Another silly question

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone,

I have a friend who started vermicomposting last year.  We live in Canada and she had heard that it wasn't safe to keep your worm bin inside because it could give off a dangerous level of CO2.  Therefore, she moved her bin outside and the worms froze to death :(

 

Now I know a number of us keep our bins inside (myself included) but is there any foundation for her concern?  Do the worms give off CO2 while eating the microorganisms?  Has anyone heard of this?  Would it have to be a massive setup to create a problem?

 

She wants to get back into worm composting so I thought I would ask everyone's expert opinion.

[Richard Hossman]

I never heard that one.If it is true I am in real trouble as I sit between 2 right now.

[Andrew from California]

The amount would be insignificant. Plants also give out CO2 at night, so you'd have to worry about any houseplants you own. I'm guessing no one has a worm bin in their bedroom, right? If you do, then I'd be more worried about centipedes crawling out of the bin and into your bed. CO2 emissions are, as Steve Jobs would say, a non-issue.

[jim kirkman]

Don't forget all house pets produce more CO2 than your worms also.
Oh wait. Im sure the humans in the house produce a lot of CO2 than the worms.
As long as you dont have 10s of thousands of worms I would assume the CO2 level increase would be nearly undetectable.

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone....that's what I thought but I figured if anyone had heard anything it'd be you guys. BTW...the thought of centipedes crawling in bed with me gives me the creeps. I'll give my friend somemore worms as long as she promises to love and take care of them.

[Mark from Kansas]

Last winter I had 4 - 18 gallon bins in my house: no smell, no bugs, the co2 detector did not go off, lots and lots of worms!

[Stephanie]

Were they all in one room or spread around the house?

[James Romano]

A co2 detector sounds neat. I got c01 detector dunno if it detects co2 as well. Maybe they are the same thing.