Ok, so I have had the HotBin for just over four weeks. I took these photos on Day 30, first thing in the morning.
So far, I have been very impressed. The HotBin has "eaten" many refills of material (more than 3 of them a week since the start) of
mainly green waste (weeds, potato haulms, grass etc) since I got it.
Each time the
level dropped down to a settled minimum and the internal temperature settled back down to around 40 C, I
refilled the HotBin to the top. Obviously as time passed there was more material left in the bottom of the HotBin, so I could put less and less inside as there was less room. But I estimate I have put
more than 800 l (ish) of waste, by volume, into the HotBin, which then worked to reduce this material down to coarse mulch consistency at the bottom of the HotBin.
In four weeks.
By comparison, the Dalek bin has been refilled once during this period - so has taken roughly 500 l of material ( initial 330 l plus a refill of another 150 ish l)
I have had a bit of a problem with the external thermometer, but as I am getting the internal temperatures and as the material is disappearing at a rate of knots I guess I must be doing it correctly so I am not worried. HotBin are talking to me about this issue and I am getting a replacement soon.
Whenever I open the lid, there is steam and heat! As long as there is a fresh charge of waste to work on the HotBin has
kept at a steady 55 - 65 C inside - it usually takes 3 days for the
temperature to drop to around 40 C - by which time the HotBin needs (and gets) a
refill.
But after four weeks the partially composted material was building up inside the HotBin, so I decided to open up the hatch and take a look, with a view to possibly removing any material which had composted enough.
I undid the two ratchet straps which help to hold the front hatch in place
having first put an old, split compost bag down to catch any material which I took out.
hatch open for the first time in 30 days!
I must admit I was surprised to see how well the material had already composted down.
Slugs on the inside of the hatch - they get everywhere!
As always my henny "helpers" appeared to see what was going on
See how much mulch grade compost has been produced! In a month! I removed 3 buckets full of material, it was rather wet and a bit coarse to use as compost just yet, but perfectly acceptable as a mulch and if put in another bin, would make good compost within another few weeks. Which is what I am going to do with it.
I did find it a little difficult to remove the material from the bottom of the bin for two reasons. I found it physically hard to get the stuff out because of the other material above it. I also was concerned about cutting into the bin itself with my spade.
The Hotbin, three quarters empty again, waiting for a refill.
Which it got, of all sorts of stuff including bindweed ( I love watching the bindweed cook and go black inside the HotBin!)
By comparison my (larger!) Dalek compost bin , filled at the same time, under the same conditions and with a mixture of the same material, had produced a very small quantity of mulch quality standard compost. But the rest of the material in the bin was not decomposed very much at all. I removed less than a quarter of a bucket of usable mulch compost in the bottom of the Dalek bin.
Now do not get me wrong, that is very good going for a Dalek compost bin, in high summer I expect to get usable mulch from one of these in around fourteen weeks - but not in four.
So - the HotBin is yet again really impressive. I put the material I removed from the bottom of the HotBin into the Dalek bin, and personally I think that is what I am most likely to use the HotBin for, as a very rapid means to process huge volumes of compostable material and convert it into a much smaller volume of mulch grade compost. This can then be either used or put into a Dalek or other compost bin to complete the process - if you want finer, more mature compost.
And by the end of my afternoon outside, the Hotbin had already reached 55 C internally. And by the next afternoon it was up to 68 C.
Truly a "Hot Bin"