I haven't done it, but I've read about it being done with lumber. It takes a lot of electricity so it would be a costly way to dry firewood. Also the moisture in such an environment is corrosive, and tends to destroy dehumidifiers not specifically designed for drying wood.
I've done flood damage work&seen how much moisture a dehu can draw outta a closed off area.They do draw crazy amounts of amps Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
I didnt have the time this year to stock up like I usually do&have ran into A LOT of wood. Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
I would hazard a guess that the electricity would be better spent on heating than drying wood to heat with.
If you're in a pinch I'd just burn the wood green and clean the chimney a few times during the winter rather than spending the electricity and time to try to get the wood dry quickly.
Sadly, through the years we have a couple times been caught unprepared because of unforeseen circumstances. In that case, you burn what you have and do the best you can. I well remember cleaning chimney 6 or more times in a winter. However, it is best if you can find some better wood and there could still be some time to do that. For example, a lot of dead standing wood can be had and if you keep in mind that the top 2/3 of that standing tree very well may be dry enough to burn now, good for you. You can also pick up pallets usually for free and mix that lumber in with the greener wood to help it along. You can stack a little bit of wood fairly close to the stove to help but it won't help a lot except for moisture that is on the exterior of the wood. Which also brings to mind that you want to split your wood into really small pieces which will help dry them faster. One can also keep in mind the faster drying woods, like soft maple and white ash for example. But don't let the old saying that ash burns good freshly cut fool you because it doesn't. Yes, it will burn better than something like oak or hard maple but it is still usually 35% or thereabouts when green or fresh cut unless it is already dead, which now a lot of white ash is. Geeze, if you weren't so far away I'd tell you to come pick up some dead white ash but it would make for a long trip! Good luck.
This. Or make a kiln to dry wood with wood heat might work, but I would imagine the total wood consumption would be higher than just burning the stuff. Sav has great points as well.
Less humidity, equals faster wood drying. Can't deny that. But, the time it takes may not be worth it to you. Only you can answer that. With that said, I'm a woodworker that relies on my craft to pay my bills. My shop is always monitored for humidity. Two dehumidifiers run in my shop during the summer months to ensure I keep the wood I have in the shop at the same humidity levels in the average home. Some wood I bring in is at around 12%. It takes a long time to get that wood to 7-8% when the shop is around 35% moisture all year long. Take it for what it's worth. A simple solar kiln would be MUCH faster
