Sounds like a great plan to me. I am getting ready to move and have a very small yard and was wondering how to continue my outside worm bed. You have given me a terrific idea. As far as condensation is concerned it would be very difficult for the pipes to condense if they were 22 inches deep. At that point the outside heat wont be able to get that far down so little condensation should occur. Not ever seen a plan like this you never know but I would say your plan will work great.

Depending on the depth from which the water is drawn from the lake would determine the amount of pipe you would need for your bin. While surface temp of the lake can be around 65 20 feet deeper can be 50-55. Too cold and youll run into the same problem as too warm.

Condensation really wouldnt be a problem ... if any it would help to keep your bin moist.

The system you are talking about is just like underfloor radiant heating. You could use a thicker polystyrene tubing instead of copper pipe to minimize any leaks, make any repairs if needed easier, and would be alot more flexible than copper tubing.

Bryan

Bryan, thanks.

The water I'll be using is drawn from the shallow aquifer, the well is about 12 ft deep, the water is about 70 degrees constant. I'm all for the polystyrene pipes idea (that way I could build it myself instead of waiting on my crazy machinist friend to have enough sober time to get to my project).

Do you know whether polystyrene tubing will conduct as much heat? The plus for the copper is that it will seriously cool the bottom of the worm bin and as hot as it gets around here I'd just as soon make as much use of the cool water as possible.

I have also been considering some sort of environmental system. Not sure you have considered this but a coil of the plex pipe standing up in the bin fastened to a 1/4 plywood spaced at about 1 foot intervals would provide both a cooling / heating source and a ready made separation barrier so you could harvest castings in-between the 1 foot sections. Run the connecting section of pipe between each standing section in a false floor under the bin. The only pipe that would be in the bin would stand up and be in contact with the bedding. Drill large holes covered with screen in the plywood seperation pieces so the worms can pass from one section to another. When ready to harvest, just stop feeded a section. Maybe move from one end of the bin to the other. If you had a center section you could make a little race track for the worms so they are always moving to fresh bedding in the next section while you harvest behind them. :> Good luck

hello there ,the idea to use cooling pipes in your bin is a sound and practical way to keep the temp to a managable level.In England we do not have your problem however my own bin has some thing very much like what you have in mind but instead of cooling I use heat to warm the bin in winter and controlled with a thermostat.As a retired plumber and heating engineer I can tell you that taking heat out or putting it in requires the same sort of heat exchanger I built my own bin as a continuous flow wjth tubes across the base spaced four inches apart I do not know what size tube you have in mind? bigger is better. you get a better heat tranfer metal tubes work better than plastic I wish you well regards John

Very interesting, the only additional thoughts I have after reading all of the above is that in designing your system, design for easy maintenance, and with a plan for expansion, because you may find you want to have more bins or larger overall system as the worms are great and you might end up addicted to them.

Pura Vida

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Blog with Pictures

carnationman/johnvalhunt, thanks! Pura Vida, thanks also, am incorporating both your suggestions by following Jworm's most excellent idea.

I've been imagining a horizontal (flat) cooling system to facilitate the worms' natural up-and-down travel. Down side is getting the compost/etc out from under the radiator at harvest/maintenance time. But worms are smart enough to seek cooler environs when they need to (they'll travel sideways as well as up and down) and a vertical/lateral radiator would provide a cool environment the worms can access easily and also facilitate maintenance by allowing some "natural" bin segmentation. One lateral radiator down the middle makes a two-compartment bin, and I'm relieved of the necessity to design a removable radiator system. A-1 suggestion, JWorm, many thanks, am redrawing plans now!

Looks like a sound idea. As I understand it, you would be using existing/superfluous resources.
Should you decide not to proceed with the airconditioning plans, perhaps you'd like to know that I've found that high temps have not affected my worm bins. In late January and throughout February as well as in late July and throughout August the temperature in my area at noon until around 6 pm goes up to as high as 95F at times. Humidity is quite high. However, my worms have had no problem with the heat and humidity. The only time I lost my worms was when I overfed them. The bin got heated up not because of surrounding temperature but because of heat generated by the excess food.

Interesting thought, anong28.

It would seem like some low level of composting action would be natural and perhaps beneficial in a worm bin, now I'm going to have to research what effects my air conditioner would have on that process, I expect it would slow it down, and I wonder whether retarding the composting action could harm the worms.