Home heated by mulch

Have you ever stuck your hand into a pile of mulch and felt just how warm it can get?

Could this heat be harnessed to heat a house?

My idea was simple: What if we looped a few hundred metres of pipe inside a big mulch pile then pumped the warm water throughout pipes imbedded in the concrete house floor.

Did it work?

Hell yes!! Even better than expected. The floor quickly came up to around 19-20 degrees celcius and stays that way all winter. We are now into our 5th winter in the house and along with the sunshine this is our only form of heating.

In April each year we spend a weekend building the pile with fresh mulch, enjoy a nice warm house all winter, then at the end of winter we disassemble the pile and have around 15 cubic m of lovely composted mulch for our garden.

How cool is that! Give me a shout if you want to know more.