http://lifehacker.com/5545639/generate- ... mpost-heap
A lot of you may already have compost heaps at home, but you may not be aware of the amount of heat they generate. Environment blogger Rob at One Straw details how he used his heap to heat water in his home.

Strong Language Advisory
http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2010/05/2 ... omposting/
Excerpt: More at link
Jean Pain was a visionary in the Provence region of France during the 1970′s. He was charged with protecting over a thousand of acres of woodland from fire, but his quick and able mind, love of life long learning, and a deep concern for the future of our Earth led him to accomplish something much more indeed. Jean Pain spent a decade working through the techniques of a fantastic system to use the ever renewable waste brush from his woods into life giving humus. But then Jean took it to a entirely new level – he began to heat water in his compost piles, enough that he heated greenhouses and his own home. Never content to sit on his laurels, he then began studying up on methane production- and he put a batch methane digester into his piles to use the “waste” heat from the bio-reactions to provide the ideal environment for methane production. Before he died, his techniques had reached a level that he was able to produce methane and hot water for up to 18 months – enough for two winters – while also powering his truck, cooking, and producing electricity with the methane gas. My favorite part? No special machines, just a deep understanding of Permaculture before the word was even coined. Partner with Nature to meet your needs.

Jean Pain was a visionary, but his techniques, if anything, are too simple. Let me explain. They are not sexy at all. Try writing for a grant to heat water with rotting garbage while going up against a Solar Hot Water array or a wind turbine, let alone algal biodiesel or whatever comes next. Compost heat doesn’t create jobs; doesn’t need research studies and cannot be outsourced so it has no place in the Global Economy. Know what? Neither do I . Jean Pain is a hero of mine for doing something that no one cared about because he knew it was just so very right and would be necessary to help save us from ourselves. I read an awesome quote this week that pushed me over.
The time has come to do Epic Shit.”
-Larry Santoyo, Permaculturist

we know a lot of people who have messed around with this. its not near as simple as it may seem..

I'd like to know more, I can get access to a near endless supply of cow and chicken poop both of which are hot.

K-

keeping it hot is the key. if you have access to compost with the right bacteria that will keep it cooking and you use enough hose or pipe to store enough hot water for your needs it does work..

those are the two keys. and i will tell you, your talking about a thousand feet of hose or pipe to store 20 gallons of water,,maybe a bit more.of course the larger diameter pipe or hose you use the less length you will need, i was assuming standard 3/4 inch water hose as seen above..

like i said,the other is keeping a good healthy amount of bacteria working to KEEP it cooking. when the bacteria is working hard enough to bring the temps up above 120,130 they do their job in a hurry,which means transferring new compost in fairly periodically to keep temps up.

it does work without a doubt. and if you have access to hot cookin compost in large amounts its a viable plan if you dont mind putting in the effort..

here is another good link on the subject.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewabl ... mpost.aspx

just a note, i havent done this myself, just observed others experimenting with it so what i have said may not be perfectly accurate but its pretty close..