips, and allows the brushs own foliage to provide the composts starter. Mothers second experimental compost heater began with a core of material to be composted consisting of three parts wood chips for every one part manure that was held in place by a polesupported chickenwire cage. This inner heap measures a full six feet wide by eight feet tall. We, on the other hand, worked with larger chunks of wood. Symbiont gardens permaculture design home facebook.
Jean pain estimated that a large heap could heat a small structure for six months of the year in france. Compost heating system heating systems, compost, camping. May 20, 2010 jean pain was a visionary in the provence region of france during the 1970s. The genius of jean pain organic gardening mother earth. Jean developed a system that heats his home and generates electricity from a compost heap. The use of a large compost pile to produce both heat and mulch is a well established technology. Invented by french farmer jean pain in the 1970s, it is made of woodchips and sawdust, surrounded by a ring of hay bales for structure and insulation. Top 10 inspiring uses for a compost heap listverse. Jean pain composting all the energy you need, from the. There are some farms in wisconsin and minnesota that use their manure digesters as heat and methane production sites, just like this guy is using his. I figure that the heat will help cut some of the cost of heating the house while i get a rmh built in the summer.
Jean pain 19301981 was a french innovator who developed a compostbased bioenergy system that produced 100% of his energy needs. The end result is a much more efficient compost heat recovery system that has utility to all applications requiring hot water. In addition to heating water using compost, jean also distilled methane to run a generator, a stove, and fuel his vehicle. Nov 01, 20 tom gilbert highfields composting team is raising funds for compost heat recovery system on kickstarter.
He used this water for washing, cooking and heating his home. We started out with 140 deg in the compost, which, after traveling the tubing, came into the hothouse at 70 deg. We started again last november, using palleted, insulated sides and lots more tubing to carry the heat. He was charged with protecting over a thousand of acres of woodland from fire, but his quick and able mind, love of life long learning, and a deep concern for the future of our earth led him to accomplish something much. Ideally all waste water should leave the house at no more than room temperature and could conceivably leave at a lower temp if it was used to warm up enough incoming cold water. Heres a great story from readers digest about jean pain. This book described the work of jean pain and his combined heat and power composting system in france. Be the change my home compost pile reached seriously high temperatures recently, and this link from lifehacker hits home for me.
Sample operation thicket management can be done on a commercial scale at a profit, create jobs both directly and indirectly through the markets created by the outputs of the system, and most importantly. In the very center of the pile was a very largesealedtank holding a slurry of cow manure. Jean pain was a french innovator who lived in southern france from 1930 until his passing in 1981. Jean pain 19281981 knight of the order of agriculture. Second generation compost heater do it yourself mother. Jean pain surmised that these two natural actions could be taken advantage of by the average land owner. The jean pain way the permaculture research institute gardening advice everyone must be aware of greenhouse design ideas determine additional info on greenhouse heating. Using compost alone, jean was able to heat water to 140f. Jean pain was using the thinnings from his forestry management system of the trees, the green twigs,leaves and smaller diameter branchesbrown and green stuff plus brush cleared from firebreaksnot really chipped up but more of a tearing shredding process in the length in his own specifically designed built machineto maximise surface area for bacterial action to kick start. Not long ago, i came across a book called the compostpowered water heater. How to heat up compost is a common problem and easily addressed. First we cleared away the remains of last years compost pile, pulling out the hose to reuse in the new pile and spreading the compost on the garden.
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