Jean Pain Compost Hot Water Workshop Oct 26, 2024 - Beaverton MI

Hey All,
I'm hosting a workshop that will build a Jean Pain style hot water compost pile.  Once the pile is built it will produce hot water to be used in my living space as radiant heat and dish washing.  

I'll be co teaching with Deanne Bednar from the Strawbale Studio in Oxford MI.

I would encourage you to come even if you're not interested in compost hot water but rather to network with other permies in central lower Michigan.  I'm also running a rocket mass heater and various other permie type things if you'd like to check them out.

Saturday
Oct, 24, 2024, 11a.m.-3p.m.
Beaverton MI

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wood-chip-water-heater-hands-on-workshop-tickets-1026822763527?aff=oddtdtcreator

I am very interested to see how your workshop goes. Please post successes and failures, ingredients, methods, etc. as well as PICTURES!

I am curious if you have gone to a workshop to learn the JP method before, or if this workshop is experimental? Have you had successful sustained JP style compost piles in the past, or are you going into this with theoretical knowledge? Are you building one EXACTLY like JP did with the same equipment and everything?

I can't come to the workshop, but I want to build one of these myself. I would like to limit my experimentation needed as much as possible and have scoured the internet for any tips and tricks that might make a 8ft height by 16ft diameter compost pile perform as advertised.

If you are coming at this with experience and theory, would you mind sharing some things you've learned or what some of your sources were?

I wish you all the success and will be tuning in for updates!

I'm co teaching with Deanne Bednar from Strawbale Studio https://strawbalestudio.org/ who built  a Jean Pain heater 10 years ago to heat a straw bale building.  

This will be a smaller build closer to 20 yards because of...context.  

So far I have zero sign ups so, I hope it's more than just Deanne and myself working on it.

As for research and implementation things seem to have stalled out.  The Gaelen Brown books Compost-Powered Water Heater came out in 2014 which documents many case studies of Jean Pain as well as the more commercial Isobar system developed by Agrilab Technologies.  Agrilab produced a bunch of videos in the mid teens but I haven't found anything newer than 2017.   Their website is current but doesn't give much information.  https://agrilabtech.com/

The most recent content I'm finding is by a tinkerer, market gardener Earthdwellers Homestead youtube channel.  He's trying all kinds of different methods and techniques.  https://www.youtube.com/@Earthdwellershomestead

Honorable mention:  While not specifically about compost heaters Ben Falk, in his second edition of the book  The Resilient Farm and Homestead https://www.amazon.com/Resilient-Farm-Homestead-Revised-Expanded/dp/1645021106/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.gtr3o9kA-xNl_cjb7JPU7ijkZFJi4-C8K1E3fTP-Mq5hkSYhKIWwBxH4jUyL1FAC8jpa_yxy638mlxIrBljO6BJN1T0wE5PgngywasCyKiJPP5xun26z6OcMoJQSWpBz47DK3cH8xiyEPW3hiozy3KjVKtKC6T_keFG6Jr-MC0px_AWD52W9Cis9_yGY6IpbB6O6y6-RYMKFiZawtduP93HTpCEpHOwIy7AUIV6qAgA.U6yW4DA33hnUN6EyuAbl2ivNy-ItodH1rQzbO-rbxjI&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+Resilient+Farm+and+Homestead&qid=1727792521&s=books&sr=1-1, talks of his experience with a Jean Pain system.  He writes that he wouldn't do it again because he doesn't need the compost.   Which reminded me of one of my favorite permaculture principles of stacking functions/yields; heat and compost.  

Water heaters aside, Ben Falk's book is one of the best homesteading, permaculture books I've encountered in a while.  The highest of recommendation.


Rich

Well, the workshop didn't happen because nobody signed up.  But I did get a few people together and we made it happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJwvUia55f0

i had great hopes of building this system , until i realized the sheer volume of material needed and the type of shredded chip that he used in his systems , the man even had to make his own type of shredder to get the desired base material he wanted , and he also used to generate methane out of the piles which he diy compressed into tanks , strapped onto his 2cv citroen and drove around the estate he managed.There were some youtube interviews with his brother who spoke about his methods and his use of the resulting compost for gardening---good luck and continue the project--good stuff