Kind regards,

Joe Dawson

TYIA 

We are finishing up a build at 7200 feet in northern New Mexico, USA. We can get lows below freezing pretty much any day from October through May. Daytime high temps are usually ~20-40 degrees F (~10-20 degrees C) warmer than nighttime lows. At the worst we can get a week long stretch with highs below freezing and lows around 0 F (-17 C). In the summer we can get a week straight with high temps above 90F (32C) and the sun is intense.

Our IBC tote is partially submerged about 1 meter below grade in back and 1/2 meter in front. The housing is made of earthbags -- as a retaining wall below grade, up to about a foot (30 cm) above the tank with a sloped metal roof. From about 2 feet (60 cm) below grade the earthbags are filled with scoria (lava rock) for insulation. The walls are ~15" (~45 cm) thick. There is an air gap between the walls and the tank.

The tank has reached above 110F (143C) with the UNinsulated roof on.

We are insulating the underside of the housing roof (including access trap doors) with rigid foam sheets and spray foam. We included two 4" (~10cm) air vents through the earthbag walls just above grade -- 1/2 way up the tank in front, just above the tank in back.

* Our question is whether we have enough venting and enough insulation. *

We are thinking of just sticking in clean trash bags filled with recycled packing material in the big openings where the plastic tank is sealed (so where ventilation is not an issue).

Above the tank opening/access port we are thinking of sewing a ~5" (~12cm) thick burlap "box" with a footprint a bit bigger than the access port that we can stuff with straw, so we will have a somewhat breathable insulation over the opening. This would sit on top of the tank cage which might allow a little gap between the tank and the burlap. We will leave an opening so we can change out the straw periodically.

Thoughts? Does this sound like the right balance between insulation and ventilation? Of course we will be monitoring temps before (and after) introducing worms. Does anyone drill ventilation holes around the top of the tank side walls? Of course this would be a nightmare if the tank ever overflows. We won't do that unless it seems like we have a ventilation problem, and if we did we would make sure the holes are higher than the drainage pipe.

We look forward to any input -- and thank you to Wendy and all forum participants! This website is hands-down our best resource for this work.

(I tried to include a pic of the wormbin with earthbags -- before plaster & roof & insulation & vents were added)

I'm putting 2 tanks in place (1 active and 1 in standby) to replace my septic tank (no percolation).

Around the IBC tanks I'm building a green house to keep the worms warmer and grow a few things.

I hope to get it up and running in 2 weeks ish!

Quick question for the worms, I can only get dendrobaenas in my area, do you know it they are good for this task?

Thanks,
Julien

In my own particular set up its not possible to have a filter bed for the water to run off into. However if i remove the water from the IBC tank via a bucket and tip it onto my existing compost heap aren't I achieving the same thing? 

TIA

Thanks for this exceptionally well-done homepage and all the effort, responding...

I think I've read the whole page now, and the only (tiny) unclear thing is the sense of the drainage assembly. In my opinion, it doesn't need to reach the top of the pile if not for ventilation, which is obviously not necessary. If it is as shown in the drawing in the "Design and construction"- chapter, it permits fresh black water to pass through its holes in the upper part of the filter bed instead of passing downwards getting filtered and only then entering the drainage assembly, which therefore can and should be only on the bottom of the tank, embedded in gravel.

Hope u understand my point and can clarify.

Many thanks!!!

I'm not a native English speaker, that's why ...

I first heard about this system 3 years ago and wanted to build one since; I went to a workshop with Wendy as a teacher and I understood how game changing a Vermicomposter could be. So thanks Wendy to share your knowledge with us. 

I've just finished building my system: 2 toilets, 1sink and 1 shower going into 1 IBC tank.

Now, somehow, I had in mind that a shower could be hooked to the system as well. And, I've been looking through these pages and couldn't find more info about how a shower's hot water would affect the worms.

That water is over 35°, at least, which is higher than what worms can take.

In my case, there's not much distance between the shower and the tank (my tank is one level lower than toilets and shower; almost under the shower). Not sure if that short distance can cool the water enough.

Are the worms buried enough it doesn't affect them?

Was I completely wrong about the shower?

If so, anything I could do to make it work?

Thanks a lot on advance for your answer(s) and your help.

Francois Cramer 

Thanks for all precious information.
I plan to build 2 off grid bungalows in Indonesia, the two bungalows will be 20 meters apart, and each bungalow will have a toilet.
The terrain has a slope of 20 percent, I would like to know what is the maximum distance possible between the toilet and the IBC tanker?

Also, is it possible to connect 2 toilets on an IBC container? (about maximum 10 people for a total daily use)

I made a simple sketch (link below).
Pease can you give me some advices?

Thanks!

https://ibb.co/1sSzdYg