Compost

Compost Turner Tines are Crucial for Making Quality Compost

Many people don’t realize this but the health and quality of compost turner tines is crucial for making high quality compost. If you are into creating high quality compost, you must remember to check the compost turner tines from time to time to ensure that the tines on your compost turners are not bent or worn. If they are, they might not be able to enhance the quality of the compost.

 

australian-compost-turner

 

Removing the Bad Stuff

Tines that are well maintained and of superiors quality would always help to get the bad stuff out. You must remember that it is vital for you to practice good CO2 management if you wish to retain the health of the windrow. Good CO2 Management can be done by replacing the carbon dioxide.

The replacement is possible if the design, durability and placement of the tines mounted on the turner drum is right. When the billions of microbial critters in the pile break down the organic matter, CO2 is generated and it’s a waste product.

To keep control over CO2, you need to measure it with a CO2 kit and ensure that the gaseous exchange taking place during a pass of the compost turner must not result in 4% of CO2.

 

 

Regular Checks

Tines do get old and useless with time. So you must check them for wear at regular intervals of time. The timeframe depends on how much you use them. The microbial health in the windrow is largely dependent on the efficiency of the tines as worn tines may not be able to turn the pile effectively.

Worn tines also use more power to move the compost turner through the windrow. It can further increase the wear on your drive train. The result, your operational costs will increase.

 

The 3/8 Inch Rule

If your tines are worn more than 3/8 inch, you have no other option than to replace them. But if they are not that much worn, you can turn them around to get some more life out of them. After you turn them around, you need to install them at the opposite end of a drum.

 

Use High Quality Tine

It would also be smart to use abrasion-resistant steel tines that have a hard faced bead which is welded on the tip. You need to also ensure that the bead is maintained by paying a visit to a welder once in a while.

 

Get Started Now

If you have realized that the tines you were using are actually worn more than the 3/8 inch rule then you need to replace them as soon as possible. It will always help you keep the bad stuff away and good stuff in and it will keep the CO2 levels down from now on.

 

Look Out for the Balance

Here’s some valuable advice, when you have replaced the old tines with new ones, you need to ensure that the dynamic balance between the drum and tines partnership is not harmed by operating the compost turner.…