Ok getting started, here I have solid oak, true 2x4 inch pallets that I get free from a brewery on the other end of the city. I laying down the sub flooring to give the structure strength. Here I've laid down a vapor barrier of 6 mil poly, over that I laid down the floor pallets that I get for free as well from another factory, they measure 4 ft x 10 ft long with only 3 top cross boards that run the 10 ft length so I added pieces from other pallets to fill in the floor boards, you can probably see them over lapping. Anyway, this is what I will start stacking my wood and I will be extending the floor to 20 ft x 10 ft, right now it only 10 x 10 ft. Ok lets get started stackin, on the left the beginning and notice the tunnel for the heat, on the right is the intake port where I will place the space heater. Keep in mind this is all new to me and I'm creating, master minding and building as I go along, so thing are most likely bound to be changed and altered as I see best. Right now I have a pretty good idea of what and how I'm going to proceed, but the area that may have some changes is this heat port and tunnel. I do not want things to go wrong or melt the poly anywhere, but I've got some added protection ideas. Hope you enjoyed what pictures I have .
As far as a heater unit and the BTU's, I'm not sure yet, I don't own one and I'm not buying (YET). At my job, I have access to tons of stuff I can barrow and use, as well as a warehouse/garage that holds 30 Mack dump trucks at my disposal and a full state of the art welding shop. They have about 5 space heaters and three different sizes and I've already asked to barrow one for awhile, so we'll see what works best, and then MAYBE I'll buy one, but why buy when I can barrow.
Ok I did a lot of splitting today , my new 35 ton bad boy love to eat. I also had some time to think about the project some more while I was splitting, and I gonna make some mods to the heater tunnel so I'll be posting changes soon. I was also giving much thought to the burner unit and will be borrowing one from work for testing things out. But I was wondering if anyone has or has used one of those propane heats that attach to the top of the propane tank, if so how do they work as far as blowing out heat, or is it just radiated outward. Below is a link to the type of heater I'm talking about, can you check it out and let me know if you have any experience with that type of heater. Thanks for your time. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485295_200485295
I know the heat the chit out of a duck blind!! And also melt rain gear when you take off your bibs and get to close Have used one in an open porch at my parents camper while cooking breakfast outdoors. It took the chill out of the area around it that's for sure. Was also thinking if the wood would smell like kerosene if you used that to heat the kiln. I know when I run mine in the garage I causes my clothes to stink.
You are probably better off with the propane heater. The forced air kerosene ones probably push a couple hundred feet of air a minute. In essence all you would be doing is blowing warm air past your stack on its way to heat the outside. You want the heat to stay there and do its work. If you raise the air temp by 100 degrees in your kiln you will effectively reduce the ambient RH to almost nothing. Get a fan inside the thing to keep the heat circulated and with minimal air leakage you will vent the moisture.
My relative uses his 2 car garage as a woodshop for his employment. Heats with one of these and it works well for him.
The pics where you started to stack your wood around the steel tunnel, the wood splits look awful big, are they partially split? And I agree with Paul bunion on the heater not being a kero forced hot air torpedo, it would be a big heat loss and not cost effective. Starting to come together!
There was a guy who built a wood fired Kiln (I need to save those links) and he sold the wood, all he dried was ash because his customers never complained and he knew he could dry it in a week.
You could make your own with something a lot cheaper then shipping containers but this is interesting, cant find that other link. http://firewoodkiln.com/firewood/Firewoodkiln.html
that is / was CRThomas last post he had a line about selling business. Going to take a deep pocket considering equipment he has and sales volume.
We had some of those and one had a double. They also make a triple. It is a radiant heat but they can heat a very large area. If we used them in a small area, we just did not turn the LP on full in order to slow down the heat. It worked great. I would think a small fan ahead of the heater could circulate a lot of warm air without pulling in too much cooler air.
Wow! Certainly plenty of great feed back and information, this is great thanks, I love working wit you guys and we'll make this happen and it will work......... ? Old sparks, I like the link to Global Energy, great company to deal with, as I have purchased from them before. (Emergency Generator Auto Transfer Switch) I did not know they sold equipment and plans to build kilns, and although I won't be making a container kiln, I did look over the information they offered, which doesn't say much about how to actually build and operate a kiln, it did give me some insight on what is needed and/or used, and not being as stupid as I may sound sometimes, I see where they are going with their concept and what I believe needs to be accomplished in my kiln. I understand what you your saying about the use of the torpedo heater or space heater, but my kiln will be sealed up tight with 6 mil poly and shipping wrap. I'm thinking about installing one large or two mid size vents on the top side opposite the heater, ones that I can open and close. I'm still gonna play wit the torpedo heater at first in hopes that a 10 ft offset with the heat traveling into the stack via an 8 inch heavy aluminum pipe would reduce the massive heat blast, but we'll see, if not I'm gonna try something different wit the propane tank top heaters. As far as my split size, yes some are rather fat or large, my bad, just happened to be lazy the day I split those, but I do like to have a good mix of small splits on up to s few ex-large fatty. Things are gonna be changing as I really start to put this together, for now I have to get a tone of wood split, then start planning stacking and putting this kiln together, which will most likely be on Saturday wit more pics. Happy New Year Everyone. and Thanks for the help.
So after a trip to HD, just to look over the size of the Heaters, I've decided to go propane, and I do believe this is the model that I will buy to heat up my kiln that will measure 200 sq ft and/or 1000 cu ft +- I may also purchase a 100 gal propane tank, can always use it on the grill too. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dyna-Glo...Propane-Portable-Heater-RMC-FA60DGD/202922773
Having heated a 800 sq/ft shop for 2 years with propane, I can offer two pieces of advise. 1) I've had much better luck with heaters of this type, vs the torpedo, especially for your set-up. Torpedo heaters will send a forceful amount of air (and focused heat) in one direction....may lead to issues with your plastic. This type of heater will provide less forceful heat all over. 2) you will spending a lot of money on propane. I'm not sure how cost effective this type of system will be for you.
