I rigged up a big worm bed with a seed starting heat pad at the bottom. The worms were doing great. I had a thermostat that would keep the bedding at about 65 degrees f. I built the bed about four months ago.

I was a little suprised to find it all on fire today.

We got the fire out and are not sure what caused it. I didn't think that mat got very hot. And everything seemed ultra heavy duty and covered in heavy rubber. All electrical junctions were kept out of the soil.

What did I do wrong?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), January 22, 2002

Answers

Response to Fire!

Paul- What was in the bed besides worms? What kind of bedding were you using, and what were you feeding them? When you put out the fire did you look at the heating pad and the wiring to see if the fire started there, or in the bedding/feedstock? If the fire started with your electrical system, there's your answer. But, if it resulted from spontaneous combustion of the materials in the bed then my guess is that you were loading the bed up with a) too many "hot" materials which should have been composted first; b) it seems like if you had the correct mosture levels it would have been too wet to support combustion anyway. So, I am curious to know more about the conditions at the time. Also, what were the worms doing before the fire? Were they acting as if they were trying to avoid areas of the bed which might have been too hot? Or trying to migrate out of the box altogether? How did they fare after the fire? Hope you did not lose them.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 22, 2002.

Just had to say sorry about all your hard work....but you have to admitt....that must of been one heck of a site....hubby and I are still chuckling...sorry for laughing....happy barbequing...LOL

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

Paul,

The insulative quality of the bedding medium was a major factor. It was my experience with much the same results use a waterbed heater. I have had more effective results using water line heater strips and the best results at heating a bin has been achieved utilizing contained anerobic decomposition heat generation by using the medium to work my winter wines in or building a compost heap in a 3 gallon carboy. The working wines or green manure digester provides adequate heat for 2 to 3 weeks and the jug and airlock isolate the toxic decomposition from the worm stock. After the enzymes in the heat generator have died, the remains in the jug can be used as worm food and a new generator can be mixed and inserted in the medium. The concept is a reverse operation of the "bury cheese in manure for aging" procedure. Instead of heat radiating in ,it is radiated out.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.