My Low Cost Dehumidfication Kiln

[kent wardecke]

Nice set up. I might try storing boards on edge. The solar kiln is impressive

[John TenEyck]

Thanks. I loosely followed plans in an old Wood magazine article for the solar kiln. The PV panels were a matter of necessity as there is no power nearby. I used 12V car radiator fans wired straight to the solar panels, so they run only when the sun is bright enough to provide enough power, a built in day/night switch. I got two loads of AD lumber dried before Winter set in this year. The Aug/Sept. load took 2 weeks to go from 14% to 7%, the Sept./Oct. load took 3 weeks. I put another load in in November at 18% and it's now at 16%; did pretty much nothing in the past month. I suspect it will start to dry again in March and be dry sometime in April. I'll be out of AD lumber after another load and am looking forward to seeing how well it will handle green lumber after that.

I started storing lumber on edge when I built some rolling carts in my shop, now gone after I built the shed. It eliminates the hassle of going through a stack of lumber, because we all know the one we really want always is on the bottom. The rack system I use is just 2 x 4's with holes drilled through them for 3/4" black iron pipe or 1" EMT. The holes are drilled every 4 or 5" which gives you lots of flexibility in the spacing between rows.

John

[kent wardecke]

I thought I recognized the solar dryer, i must have read the same article. Let us know how the green lumber turns out. How warm or hot does the solar kiln get?

[John TenEyck]

The kiln got about 30 - 35°F above ambient in Aug./Sept towards the end of the drying cycle. IIRC, it never got above about 50% of the max. drying rate limit, per the VT guidelines.

I'll let you know how it goes with green lumber.

John

[Jim Andrew]

I am in the process of building a solar kiln, the plan is available if you search Solar Kiln, virginia tech. It is the revised edition with doors on the rear for loading with your skid steer or forklift. I used their dinensions, and the sloped rafters fit perfectly with 45 degree cuts on each end.