firewood kiln - How do you build one? does anyone know

[skyhuck]

Put the boiler fuel through the kiln.

[Big J]

Might well do that with the next batch 'Huck. That said, I am able to reach some of the drier offcuts now.

 

It is taking longer than I would have liked. It's had a total of about 60hrs of heat over 6 days with the rests overnight inbetween. The potato boxes aren't helping. They are half rotten anyway, so they will be scrapped and crates built next week that are effectively just wire mesh and a frame. No restriction to air flow. We are getting the kiln to temp (64c recorded at the coolest point today, circa 80 middle) but only on quite dry fuel. The wetter offcuts aren't much good.

 

Learning, learning, learning....

[Duffryn]

Your drying time will be significantly increased by only running in the day time. It will take a couple of hours ( if not longer) for the logs to absorb the heat each time the kiln is switched on. The warming up and cooling down times will be very ineffective drying periods. You could be loosing 50% of your drying time in an 8 hour day.

[Big J]

Your drying time will be significantly increased by only running in the day time. It will take a couple of hours ( if not longer) for the logs to absorb the heat each time the kiln is switched on. The warming up and cooling down times will be very ineffective drying periods. You could be loosing 50% of your drying time in an 8 hour day.

 

Nothing I can do about it. The boiler has a short burn time and will only last about an hour after stoking.

 

Had it up to 67c today at the doors, so probably 80 odd in the middle.

[TTS North]

Big J - been watching this thread and your toils with great interest. Learning a lot from you - thanks and well done indeed! We're thinking about ways of drying more of our product on site before moving it off to sell. I doubt we'd be as sophisticated as you, but we've so much brash etc lying around that it seems lunacy not to use it to power a drying set up somehow.

 

We have a Sitka forest (also somewhere near Edinburgh) and some of our customers specifically ask for it. It's almost all we burn on our own stove. I think it's great stuff. Once it's dry it's so light you can move so much around at once - an issue for us as we don't sell anywhere near where the wood is cut.

 

Light to move around when dried, dries quickly, easy to split and stack, lovely clean wood inside and out. Despite what I read elsewhere it burns great - bit quick, but hey ho! it's softwood. Mr+Mrs retired urban wood stove Tyneside love it and will pay top dollar come February for 18x24 bags which they can collect in their runabout themselves six bags at a time on a Saturday morning.

 

If you ever throw your wood drying experiment open to the public I'd love to see it in action.

 

Cheers and keep posting, TTS.

[Duffryn]

Nothing I can do about it. The boiler has a short burn time and will only last about an hour after stoking.

 

Had it up to 67c today at the doors, so probably 80 odd in the middle.

 

Could you not turn the temp down to say 30-40 degrees and keep fans on very low. You might get an extra 3-4 hours on the last burn of the day ? This would still increase drying time dramatically

[briquette_seller]

Diesel burner for night time

[Big J]

Could you not turn the temp down to say 30-40 degrees and keep fans on very low. You might get an extra 3-4 hours on the last burn of the day ? This would still increase drying time dramatically

 

I don't have that kind of controllability. The control panel is quite basic and there are no instructions for it in the manual.

 

I'll look into a diesel burner though. It's usually sat at about 25c after a night without heat.

[Big J]

Big J - been watching this thread and your toils with great interest. Learning a lot from you - thanks and well done indeed! We're thinking about ways of drying more of our product on site before moving it off to sell. I doubt we'd be as sophisticated as you, but we've so much brash etc lying around that it seems lunacy not to use it to power a drying set up somehow.

 

We have a Sitka forest (also somewhere near Edinburgh) and some of our customers specifically ask for it. It's almost all we burn on our own stove. I think it's great stuff. Once it's dry it's so light you can move so much around at once - an issue for us as we don't sell anywhere near where the wood is cut.

 

Light to move around when dried, dries quickly, easy to split and stack, lovely clean wood inside and out. Despite what I read elsewhere it burns great - bit quick, but hey ho! it's softwood. Mr+Mrs retired urban wood stove Tyneside love it and will pay top dollar come February for 18x24 bags which they can collect in their runabout themselves six bags at a time on a Saturday morning.

 

If you ever throw your wood drying experiment open to the public I'd love to see it in action.

 

Cheers and keep posting, TTS.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

 

You are more than welcome to come and see the kiln whenever you like. I've got some sitka due in within the month, so we'll see how we get with that.

[TTS North]

Have you tried the big milk trolleys on wheels to stack and move your wood? Ive found them pretty effective. Whereabouts in relation to Edinburgh are you north south east west? Dont be too accurate never know who's reading.