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--- research:humanure [2019/07/10 14:44] – aimeejulia
+++ research:humanure [2019/07/29 13:44] (current) – aimeejulia
@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 For composting to happen micro-organisms have to be able to travel around the compostable materials to break it down, this is not possible without moisture.
-If urine is separated you will need to add moisture to the compostable material in order to start the composting process. The material needs to be moist but not water logged or oversaturated/leaing. A water logged compostable pile will stink and the odor will be an indicator that you need to add more dry organic matter such as sawdust which absorbs the moisture and acts as a biofilter for odors. This is not only documented in many composting books including: <to do insert references here>, you can ask any compost toilet owner and they will confirm this.
+If urine is separated you will need to add moisture to the compostable material in order to start the composting process. The material needs to be moist but not water logged or oversaturated/leaking. A water logged compostable pile will stink and the odor will be an indicator that you need to add more dry organic matter such as sawdust which absorbs the moisture and acts as a biofilter for odors. This is not only documented in many composting books including: <to do insert references here>, you can ask any compost toilet owner and they will confirm this. Straw is a less efficient biofilter but a good top cover - on top of the compostable pile where you want to discourage animals from digging through it.
 If urine is not separated you will need more sawdust per toilet use this is because of the odor produced by urine. However, with the right amount of sawdust to excreta (let your nose guide you) you will have an odorless toilet.
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   - Monitoring of temperatures and moisture to establish where we are in the composting stage
-An immediate actions was the purchase a compost thermometer (July 2019).
+An immediate action was the purchase a compost thermometer (July 2019).
+=== Monitoring of Temperatures ===
+In order to ensure that the humanure is composting properly we need to monitor the temperatures of the pile, this will tell us whether the pile is reaching high enough temperatures to destroy any pathogens that may be present in the pile. It also gives us the opportunity to correct conditions in the pile in order to reach and maintain the right conditions for compostation to happen.
+Important factors to consider:
+  * if the pile is too dry the temperature is likely to drop as the compostation process slows down
+  * if there are ants this is an indication that the pile is too dry and too cool to put them off
+The solution would be to add water in the middle of the compost and cover top with straw
+  * the addition of water/liquid should be gradual to avoid waterlogged conditions which would cause the pile to stink
+The solution would be to add more dry material but as the pile is full we should avoid going to this stage, add water/liquid slowly and monitor temperatures daily.
+Observations should include ambient temperature spikes, rain and previous day weather conditions, changes to the compost pile like addition of water or dry material should be documented, together with temperature changes.
-....