Seasoning wood

[cityboy172]

I've read through several old threads that somewhat covered this, but hear is what I have going on. As of now I am running my 6048 central boiler, on fairly big wood. I am getting ready to pull the trigger on a gasser boiler, and am currently working the kinks out of the ideas that are rolling around in my head to get that system set up properly. I have a pretty solid direction to go with that now.

One thing that I don't want to haunt me if the moisture content of my wood. I don't have a moisture meter yet, but I am confident that I am no where near where I need to be. My plan for when mud season is over is to get on the 3 year plan, which will greatly help me in the future, but might not help me as much as I need for the 14-15 winter. I do not cut green wood, only standing dead wood, leaners, and stuff that is dead and down.

I plan on stacking the first years wood inside my pole shed, and possibly using the boiler heat and a fan coil unit to push air and heat across the wood to speed the process (hopfully). This will help me do 2 things (i think?), test my new gasification system out and get familiar with it's operation, and dry my wood faster.

So, I guess my big question for here would be is, will this help me season faster? Or am I better off leaving it out side and bringing it in when the time comes?

Fully aware that the best thing is time, but I've made a lot of mistakes before I found this place, and am in the process of correcting them. My wood quality was one of those.

 

[ewdudley]

Google around and have a look at some of the solar wood kilns out there, you may be able to incorporate the design principles into your pole barn setup. I think the most important thing to realize is that the air flowing through the wood cools off and gets heavier as it absorbs moisture. To me this means the stacks should be up off the ground a foot or more and your fan should be set up to push hot air down through the stacks, or it should be set up to pull cool moist air out from under the stacks. Normally there is a wall all around the stack to direct the flow of air.

As a hedge, be sure to stack plenty outdoors as well.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum cityboy.

The biggest thing to remember is that air circulation is the biggest key to drying wood. You plan might work if you keep lots of air space around the stacks and also keep the wood elevated. I would probably tend to want to blow heat toward the bottom of the stacks (heat rises) but would also want to know where that air is going after it leaves the wood. Is the same air being re-circulated? Is the air going outside the pole barn? It has to go somewhere just like the air you are blowing has to come from somewhere.

If the wood is outdoors, then we know that the air will simply blow through the stacks (if stacked right). Also outdoors you can take advantage of sunshine sometimes too and this is a help. We like to leave our wood uncovered that first year as we think it allows for better evaporation of the moisture.

But back to the start. You are cutting dead wood, leaners, etc. I would still want to know what kind of wood it is. As for the moisture meter, I've never seen a need for one. Either the wood is dry or it is not and it does not take long for one to learn what dry wood is. One more thing about cutting green wood is that you could cut some soft maple or pine if you have some. Get it cut right away and split and it can be dry enough to burn next fall. We also like dead elm as the top half of the tree (or maybe the top third) will be dry enough to burn right away.

Great you are thinking about the 3 year plan and we wish you good luck.

 

[red oak]

Welcome to the forum cityboy! I definitely think your plan would help the wood dry faster, but have you given thought to the cost of running the blower? (I have no idea as to the cost, just thought I'd mention it.) It will be nice when you're far enough ahead you don't have to worry about it!

 

[cityboy172]

Welcome to the forum cityboy! I definitely think your plan would help the wood dry faster, but have you given thought to the cost of running the blower? (I have no idea as to the cost, just thought I'd mention it.) It will be nice when you're far enough ahead you don't have to worry about it!

Haven't put much thought into it. I figure it will be less then the cost of fuel oil or buying wood if my set up flops because my wood is sub-par. I planned of putting some run time on my set up before heating season is hear just to shake out any gremlins. Figure I'd just run it a little more and kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

[paul bunion]

You definitely are on the right track using your boiler to speeding up drying. Good read here on kiln drying firewood==> http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fplrn254.pdf If you enclose your shed, even with plastic, and elevate that temp as high as you can you will dramatically reduce your drying time.

 

[cityboy172]

You definitely are on the right track using your boiler to speeding up drying. Good read here on kiln drying firewood==> http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fplrn254.pdf If you enclose your shed, even with plastic, and elevate that temp as high as you can you will dramatically reduce your drying time.

Now that was a good read. Looks like I'm thinking in gthe right direction.