Vermont wood burner claims solar kiln will dry wood in...

So what do you think Stax?
Looks like an operation that could consume alot of wood. Looks like they milled their own wood and have lots of outbuildings.
The only thing that discourages me from the experiment is that my greenhouses in the summer become full of bees.
Yellowjackets, hornets and carpenter bees. Ive thought it thru. Being in a confined space with angry bees is my worse nightmare.

I think it's an interesting idea. It would be great if the claims of dryness were supported with scientific method. It would be great to take preliminary measurements with a moisture meter of two similar size loads of wood. One in the solar kiln and a control group in either the wood shed or just stacked outside. Then at various time intervals using a MM to make tests from each group.

My hypothesis would be that there would be slightly faster drying in the solar kiln due to the heat produced, however this may be dampened by less wind.

The kiln design looks reasonable, but neither the the original article nor the followup makes any mention of their having checked the MC using any objective method at all. That, plus the facts that they go through 9-12 cords a year and normally only season wood for 9-12 months make me suspect their standards for what constitutes "dry" are substantially lower than what is typically espoused here.

Jon1270 said:

The kiln design looks reasonable, but neither the the original article nor the followup makes any mention of their having checked the MC using any objective method at all. That, plus the facts that they go through 9-12 cords a year and normally only season wood for 9-12 months make me suspect their standards for what constitutes "dry" are substantially lower than what is typically espoused here.

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yep.

Say it does get wood down to <20%MC in a month, which I seriously doubt. Then what? You cycle pallets in and out every month? Now you've built this expensive (unless lumber is free for you) dryer AND you're committed to palletizing all your wood AND you've got to keep it dry somewhere else till you're ready to use it AND you're screwing around with it every month.
I can't believe it could be the least bit cost effective. I would suggest spending that labor (less, probably) cutting more wood. Then you can just let it dry for two years without ever touching it till you're ready to burn it. If these people are accustomed to burning nine-month old wood in EPA stoves, they'll be amazed how much better older wood will burn without having to go through all this foolishness.

I already pallet all mine. But getting a couple years ahead is pretty easy, cheap, and fool proof.

JP

There is always someone trying to short cut the drying process and I fail to understand it. Drying wood is so simple if you just work with Mother Nature and don't wait until the last minute to cut the wood. Usually those trying to short-cut the process are those who tend to put things off so they need help. Better to get ahead. We look at the wood stacks about the same as putting money aside. We put away a few dollars every now and then and it is a good practice. We cut a little wood every year and also find that to be a good practice.

Not that I plan to build a solar kiln, but I don't see the fuss about all this moving of wood. If they load three pallets, each close to half a cord, and if those do dry in a month, and if they burn a cord a month, then all they have to do is load a new pallet as they finish each pallet. The new one will be ready when thy are ready to burn it...especially if it has been aging naturally outside the kiln for a while. If it really does dry the wood in a month, it could be an easy system that was useful for many. And could come in very handy during any period when one fell behind because of illness or other issues.

3.3 pallets per cord how I build em. I've got a 35HP tractor with the bigger loader and I can't lift one full of green oak more than a few inches.

I guess if you were an experimenting kind of guy.. a kiln would be neat. way cheaper to just build a few dozen pallets for your wood and get ahead and stay ahead.

JP

definitely something for future consideration...

That Blog defines 'I saw it on the Internet so I know that it is true'.

Note most of us used conditionals, such as" If it does work." ..always open to ideas that have some possibility of success.....though definitely taken with a grain or two of salt as it comes rom one who burns 9 to 12 cords a winter versus my three max....

My wife would love it if I built that right next to our pool in the backyard.

Simple solar kiln using cheap clear sheeting has gotten me from new burner with no wood to 5cords ready to burn in one year. During the spring summer and fall it took about 90days to go from wet to 20%mc. I mentioned this last spring, gave my results in the fall in a few threads and like many in this thread I was questioned for my honesty. It works, really well. I tent up a cord or two at a time, the move the sheeting in 90 days. I will never have to have more than 1-2 years worth of wood on my lot moving forward.

The naysayers in this thread are just old and cranky, I imagine many of you here in your yard with a clenched fist raised in the air waving it about shouting "Damn kids get off my lawn"

Augie said:

Simple solar kiln using cheap clear sheeting has gotten me from new burner with no wood to 5cords ready to burn in one year. During the spring summer and fall it took about 90days to go from wet to 20%mc. I mentioned this last spring, gave my results in the fall in a few threads and like many in this thread I was questioned for my honesty. It works, really well. I tent up a cord or two at a time, the move the sheeting in 90 days. I will never have to have more than 1-2 years worth of wood on my lot moving forward.

The naysayers in this thread are just old and cranky, I imagine many of you here in your yard with a clenched fist raised in the air waving it about shouting "Damn kids get off my lawn"

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Do you have a link to your thread Augie?

Lumber-Jack said:

Do you have a link to your thread Augie?

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This is one of them.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/solar-kilns.114012/

I guess I dont understand the questioning of it, not sure on the time frame but more heat and air circulation is going to speed up the process. All you have to do is read several articles (too many for me) about drying of lumber or firewood and it makes it hard to dispute the results.
I like BWS dont have a need for such a thing but I keep an open mind for such projects.

Lumber-Jack said:

Do you have a link to your thread Augie?

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You can just Google "site:hearth.com augie solar kiln" and get a bunch of hits.

Augie, it looks like your initial experiment took some oak from 52% to 18%. Given that electronic meters are extremely inaccurate above 28% or so, how did you establish the 52% starting point?

Burning 12 months out of the year? The Kingdom is cold, but its not exactly at our planets poles.

Jon1270 said:

You can just Google "site:hearth.com augie solar kiln" and get a bunch of hits.

Augie, it looks like your initial experiment took some oak from 52% to 18%. Given that electronic meters are extremely inaccurate above 28% or so, how did you establish the 52% starting point?

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They are not that inaccurate, you guys are a bunch of nay sayers.
And I posted the link.

oldspark said:

They are not that inaccurate

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Up at that MC level they are absolutely "that" inaccurate. When wood is above the fiber saturation point (around 28%), there is liquid water present and the resistance is so low as to be difficult to measure, while the normal errors due to factors like species and temperature and other vagaries of the particular chunk of wood you're dealing with become overwhelming. The most a meter can tell you about wet wood is that split A is probably wetter than split B, assuming they're the same species and at the same temperature. The particular numbers it might spit out are not remotely reliable.

I don't see anyone claiming that a solar kiln doesn't speed drying, but the time frame you're not sure about is the whole ball game.

Jon1270 said:

Up at that MC level they are absolutely "that" inaccurate. When wood is above the fiber saturation point (around 28%), there is liquid water present and the resistance is so low as to be difficult to measure, while the normal errors due to factors like species and temperature and other vagaries of the particular chunk of wood you're dealing with become overwhelming. The most a meter can tell you about wet wood is that split A is probably wetter than split B, assuming they're the same species and at the same temperature. The particular numbers it might spit out are not remotely reliable.

I don't see anyone claiming that a solar kiln doesn't speed drying, but the time frame you're not sure about is the whole ball game.

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By not that inaccrate I mean they work well enough for fire wood with the numbes I get, I have a good idea of what the percentage should be on a fresh cut piece of green wood or one that has set a summer or a year or 2 years plus the different types of wood, plus checking 2 X 4's or other pieces of lumber and more then good enough for out uses. Many have reported the same when comparing there cheap one to a very expensive one used for cabinet making.
So why is one month questioned, I have no idea how quickly the moisture comes out in a kiln but I bet I can give you a idea from a site that drys wood for lumber, can not quote you the figures but temp, humidity and air movement can be used to come up with a time frame. No black magic in drying wood, all you are doing is removing moisture.

I am positive about the time frame, 90days in a sunny spot from April 1st to October 1st. That gives you enough time to run 2 lots of wood through your kiln. I burn 2.5-3 cord per year. I kiln 1.5 cord at a time in a 2deep row about 32inches deep by 4ft high by 20ft longish. To test MC I use nail driven into fresh splits and use some ohm meter to test resistance and then compare to a USFS chart broken down to species. I'm telling you it works and telling you it may cost you $20 to do it your self if you don't have the plastic laying around, if you have the plastic it is free. Regardless fresh cut live wood will be ready to burn when placed in a solar kiln after 90 days. The maximum split that I have used is 8inches across.

Augie,

Thanks for the info. Note that the original article from this thread claimed 1 month! It sounds like you're getting those results in 90 days. What species have you used?

And we're not all OLD here

I say if it works do it!

My only problem is to get enough sun to make something like this worth while I'd have to stack my wood in the FRONT yard ha!