30 gallons is probably too small to generate much if any heat. For hot composting, you usually want a cubic yard (27 cu ft) or more. 30 gallons is about 4 cu ft.

Thanks for the info. It was worth looking into.

I seem to recall a thread a year or two ago where somebody used a large compost pile to partially heat a house or maybe it was to partially heat some hot water, so it can be done, but it takes a large amount of compost.

The best method of getting heat from compost is to build a biodigester so you can use the methane gas that would be generated in that digester. There would be a considerable amount of fluctuation in available heat from a compost pile while you could make the digester produce a fairly even amount of gas to burn.

"build a biodigester so you can use the methane gas that would be generated in that digester"....good luck with that. Anybody here ever built one?

Lloyd

Attempting to heat with compost has a built-in problem: ammonia gas, which tends to kill plants.

If you could make a good-sized compost pile but vent the gases to the outside, it might work. But how?

Sue