Solar Kiln -Leave it covered over the winter ?

[peakbagger]

Its been a good summer to bake wood in my low budget solar kiln, little or no rain and consistent sun. I used a steel conduit frame stuck into the ground and then covered it with some heavy poly to maintain an air gap on all sides of the wood pile. I dont need the wood for this winter so the question is leave it covering the wood or not?. I set it up with an air gap at the base near the ground with two holes at the high points of the sides on either end to get even air flow. I can get 3 to 4 feet of snow on the ground some winters so obviously the air gap at the base will be covered with snow. There is a shallow pitch on the top with a couple layers of heavy mil poly plus I used black plastics so my guess it will probably survive snow load. Worst case is it collapses down on the wood pile but there obviously will not be any significant air flow from the base of the stacks.

So leave it set up or take it down?

 

[Sailrmike]

Leave it up! You could always add some ventilation at the 4' height if it's a deep snow year

 

[fbelec]

leave it but i would make one change. because of the weight of 3 or 4 feet of snow i would put a piece of plywood on top

 

[peakbagger]

leave it but i would make one change. because of the weight of 3 or 4 feet of snow i would put a piece of plywood on top

I was going to wait for a few storms and see how well it sheds the snow before I covered it. Its got a couple of layers of 6 mill poly over it with slope towards the back.

 

[fbelec]

i cover my wood piles with 6 mil black plastic from lowes. i slope it a bit. it will hold snow but the water that melts runs off. how many layers do you have? tell how you made out when all said and done.

 

[Poindexter]

Mine are steep enough, and have a 2x4 ridgepole, that mine shed snow just fine.

I do shovel out around the base in spring when the melt starts to re-establish through airflow. The one year I didn't do that I had some mold growing that died off and became nonviable organic debris during the summer months, but was still dead bodies on the cord wood the next winter.

 

[peakbagger]

I suppose I could run my snowblower behind it on the backside to keep the lower back vent open. Not the only paths I keep clear in the winter. My guess after this record dry summer that the wood is quite dry.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

you can leave the kiln up.. its not going to hurt anything. The drying will pretty much stop. just make sure there's no moisture build up or you'll get mold