You could stick a thermometer into it and check, but as long as it is composting nicely I wouldn't worry about it.

I take my compost's temperature about once every week or so. It's never been above ambient temperature.

But the last time I turned it, the center was turning black and crumbly, so obviously it is composting.

I'm pretty much in the same boat here. My compost pile is definitely errr....composting, but there doesn't seem to be any significant increase in temperature (could it be different in the tropics where the temperature is always around 30 deg Celsius anyway?). How dangerous is adding "cold" compost to the garden in terms of undestroyed pathogens?

thanks all. i have been enjoyng some compost in a very short amount of time. is turning the pile every few days to much or to little? when i started it was every day but then i got lazy .

The bacterial activity that will generate the heat is more in the middle of your compost pile so it would not be likely that you would "feel" any heat. Often I cna pick up some material from the top of the pile and will feel some warmth but not real heat because that is down in the center of the pile. You could work your hand down toward the center of the pile to check that or get a compost thermometer, one with a probe much longer than your typical kitchen thermometer, to check that but it is not necessary especially of the volume does diminsh. Do not confuse compaction with digestion however.

i could have confused it with compacting once or twice. now thought i have been using compost. it's earthy and rich looking. it's really amazing actually. i never thought i'd even be doing this. i've had the best tomatoes ever. i think now my plants have some disease but that is a different story. however i'm satisfied with my results. i think over 150 tomatoes is enough for me! althought it would have been great to make more sauce.

Finished compost will look like good, rich earth and smell like good, rich earth, although it is not good, rich soil until it is mixed into the soil.

Watboy, it can be rather difficult to get a pile to heat up when it is being constantly stirred by the addition of what you put it into it every day.
Two piles,...one that is given the new, the other being left alone for a time and having the things that does bring up the temperature--grass clippings for example, will show you just how warm it can get.

Grass clippings, wettened, will bring the temperature up.
Sometimes so much so that putting your hand into the centre of the pile can be downright dangerous.
Of course it all depends too on just what kind of material has also been added.
Keeping your one pile in a more balanced mix is a more reliable way to generate what your garden will appreciate in that short time.

jeannie7 wrote: "Sometimes so much so that puttin g your hand into the centre of the pile can be downright dangerous."

True enough, if it's active, it can be as hot as 160(F) / 71(C) and if it's not active enough, it could be covered in little biting critters (spiders, chiggars, etc.) that will attempt to defend themselves against the evil attacking giant from above...

The experts say you need at least a cubic yard of material to really generate some heat. Also, turning the pile cools it. A typical procedure for comercial composters: the pile gets hotter and hotter and then begins to cool at which point it is turned. The turning cools it, but the aeration livens up the microbes and it begins to reheat rapidly. When it begins to level off and then cool down it is turned again.

Oh yes, the pile will get smaller and smaller. It'll probably get full of worms too. And, of course, no heat. Heat's not necessary for composting to happen. It's a degradation process and doesn't generate that much heat if it occurs slowly. A nice fat compost pile with all the balanced ingredients will indeed get quite hot since the conditions warrent it; but who has that stuff waiting to be composted? Just keep piling stuff (organic) on and it'll all break down to what your plants love. The worm poo really adds the kick to compost too. LOL

Vegetative waste is "degraded" by bacteria and fungi. That can be a slow, cool process (as happens on the forest floor) or it can be a fast process as in a well constructed compost pile, but if the bacteria are really active they will generate heat as they work, and at different stages in the digestion process you will have different thermophilic bacteria at work because those that can work well at temperatures below 100 degrees are not the same as those that work well at 120 degrees.
For vegetative waste to be changed into something else requires bacteria, and bacteria cause that "degradation".

i apreciate all the knowledge i have received from you folks. i turned my pile really well to see how it was doing. lot's of weird bugs i don't think i've ever seen in my life. it's like i have alien life forms living in there.

i have an earthsaver compost bin. mainly it is cold, but when the outside temps heat up, it does too. it shrinks faster and finished compost forms quicker in the bottom. i am not into turning compost, old arthritic shoulders don't want to cooperate. i generate a good many greens from the kitchen, garden, and the coffee pots at work (hospital...coffee 24/7). I shred all my junk mail, envelopes bills came in, etc. i fill it up quite often, but it has compacted/composted down about 5 to 6 inches next time i need to fill it up.