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View Full Version : Want to set up a reefer trailer box to sterilize wood



Jim Andrew
01-17-2018, 8:54 PM
Need to figure out a reasonable cost track and cart for a reefer trailer, to sterilize wood. Eliminate Powder post beetles, and ash borers. The guy who owns the trailer will remove the refrigeration unit and wheels, my thinking is I can build a shelf and make an opening for my space heater to blow enough heat to get the inside to 140 degrees f to kill the bugs, and thus sterilize the boards, but have a bunch of work to do. Need to figure out how to build the cart and tracks a reasonable way to minimize cost. Anybody done this?

david privett
01-19-2018, 10:50 AM
no but I would think it would be straight forward vent for air in fan for air out and a thermostat and maybe a humidistat for controls as for the cart and tracks that would cost more than stacking shelving on the sides with a center walkway

Bruce Wrenn
01-27-2018, 8:41 PM
Contact Scott Smith. He has a "sticky" at top of this forum.

Jim Andrew
04-29-2018, 9:27 AM
Got the track built, now I have to haul some gravel and find some kind of ties to support it.

Mark Bolton
04-30-2018, 3:19 PM
We have a simple cart and track in our solar kiln that just uses angle iron for the track and v groove rollers for the cart. The v groove casters arent cheap but but they arent miserable either.

The PP beetle thing I can see but the emerald ash borer shouldnt be on your radar unless your talking about trying to sterilize entire unsawn logs. Once your in board form (no sap) your not in EAB world anymore.

The cart and track would seem the simplest of the process compared to fuel source, controls, and automation.

Had a real good friend who ran two refer trailers wood fired manually. Talk about work.

Jim Andrew
05-01-2018, 9:10 PM
This is a hobby, not a business venture, but am tired of handling boards over and over, and having ppb ruin my boards. Plan to use heat lamps to get the box hot enough to dry and sanitize, along with a couple of dehumidifiers and some fans. Considering painting the roof black. Found if you just put some household bug killer on your logs it will take care of the borers, especially if you apply it asap.

Mark Bolton
05-03-2018, 11:29 AM
Are you talking a full size tractor and trailer reefer? Thats what I assumed you meant. The 140 number on the heat has always been my understanding you will need 165 in the chamber to hit the 140 in the material. Interesting with the heat lamps.

I couldnt agree with your approach more. Handling boards a hundred times is a major burden. The friend I mentioned that ran the reefer tractor and trailer boxes loaded and unloaded everything manually. Unbelievable amount of work and determination. I cant do it. We sticker all our piles in widths and number of courses I can handle with forks on my tractor end loader and even then its work. When the end loader isnt where the mill is (on another job) and we have to do it manually, gah..

Im not sure how you get away from the PPB thing if its an issue in the air drying. The large yards that we buy lumber from (million board feet on the yard at all times) handles their material exactly as we do. Saw, sticker, stack to air dry for 30-60 days, and then into the kiln. We must be lucky.

Jim Andrew
05-03-2018, 11:00 PM
Problem I have is the farm yard is just up the hill from the creek, and there is a lot of dead wood from tree limbs etc along the creek. Don't say clean it up, I have about 2 miles of creek, and the county is crazy with burning regulations.

Jim Andrew
05-03-2018, 11:03 PM
Forgot to answer your question, the reefer has no wheels, it sits on the ground like a shipping container, on a couple chunks of prestressed concrete plank.

Mark Bolton
05-03-2018, 11:04 PM
Lordy may yeah. No cleaning that up. So are you going to go straight from the mill into the kiln and go super slow.

Jim Andrew
05-04-2018, 10:50 PM
Air dry first, but have to watch it close for beetles.

Curt Harms
05-06-2018, 5:31 AM
Air dry first, but have to watch it close for beetles.

Spray fresh sawn with Boracare or similar?

Jim Andrew
05-06-2018, 9:48 PM
Setting up the reefer to act as a kiln, which will dry the air dried wood down to usable moisture content, as well as heat the wood to kill any bugs. No reason for boracare.