The Worm-A-Rater

Step 3: A Breath Of Fresh Air

To further improve ventilation in the Worm-A-Rated Hotel I added a small dc fan connected to a discarded solar cell that was used to power landscaping lights that died. The little fan kicks on after the sun goes down and pulls in the cooler night air further cooling the box.
The worm union is so happy they are now producing over a gallon of "Worm Juice" per week!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my wormy adventure as much as I enjoyed solving the challenges.

Resources:

Comments

[marian1936]

Very clever instructable, and very clearly presented. I bought my starter herd while visiting my daughter in CA, smuggled them home in my luggage, and put them to bed outside under a tree. I'm in the Dallas, TX area, where we had more cold than usual last winter and more heat this summer. It's been in the 100s for days now. My worms spent the winter in a styrofoam box outdoors in the corner of the porch. I drilled holes in the lid and stapled window screen fabric inside to provide air, curtail elopement and prevent intruders. They survived the snows and, to my amazement, were still alive in the spring. I moved them into a hard plastic storage box with a top that closes like clasped fingers. The box sits on an expanded steel table with an umbrella in the center. It's next to the house, so it's shaded by the roof overhang on one side and the collapsed umbrella (somewhat) on the other. Not much sun. Home Depot sells some little little 1" louvered vents, which I installed on both sides, using a hole saw to make the openings. At one end, at the bottom, I drilled another hole and installed a spigot for draining off the worm tea. I use shredded newspaper for the bedding, and some corrugated box material or that pulpy material used for packing apples and oranges for the top layer. It's free at the grocery store. I add vegetable scraps at the top, lifting the box or newspapers or pulpy layer and placing the feast on first one side and then another. They have stayed alive without air conditioning or a heat pump, but I do think your ideas sound exciting. I tend to be rather frugal with my efforts, and haven't tried to care for their comfort, except to keep them alive. They seem to be reproducing rapidly, wiggling enthusiastically and creating black gold for my flowers. My kids and older grandkids have no interest and think Grandmother is a bit strange for having a worm farm, but I can live with that. Maybe the 4yo grandson will be interested. He likes to play with the water hose outside, just watering plants and himself. BTW, the table and umbrella and styrofoam box came from the "curbside variety store" the day before garbage pickup, so I'd call them "green". Keep on vermicomposting!!

[bigwayne]

I like it...I have an old cooler in garage that is now destined to become a worm hotel.  I'm thinking of maybe taking the radiator from a discarded fridge and shaping into the bed.  What do you think?   I will also, since living in the Chicago area need to be able to survive below freezing temps in the winter.

[dirty_valentine]

This is a great instructable. I have been thinking about making one of these for myself, and this provides a great starting point. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the fountain pump. It would be nicer to come up with a "greener" solution. One could get a large solar panel to run the fountain pump, but large solar panels don't come cheep. It seems to me that a better solution might be evaporation. This is not my area of expertise so I'm not sure how it would be done. I imagine a piece of cloth wicking up water, which then evaporates cooling a conduit, then the cooled air in the conduit could be blown by a solar fan into the worm hotel. Anyone with expertise here please chime in. Am I totally off base or can this be made to work? Great work COOPDADDI and thanks for sharing!

[orion22]

What about a distillation sort of setup? The water at the bottom could be heated by a solar oven or the PVC pipe spray-painted black. The evaporated water would rise back up the original elevation where it could be condensed. The cooler water in the original container would absorb the heat from the soil and sunlight.

It works in theory.....

[coopdaddi]

While this idea is intriguing I think the bust solution is going to be a dual pump lifting to a reservoir that flows into the tubing. one pump being the solar and the other being a small clacker style windmill that builds a column of water.

[coopdaddi]

I agree that a greener solution would be better. I have purchased a solar fountain pump that works great when there is direct sunlight, but stops when a cloud passes by. The set up did not include any type of battery storage it is a direct power set up so I have been experimenting with with a couple of different options and will update when I have something workable.

[ceramiceye]

Glad to read that, because I was concerned that this compost was counter-productive if it required the use of electricity every day. I would imagine that you could find a way to make the fan solar powered too, making this composter completely green.... even though it is technically brown and smelly.

[coopdaddi]

the fan is already solar powered

[mman1506]

what about a rain barrel

[coopdaddi]

Not sure what you are thinking.

[ceramiceye]

I think he is talking about a source for the water. That might work, but would require more work to get the water in. That's cool that the fan is already solar powered. did you build it yourself or buy one already like that?

[coopdaddi]

I already have 700 gallons of rain water storage. The cooler does not loose water except through evaporation, less than a gallon per week. I bought a little battery powered fan for $2 disassembled the batttery part and wired it into the cell. The cell contains three AA rechargeable nicads and has a photo sensor to turn on at night. There does seem to be an issue with start up though. I have to give it a little thump to get it started.

[mman1506]

yup exactly .the wateris going to be cool and can be split so you can use some for a garden or plant watring system

[coopdaddi]

So you are thinking a continual out flow from the rain barrel? What happens when there is no more water?

[mman1506]

it matters how much it rains .you could make it drip watslowly but probbaly render it useless. it was 12:00 i was tired .

[paulschulman]

I once used worms to produce compost also. they were very happy for a period of time, wiggling really nicely. Then before not too long, they were dead--burned. the compost got too hot. Your solution is too ingenious. Brilliant.

[coopdaddi]

AWW Shucks twernt nuthin! Thanks for the complement! Friends and family really think Im nuts though

[lowekeykid]

composts actually produce their own heat and if you needed something heated you could "kill two birds with one stone"

[koyaniskatzy]

They always do. I'm in Central Florida and our temperatures are quite high too. All I can think for a very green and inexpensive solution would be a breezeway, like they used when building "cracker" houses. I love your instructable, it's very inspiring. I'm done "making the beds" and now I'm moving on to stinkier business - compost, worm farm, manure pit - so I'm open to all ideas and suggestions. I'll experiment with a "worm-cracker-house" and see how it goes (my gardening budget includes a solar powered fountain pump, but that one is for the pond). Also, and this one is for people knowledgable in AQUAPONICS: since this design needs a constant source of running water, would it be viable to somehow make it part of an aquaponic system?

[coopdaddi]

Yes it would work with an aquaponics set up. You will just need to make sure that the worms are in the shade. A higher flow rate such as found in such systems would be even better than the small pump that I am using.

[koyaniskatzy]

AHA! Thanks. I fell in love with the idea since I read about aquaponics on Organic Consumers. It's a project for the winter, so I hope to have it running and ready to share with everyone in the spring.

[coopdaddi]

then you should check this out first...

http://www.fastonline.org/content/category/4/15/29/

[papalevies]

Now all you need is some electrodes in their "brains" (cerebral ganglia) and you can keep them happy and productive by projecting them to an artificial reality tailored to satisfy their needs, a "worm paradise", if you will.

[ja.dzado]

Sounds oddly like The Matrix...

[coopdaddi]

does that mean that I am the one?

[ja.dzado]

I think that means your the architect or something like that--bringing them down into captivity to suit your selfish purposes. :)

[coopdaddi]

its all part of my evil plan ha ha ha haaaa!!!

[coopdaddi]

can you provide an instructable for that as it is a little out of my experience! LOL!!

[gregmonkey]

What about using the natural convection currents to drive the heated water up the copper pipe and placing an old computer heat sink on of a small cooling tower. The water cools descends to the bottom of the tower and starts the trip back up the copper pipe. During the heat of the day you can use a solar powered fan to cool the water more quickly.

[coopdaddi]

Interesting idea. I think something other than water would be needed for that to be effective. A liquid with a better energy transfer, I will need to investigate that. How would the heat sink help with out power?

[ja.dzado]

sounds like he is suggesting using the hot water/cold water temperature difference as the mode of moving the water around. The heat sink would allow the hot water to cool off quicker. Heat sinks come in pretty beefy sizes since they are made to dissipate sometimes up to 100W of heat from a microprocessor

[kennydude]

Excellent article, great read. good job on your ingenuity!

[coopdaddi]

Thanks

[kstlfido]

Cool idea! Wouldn't it make more sense if the fan ran during the day? To stabilize the temp?

[coopdaddi]

Maybe so, but the battery's in the cell need to recharge and with the average daytime air temps in the summer here being over 90 I think that pulling in the cooler evening air is really better. I seem to be getting ample air flow from the wind during the day anyway but in the evening the wind tends to drop off.

[jray43]

Sweet; I think I got all the stuff so I'm making one for my wife for her birthday! I know what side my toast is butterd on! Happy worms are coming!

[arirang777]

I guess you are now the Jimmy Hoffa of the worms. Great instructable!

[coopdaddi]

LOL!!