The Rotating Composter

The rotating composter, or compost bin tumbler is fast becoming the best composter for many people. I think that a lot of this is simply down to the convenience of these composting tumblers. The rotating composter is simply so easy to use and so efficient at what it does that the conventional composting bin is being overlooked in favor of something that is cleaner and actually pretty good to look at.

If you want to purchase one at a low price then you can click the image to the right. The image to the left is for the Achla which is the one I really do recommend. The horizontal models simply make turning the contents so much easier and is by far the best selling rotating composter.

What I wanted to look at today is exactly how the rotating composter can make compost so quickly. What is it about the design that makes the compost in 2-3 weeks? Yes they really can make compost that quickly. It was certainly a surprise to me, but there are numerous people who have confirmed it can be done in such a short space of time.

How Does The Rotating Composter Work So Fast?

Let's take a look at exactly how the compost bin tumbler can work so quickly. I am still amazed at the speeds in which they create compost and it is good to know exactly how this happens. Bear in mind, this is probably more for the proper sized rotating composters and not for very small versions which are often little more than a container, although they also seem to work extremely quickly.
As we can see from the diagram, part of the reason why the rotating composter works so efficiently is because of a steady air flow. A good supply of air is what keeps the contents activated and constantly changing.

Add to this the fact that we turn the handle regularly to rotate the whole drum. This rotating of the drum chops up the contents and evens out the temperature. It also stops the contents from compacting which means the air can flow even better.

The constant tumbling really does make a large difference to the speed with which the compost tumbler works. The chopping up and even temperature allows the organic materials inside to break down at an astonishingly fast rate.

Of course, to get the best results you need to ensure that you only add good quality organic materials to the urban compost tumbler. Adding woody greens or anything that is not fairly soft to begin with will definitely slow down the rate of decomposition. Make the compost quickly by just using nice soft materials. A compost activator will also speed up the process considerably as well.

These are just some of the reasons why the compost tumbler seems so efficient at making quality compost in such a short space of time. Lots of good air flow will definitely help to make the compost quicker. If you get a rotating composter that doesn't have this feature don't despair. The actual tumbling motion goes a very long way to making compost very quickly. The churning helps to break down the contents very quickly. Also the fact that it is a mostly enclosed compost bin will mean that the moisture content stays high which is very important. See the urban compost tumbler post for more information on where to site the rotating composter to ensure that you get even better results.

The rotating composter is a fairly simple design really but one that is very efficient at what it does. If you haven't yet purchased one click on one of the images on the left and you can browse lots of other rotating composters on Amazon, who have by far the best prices on the web.