Imagine a compost bin that's completely closed off - sides are solid, top is covered by a lid; there are no gaps anywhere. But there are holes are drilled in each side, and you send PVC pipes through the body of the bin. These PVC pipes have many tiny holes drilled along them, to allow passive aeration of the pile. Finally, a very fine mesh is put over the end openings of those PVC pipes, to prevent insects from sneaking in.
(see attached drawing, where yellow represents the tubes in each view)
How do you get at the compost, you ask? The bottom will have a door that you can open, to get the finished compost down there. The top has a lid to add new stuff from above.
Why bother with this, you ask? I'm trying to accomplish a couple things:
1) Aeration without turning the pile >> pipes running through it.
2) Keep bugs out >> sealing it off except for mesh-covered pipe openings
This allows me to lazily "cold" compost, adding kitchen scraps whenever; not worrying about having enough browns to cover my greens, not have to fuss with turning or moving the pile, and not having to worry about flies (the mesh will be fine enough to keep them out).
Thinking about 6ft wide, 4ft tall, 4ft deep.
What do you think of this design? Pros / cons? Or any modifications I should consider?
