Went and checked on the wood in the sea can. Lots of moisture on the ceiling so I know moisture is being drawn out. But my concern is the mold. Quite a few pieces have mold on them. I do not want to open the doors as that will let out the heat. Should I be concerned? It is just beginning to warm up here and we only had a couple of 60+ days. Will this go away with the warmer temps? Should I do anything? Sorry for all the questions but I am new to this. Thanks, Norm
Sounds like a way to make yourself a lot of punky wood. How much ventilation have you put in there? I have seen in the interweb solar powered roof vent fans. If you don't want a hole in the roof you could duct it into the side. From working with venting in the past sucking air out removes less air than blowing air in and I would sacrifice the little heat going out to be rid of moisture and stop rot. It isn't like you are paying too much for the heating of the container.
Like they used to say on Cheers "NORM!" Just throwing this out there- what about these new fangled humidity sensing bathroom fans, or perhaps just a humidity sensing switch? The timer feature could help by not flushing all your heat. If you had a small pile of $ laying around... you could form a collection near the ceiling, like a an upside down gable, apply a hydrophobic coating such as "Ultra- Ever Dry," and trough that at a small slope to a pipe out the side. Wow, that seems wordy, sorry Norm.
Eric, you brought up exactly what i was thinking while reading the thread. Run an exhaust fan that has a solar collector to power it and set the temp up really high. So it only runs in the daytime and when it really gets hot inside. I am thinking of something like this: http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Residential/Products/Roof_Vents/MasterFlow_Solar_Powered_Exhaust# not sure how much but I think you need to get rid of the humidity at some point otherwise we got mold growing. We can dry out an attic real quick with this unit. and again we set it up how we need it. I am sure we could modify it to run on a humidistat instead of a thermostat.
Thanks for the replies. I thought that all I needed was weep holes for the water to drain out. There was discussion earlier about venting and the conclusion was not to vent. Can I just open the door slightly at the end of the day and close them the next?
I'm still not for venting, and I definitely wouldn't open the doors- your accumulated heat would leave in a jiff.... I'm starting to formulate a couple of thoughts so let's get them out in the open- 1. Fan and a simple condenser/collector consisting of a copper coil(or upcycled AC rack) which would allow water vapor to collect on, to a trough of some sort, then out by pipe to drain. 2. A separate roof mounted solar collector, with a fan & exchanger in the container, perhaps combined with above WV condenser. 3. Thermal mass which can help maintain temps over night and less than sunny days. Without a fuel based heat source, it will be tough reaching temps to kill mold, though...
I don't want to start a urination competition and this is just my opinion. Feel free to vent you won't lose all the heat. Not sure if you have any experience with steel grain bins or not. In the summer you can have the fill hole on top open and the access door on the bottom open and still cook your brains out. If you had it filled so the mass would hold heat over night and keep the drying process going. I have thought about getting one because the farmers don't mess with them because the little 1000 bushel bins barely hold a semi of grain.
I don't care how far I can, as long as it's past my feets. These were just some lofty thoughts... And you're probably right about venting, so no argument from me
A dehumidifier? Put a drain hole in the collector and let it run out. They create even more heat as well.
I'm not sure there is an answer here. A lot of the discussion here on "solar kilns" here talked about rapping stacks tight with clear plastic. I am not so sure this concept can work with the sea can/shipping container. Yes it makes heat and removes moisture from the wood inside. But it's dark, humid and warm. all the ingredients needed for mold and mildew. In my opinion, the sunlight is what keeps the mold from growing.
Heat is means nothing when the humidity is 100%. Heat is only good when it is dry heat. Open the doors and key the air move through. It will still heat up during the day.
True, 100% RH leaves no space for additional evaporation but also note that for every 20 degrees of temperature rise the RH will drop by about half. 100% at 80 degrees becomes 53% at 100 and about 30% at 120 degrees. So heat applied to fully saturated air can become dry heat pretty quickly. If minimizing the drying time is the goal I think you would ideally want minimal air exchange, a couple of CFM, turning the air over two or three times a day, with a full removal of all the saturated air in the late afternoon/evening when temp starts to drop. The need for air exchange will also be drastically reduced as drying progresses.
Ultimately I would like to be able to dry my wood in one season. Do not have the room for the 3 year plan. If I can get the stuff stacked in the fall and use it the following fall that would be ideal. Either HBSK or sea can. Maybe open the doors in the am for a couple of hours and close them for the rest of the day. I get to work at 7 so close the doors at 9 and let it cook.
This is how I would do it: It will work similar to drying grain. - Use pallets, & leave a 4-6" space between the far wall & your first row stacking from side to side. - Cut in 4-6" high by width of 3 ribs" wide vent slots close to the top across the front (non-door)end skipping 3 ribs. - Duct fan(s) to the vents to draw air through the container while the doors are open. - Leave the doors open unless it will be having percipitation. (rain/snow) I would NOT use roof vents on a flat roof!!! Have fun & post photos when you decide the solution which will work for you.
Be prepared for a battle. The metal used for seacans is some tough stuff. Probably need a 4.5" grinder with cutting wheels to make the cuts.
With my little Hillbilly Solar kilns ( pallets with wire walls wrapped in clear stretch wrap) I have noticed that the vast majority of condensation occurs on the shady side. A little on the top & virtually none on the sunny sided. I would look at the orientation of your setup & focus on draining moisture from your " cool " side. Seems more efficient to me to remove liquid water alone rather than water vapor & heat. I focus on max heat & draining water out. Just my 2 cents
Ive done this in my shipping container with a whirlybird on top for 4 months and opened the door once in the morning and afternoon to fully replace the air. It does speed up the process but in my opinion its not really worth the hassle and is a false economy. Sea containers are $2000 here and for someone with limited space they would be better off spending that $2000 on primo wood to get through a season and spending another $2000 the next year. By this time you will have your 3 yr plan wood up to speed and then you can stack high and clear up the space in your yard. My 2 cents.
