Idea for natural shed heating...

free2take

Hello all,

Not sure if anyone has ever done anything like this but I am toying with the idea. Like many married men of a certain age I spend way too much time in my shed, its a brick build of 10x12 feet. Trouble is it is freezing cold in the winter. Its also too far removed from the house to think of putting radiators in and is too expensive (or so I'm told).

What I propose is to line up the outside wall with some tough black plastic to a height of perhaps 3 feet, basically a high stool, then to build out a box frame perhaps 1 1/2 foot around three walls excluding the one with the door in. This is then to have a mix of permanently shut close down and flip tops which I can use to fill the inner core, they also act as an outdoor bench. You probably guessed it by this stage bt I then plan to fill the structure with compost, in the hope that the heat will naturally provide warmt for the shed walls and consequently the inside.

Any thoughts, suggestions, criticisms of this idea ?

All the best,
Niall

Oldtree

Good idea, the victorians used a similar idea to heat their greenhouses. Points to think about in the design would be:
The compost will have to be turned to make the most of the process, is their enough space to do this?
Will the plastic take damage by a spade from turning?

Some type of pipe setup going through the compost to take warm water to the top of a (old) radiator in the shed and cold back from the bottom would make the most of the available heat. No electricity used!

Other ideas for your shed would be:
Home made solar panels on the south side of the shed could do a similar job, taking the form of old radiators, paint, boxed up with clear plastic and piped to an internal radiator. Perhaps have the panels lower than the radiator inside.
Dryline the inside of the shed and insulate, incuding the ceiling.
Get an old stove, build a chimney and make fire from slavaged wood.

CJhaughey

I would hazard a guess and say that the heat generated by the rotting compost in winter (time of most energy need) would be quite low.
I would say try and buy or make a small stove maybe from an old calor gas bottle and burn old pallets.

Pocari Sweat

What about a goat powered shed?

Tether a flock of goats on long bungie cords linked to a pulley system.

Using mini dynamos from old scrappage cars mounted inside the shed you could power a mini tannoy system that roars out the odd recorded shouting noise that gets the goats into a kerfuffle and trotting away from the sound source.

With enough goats and dynamos, I reckon a KW or two should not be too hard to rustle up.

Pocari Sweat

I forgot, you could leave the tannoy system switched off most of the time because there would be a tendency for the goats to graze on uneaten grass further away from the shed so the tannoy should only be activated at times of peak demand and the bungies should be wound out gradually to meet a larger grazing area as required.

free2take

Thanks for the replies oh and the goat thing although frankly it was a bit scary..

I had thought about this CJ that in winter when needed most the heat might not be the best, but I guess the consistency of even a low heat would ensure some temperature benefits.

I am thinking of trying to encorporate the overall design into a seating area as well so its more a case that the two will complement each other rather than it being one purpose built thing.

Like the waterpipe idea oldtree, just need to get my head down now and get some concrete drawings together.

Will keep you posted as to my progress !

All the best.