Couple more items. Is the gun safe insulated to protect what is inside or is it just plate metal? That will affect how warm it can get. Also, the angle incident to the sun should allow for the suns rays to hit as directly as possible for maximum heating. Ideal but not practical would be a solar tracker. Of course it would be insane to install that. You could lean the safe 40-60 degrees so the noon time sun hits at a 90 degree angle to the safe. That would facilitate maximum absorbency if radiant heat. People seem to think that the act of allowing air to exit automatically reduces the temperature inside the box. That’s not true if the air entering the box is warmer than the air exiting. One could drill a hole in the top and a hole in the bottom to facilitate air flow. With the bottom hole, however, one could force the incoming air to first pass through a 100’ length of black irrigation tubing. Doing this would preheat the air before it enters (likely causing the interior to heat at a faster rate) and help reduce humidity inside. The box would develop its own convective flow. I would install valves to regulate air flow in this setup.
Dang your hired. How many feet of runway do you need to land that plane Question. why black inside? Not being a scientist I thought black absorbed light waves that create energy/heat? Or are energy/heat may be better terminology. There’s no light inside. Certainly have plenty of paint left. Safe is uninsulated. A little heavier gauge than your average truck box. A slight deterrent more than a safe. weighing would be nice but I don’t have any scales in my house that go that high. Gunpowder is the only thing I weigh. I also wasn’t too concerned with it. Drying the wood is not a priority. Maybe I should have used dry wood. I do know that drying the wood requires energy and extra moisture keeps the temps lower. I just figured if it heats up enough to cook the wood dry I was winning. The angle you mentioned makes sense. So does the heated air entering. I could angle it, I could vent it. I can’t put 100’ of black irrigation pipe on it My moms field and the only way I’m getting away with putting it there to begin with is she’s my mom and it’s on a rock LOL. She’s a tough cookie with her landscaping Even a hayfield. LOL I’ll leave it for now. I think there’s some hot weather on the way. I’ll check the sun and see about angling it better. I was reading this but it’s over my head. From what I could decipher it takes a long time to heat bulk wood to the core. https://ucanr.edu/sites/WoodyBiomass/newsletters/FPL_Wood_Handbook33299.pdf
Well. I stand corrected. Looks like the wood heats faster at the core with wood that is higher in moisture…. The water in the wood mush help conduct heat better.. I suppose my assumption could still be correct if the air around the wood heated more quickly at a lower moisture content. I’ll be following along to see how it goes…
Well hindsight is always 20/20. How much was there? It doesnt dry as fast as i thought it would. Silver maple and tulip poplar dry fast even if not in full sun. TP makes some nice splits too. I have some cottonwood at my disposal if you want. Ive been told that dries fast too, but light as balsa wood.
For comparison it would be interesting if you tried rigging it with the door open or even off and a piece of clear plastic tight across the opening and then seeing if the internal temps are any different when the sun is shining on it.
One thing that occurred to me was that, at least on that first day, the door was opened quite a bit...might have been a set back for the eventually max internal temp for the day?
This looks interesting! Could you please start another solar kiln thread and tell us about your results/set up?
So, last update. Havent been toying with it because while hot, not very sunny. Yesterday was HOT but still partly cloudy. Ventured over and shot it with the IR gun. 139 on the sunny side. 115 on the shady side. Didn’t open it. This morning I went to unload and take it away. Gotta say there some good guesses and suggestions in this thread. When I opened the door it was full of dripping moisture. Worse yet there was a white fuzzy mold growing on the logs. So, unscientifically I’d say sunlight and vents are important I’m done with it. I also found a spider crawling on the wood. It’s possible he crawled through a hole in the bottom overnight but most likely he was enjoying a nice sauna retreat. FWIW only dropped a few points of moisture on the outside of the log. Would have seen much better results outside in the shade I did feel some residual warmth from yesterday on the wood in the center of the box. Maybe in Arizona,,,,,,,
Fun experiment. Too bad it didnt work to your expectations. Im still thinking bundles on a piece of rubber roofing. I had fresh cut green sugar maple nuggets that i left on top of our black grill/smoker in the hot sun. Couple weeks later they burned real nice in the firepit.
I had this idea because it’s been so long since I stepped on the metal threshold to my front door on a hot sunny day with bare feet LOL Wonder how long it will be before I forget that lesson again. I still have the black locust cookies stacked in the fireplace behind the woodstove. Two years now. They’re dry and any that hasn’t checked yet never will
