Dehumidifiers

[gdh]

Looking for some advice on how to remove moisture from our log drying shed (which is basically a kiln). Has anyone had any experience with this or tried to make anything?

 

My first thought was to use a dehumidifier but I reckon we need to remove 1600liters a day so there's nothing reasonable available. I don't mind spending a bit on installing a system but don't want to be spending too much on running costs. Any advice is appreciated.

[Stubby]

Looking for some advice on how to remove moisture from our log drying shed (which is basically a kiln). Has anyone had any experience with this or tried to make anything?

 

My first thought was to use a dehumidifier but I reckon we need to remove 1600liters a day so there's nothing reasonable available. I don't mind spending a bit on installing a system but don't want to be spending too much on running costs. Any advice is appreciated.

 

Put your logs somewhere else . Somewhere with air flow but a roof to keep rain off .

[gdh]

In an ideal world I would but we had to switch to a heated shed to keep up with demand during the winter. It works but I think it would be more efficient if we could pull the moisture out rather than letting it find its own way.

 

Currently we use the front doors as condensers but we could do with speeding up the whole process and minimising heat loss.

[Woodworks]

Fit a heat recovery unit?

[Big J]

Electric heating/removal of moisture is not economical. Electricity is too expensive. Forget the dehumidifier idea.

[gdh]

Electric heating/removal of moisture is not economical. Electricity is too expensive. Forget the dehumidifier idea.

 

Yeah, everything I looked at used way too much electric, I want to use natural condensation if I can but don't really want to waste heat by venting the shed.

[Big J]

When it comes to firewood production, I'm a firm believer that air drying is the most sensible course of action (and I say this as someone with a firewood drying kiln).

 

Either you get on the RHI scheme, or it's very difficult to achieve an economical result without a serious amount of wood waste.

[openspaceman]

Yeah, everything I looked at used way too much electric, I want to use natural condensation if I can but don't really want to waste heat by venting the shed.

 

I agree with BigJ.

 

To make use of the natural condensing you'll need to increase the temperature difference between your warm moist kiln air and your cold sink and use a heat recovery ventilation unit to avoid dumping warm air.

[waterbuoy]

Can you not remove the majority of the moisture through natural ventilation, and then 'finish off' using your kiln? Simple air extraction will help with this, but a much cheaper option (space permitting) might be to initially store under a simple open sided but roofed structure - particularly during the summer months.

[gdh]

We're probably going to cross 2000cube this year so financially speaking it's better to improve the drying than find more shed space, it will also allow us to react to orders for different sizes faster.

 

We are trying to cut the wood dryer by moving stacks to windy areas and sheeting them but improving the drying to save heat (and money) will be a bonus anyway.

 

Currently we can dry about 160 cube in 3-4 weeks but that gets hard when the weather's colder. Our first thing to do is add more more insulation and radiators to make it hotter but that's a bit pointless if the air itself remains damp.