Building my own kiln to dry my green firewood?

[North of 60]

Pictures tell me over fire or chimney fire has existed.

 

[SmokeyCity]

not sure how to measure humidity accumulation
i burn hot hot hot most of the time so as not to put creosote up the tube

is it correct to put a key damper on a secondary burn stove ?

 

[North of 60]

More plausible than a heat reclaimer on an EPA stove.
By the looks of that beautiful but very large home I understand you are looking for all the fire power you can get. ;-)

 

[BrotherBart]

Pictures tell me over fire or chimney fire has existed.

Burning the paint off the door is a sign too. :ahhh:

 

[heatwise]

i googled solar powered wood dryers a whyle back and got some great info. basicaly a shed with a clear roof and front that let the sun in and a fan that would circulate air through the chamber once it hit a certain temprature. if i remember correctly the wood got hot and stayed that way well into the night. it was a speed drying method i thought was neat. im giving more space between rows and using the wind after what i read. but as we all know theyres more than one way to dry wood. keep safe and i like the house picture, simply charming to say the least. pete

 

[Jimbob]

Is that mirror in front of the stove to reflect the heat upwards?

 

[iceman]

not sure how to measure humidity accumulation
i burn hot hot hot most of the time so as not to put creosote up the tube

is it correct to put a key damper on a secondary burn stove ?

Does hot hot mean you leave it wide open or half open for more than say 20 minutes?
Your epa stove actually gets warmer with less air assuming you have dry wood.... brotherbart can explain. Best about that stove .. but get rid of the reclaimer, put some new pipe on there ... and those rounds def need to be split ... and get the chimney cleaned ...you will see a huge diff ... that sucker will surprise you

 

[gilmil]

The chimney isn't really 60' is it? I'd say 40 from the basement up.

 

[weatherguy]

i googled solar powered wood dryers a whyle back and got some great info. basicaly a shed with a clear roof and front that let the sun in and a fan that would circulate air through the chamber once it hit a certain temprature. if i remember correctly the wood got hot and stayed that way well into the night. it was a speed drying method i thought was neat. im giving more space between rows and using the wind after what i read. but as we all know theyres more than one way to dry wood. keep safe and i like the house picture, simply charming to say the least. pete

This sounds like a fun project if you want to try speed drying, anything but drying wood in the house is a better idea, drying wood in the house can cause mold problems.
Maybe building this shed will dry out your rounds in enough time to burn next year.

 

[SmokeyCity]

Pictures tell me over fire or chimney fire has existed.

DANG Ave Ventura stove detective!

What in the pic indicates that ?

 

[SmokeyCity]

Maybe that's an old pic of the stove? Reason i say that .... those pipes need to be changed ASAP... the white/grey ones are worn from getting to hot...
Split the wood, stack it and bring it inside in the fall ... and bring enough for the nights burn plus a week or 2.. that way what's not dry will be....
Get a stove top thermometer, cause I have a feeling its getting. HOT...
The way those pipes look with dry wood you should have no prob shutting stall the way down and getting nuclear... and you could then Be able to get rid of the heat reclaimer....
I am sure someone will chime in with more info

LOL Im sure Im doing a ton of dangerous stuff. The season is almost over and ill be changing out all the metal. Ill also disassemble that toy that everyone on this board hates so much and give it a good cleaning. Then ill clean out the chim cleanout and inspect the tube all the way to the top.

I will also start not to splitting all my wood as everyone agrees I should be doing - and store it outside (like everyone recommends)

Im learning

 

[SmokeyCity]

Pictures tell me over fire or chimney fire has existed.

over fire LOL how about every day
I burn this thing at MAX unless Im drying out wood stacked beside it. Other than that it is loaded full and burning as hot as I can and still get 2ndary burn.

Yeah I know Ive gotta straighten up and do things more safely - Im working on that - thats why I joined the forum.

New stack pipes, cleanout cleanout, chimney inspection, split stack wood outside -
etc etc. Im on it

 

[gilmil]

You don't want to burn your house down do you?

 

[SmokeyCity]

After I put my extra dry rounds in I "babysit" it wide open (door cracked) until it really roaring hot then back it down to 25% air intake.

This way Im getting a good 2ndary right away when I damp down. Again this only works it the rounds are very very dry which so far has been taking me 3 seasons of sitting in the dehumidified basement with a fan - ie thats why the little daydream about a home made kiln

im goona be normal and just split and stack outside. the splits wont take 3 years to dry!

not sure how to measure humidity accumulation
i burn hot hot hot most of the time so as not to put creosote up the tube

is it correct to put a key damper on a secondary burn stove ?

Does hot hot mean you leave it wide open or half open for more than say 20 minutes?
Your epa stove actually gets warmer with less air assuming you have dry wood.... brotherbart can explain. Best about that stove .. but get rid of the reclaimer, put some new pipe on there ... and those rounds def need to be split ... and get the chimney cleaned ...you will see a huge diff ... that sucker will surprise you

 

[SmokeyCity]

Maybe that's an old pic of the stove? Reason i say that .... those pipes need to be changed ASAP... the white/grey ones are worn from getting to hot...

I see you use pellets wood gas oil and nat gas

you really should pick up a coal stove just to be a completist :=)

 

[SmokeyCity]

You don't want to burn your house down do you?

ITs triple brick and everything is masonry and the cielings are fire proof plaster rock wire reinforced

I dont wanna try tho

 

[iceman]

You don't want to burn your house down do you?

ITs triple brick and everything is masonry and the cielings are fire proof plaster rock wire reinforced

I dont wanna try tho

My fear is you ruining the stove.
Leaving the door cracked until you get good secondaries is letting your heat up the chimney.. that explains the color of the pipe ... once your fire is down to coals... open air and reload... close the stove door leave air all the way open for about 20 minutes... the close it half way then 25% then all the way down total time maybe half an hour? You want to see secondaries but not a roaring fire with them.. the stove will work itself up temp...(with your draft could be 7-800)
You aren't burning the way most would recommend, and that's why.it seems like the reclaimer works.so. well... the pipes are so hot that thing Prolly feels like a forced hot air furnace!
Thumbs up to you for coming here... most of us were all I. A similar place when we first came here too!

 

[woodgeek]

SmokeyCity--Kudos to you for hearing what folks here are recommending and simply planning on trying it!

We all need some advice from time to time to learn 'best practice', but a lot of folks find it a hard pill to swallow, get stubborn and dig in their heels.

 

[webby3650]

You don't want to burn your house down do you?

ITs triple brick and everything is masonry and the cielings are fire proof plaster rock wire reinforced

I dont wanna try tho

My fear is you ruining the stove.
Leaving the door cracked until you get good secondaries is letting your heat up the chimney.. that explains the color of the pipe ... once your fire is down to coals... open air and reload... close the stove door leave air all the way open for about 20 minutes... the close it half way then 25% then all the way down total time maybe half an hour? You want to see secondaries but not a roaring fire with them.. the stove will work itself up temp...(with your draft could be 7-800)
You aren't burning the way most would recommend, and that's why.it seems like the reclaimer works.so. well... the pipes are so hot that thing Prolly feels like a forced hot air furnace!
Thumbs up to you for coming here... most of us were all I. A similar place when we first came here too!

The pipe isn't discolored, it's galvanized. When you start changing pipes, you should get some 22 gauge pipe from your local hearth shop, it will last much longer.

 

[Stump_Branch]

ill throw my two cents.

on the kiln

the problem i see is you really wont be able to move enough heat or dry air around the wood to effectivly dry it. oh sure it would be better then nothing but figure this. if i were to dry wood at a rate of 4 tons per hour, taking wood from 55% MC down to 10% i would need around 1,000 KW/hr. thats alot of energy. figure that into BTUs and thats 3,412,142...per ton of wood. think about an average cord of say oak at 5,500 lbs per cord. one cord contains 24? million BTU's.

in order to dry it out (this is also assuming you have great heat retention and very little loss, a box made out of tin i'm going to guess itsnt going to be close to this sort of efficentcy) in order to dry 2,750 lbs of wood from 55%MC to 10%MC thats 687.5KW/hr or 2,345,847 BTU/hr.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

I've pondered the kiln idea myself,several x. Usually in the fall when I discover my oak isnt quite as dry as I had hoped. Then I come to my senses and decide to stack more/better/earlier for next year. Also, why not try splitting those rounds down to 5"-6". You'll be amazed how much faster they dry,and how much better your stove will run.....just my .02 cents.

 

[SmokeyCity]

10"by10" rectangle chimney? Not making sense to me.
Cheers

The interior tube of the chimney is 10 by 10

Here is a pic of the cutaway view looking up.
all my chimneys are like this and are almost 60 ft. The draft is huge.
I had to open this one up but never ended up using it

 

[SmokeyCity]

I've pondered the kiln idea myself,several x. Usually in the fall when I discover my oak isnt quite as dry as I had hoped. Then I come to my senses and decide to stack more/better/earlier for next year. Also, why not try splitting those rounds down to 5"-6". You'll be amazed how much faster they dry,and how much better your stove will run.....just my .02 cents.

I get em dry alright - very dry - it just takes 3 or 4 yrs. Thats why I wanted the kiln thing.
Im gettin with the program of split and stack

thanks

 

[North of 60]

10"by10" rectangle chimney? Not making sense to me.
Cheers

The interior tube of the chimney is 10 by 10

Here is a pic of the cutaway view looking up.
all my chimneys are like this and are almost 60 ft. The draft is huge.
I had to open this one up but never ended up using it

That looks square to me.

 

[SmokeyCity]

oops, yes - wrong word

a 10x10 shaft should be called square not rectangular

thanks for correcting that term

10"by10" rectangle chimney? Not making sense to me.
Cheers

The interior tube of the chimney is 10 by 10

Here is a pic of the cutaway view looking up.
all my chimneys are like this and are almost 60 ft. The draft is huge.
I had to open this one up but never ended up using it

That looks square to me.