Comments on: Slow Progress with a VermBin48

By: Richard Ince

Richard Ince — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 02:33:54 +0000

I live in Texas, hot summers. I plan to have my worm bins in my unairconditioned shop. Will this affect my worms?

By: Shaul Grantz

Shaul Grantz — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:21:21 +0000

I previously used the same exact system to heat my 2 outside bins, through consecutive winters. Basically, here’s the idea. The rope light contains tiny incandescent bulbs (not LED’s) that give off heat. I have 5 metres at 16 watts/metre = 80w. The rope light is attached to the inside of the frame surrounding the UWB but outside of the bag. A dimmer switch is installed to adjust the temps between 0-80w. Sheets of solar-reflective Mylar are attached to the steel frame using Neodymium magnets (the super-strong magnets found in computer hard drives). For those with wooden or plastic frames, the Mylar can be attached directly to the bag, using the same magnets on the outside and plastic-coated steel washers on the inside. The magnets should be strong enough to easily pass through the bag fabric to hold the Mylar in place securely without damage to the fabric. Plastic-coated steel washers are usually sold as protective ‘feet’ for tables and chairs. The top open corners of the frame/bag are covered with sections of newspaper. Using long-stemmed oven-type thermometers (with the dial on top) inside the bag, the temps can be adjusted (using the dimmer switch) to achieve the desired results. Also, the rope light should not be attached permanently to the inside of the frame but rather be easily removed to facilitate easy access to the harvesting panel.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 02:51:39 +0000

That’s great, Shaul!
I played with rope lights as a potential warming strategy for a larger bed outside but it didn’t seem to help too much (was a much colder situation though). Have been curious to test them out a bit more. Thanks for the info!

By: Shaul Grantz

Shaul Grantz — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 01:57:51 +0000

I’ve developed a heating solution for the UWB using Rope Light, a dimmer switch and solar-reflective Mylar plastic sheeting. The bag sits in an unheated room which is about 15C. The current temp in the bag is 26C. It’s possible the same idea could be adapted to other systems as well.