I think your system is working great for you. Your dry climate is definitely helpful. Like you said "most times" I've had rainy summers, warm summer & summers with no days over 65°. Dry winters, snowy winters, -30° winter & 1 with no below zero days. So many variables. I'm no guru, but after a few years I found 3 year seasoned wood (birch) , burns better than 1 or 2 year wood & 4 year wood, the bark starts falling off. 1 year outside, not covered , in whatever MN throws at it, South side gets sun, North side don't & then 2 years under roof (wood port, no sides) Don't know the moisture content. Have seen birch rot/go punky not being split, had it get punky , moldy by being covered to the ground with a tarp. "Most times " 3 years works best for me, I'm sure others have figured out what works best for them. (most times )
The wind blew over a 1/2 felled tree a beaver had been working on as I drove by. (~1995?) Thank goodness it only cracked my windshield and ripped off the windshield wiper arm...It was at the very same moment I passed over a small bridge on a creek NW of Fort Collins as I was driving by at 50MPH, 4am in the pitch black on a frigid snowy morning. Dear husband retrieved my wiper arm from the tree on his way to work an hour later Maybe a mile north Horsetooth Res on CR23.
Thanks! I guess everyone has to adjust to their situation (what works best for them) and when MN adjusts then they have to adjust again! I usually do winters wood in May or June, and is dry enough my my needs by that winter. (July-September is very hot and dry here) Maybe under shed roof I can get ahead 1 or maybe 2 winters, and the wood will dry a "little" slower, until it is needed.
For some reason I find that amusing, what works for me is getting the wood below 20%. I gave up putting a time frame on drying wood for the most part as I cut different types of wood plus some is dead some is green.
Oldspark, if you are referring to the 3 year plan and only look at drying the wood, you are missing the point.
First off, I certainly understand the wind problem you have. Yet, sometimes it can be a blessing and here the blessing is all the air movement which is one of the biggest keys to drying firewood. We've stacked all in the shade before and still had no problem drying the wood. Will it work in your sheds? In your area, I'm betting it will. However, I don't know the specifics of your area. Some parts of the state can have higher humidity and a lot more rain/snow and those can be different. Still, if I lived there, I'd try it for sure.
After reading wiki on wood drying, I'm definitely gonna set up an Uncle Auggie solar kiln. As I understand it, if the kiln were in the sun 24/7 it would not work. The night time cool down works as the condenser, whereas if it were heated non stop, the moisture would not condense much and therefore the humidity would stay near 100% all the time. Higher temps support higher moisture saturation in the air, and cooler temps support less moisture saturation. Lower heat kilns use a condenser to reduce the humidity at the same time the heat is applied, Auggies solar kiln just does it in 12 hr increments. High heat kilns actually inject steam to goober the drying process so as not to dry it too fast (read:distort dimensional lumber) although not an issue in our case. Beyond the scope of my scientific vernacular, my brain says it will work. I may even rig a solar powered pump and install a condenser. Stay tuned, I'm excited to try this. As far as the OP, heat from the sun and constant air movement will dry wood fast.
So I understand correctly, the original OP, or bbqhunter in CT and another new member, maulhead is in CO?
So I am confused, are there some people who think the solar kiln will not work, I dont know the exact design of augie's but if make correctly there is no way it wont work.
Augie's kiln makes perfect sense. Heat the air. Water comes out. Liquid drains at night and is removed from the system. Repeat the process for two months... I'll be trying it in 2015. I'll probably even do a bit during winter just to see how quickly it can dry wood. Any increase over ambient should help.
I have tried the solar kiln and it works however its very time consuming to do that large of a volume. The best option I have seen is a shelter logic solar kiln although my neighbor used a tent which also worked well. I do not wish to use one personally but am far enough ahead to not need it also. On the flip side air does dry very fast if stacked properly and I find that where I stack will dry most wood quickly. I simply top cover it for winter and spring then uncover for summer and fall to let the sun in. The wood dries very fast that way. Really I think its different strokes for different folks! Much of this depends on location as well. If you live in a wet climate it will take longer than a dry climate to dry out. Relative humidity plays a huge roll in how long it takes to dry wood.
I totally agree Pallet Pete. Different situations call for different methods. If you have the space and are already ahead, there's simply no need for a kiln. Personally, I can't imagine having three years of wood on my property. I'd hate to lose that much in a flood. It's a lot of work that I simply lost this spring. Gone. Also, there aren't many places on my lot to keep wood (because of potential flooding). The kiln should put me right where I need to be each year with a little additional work. I'll stack on a sheet of plastic. Gotta stack anyways...
The kiln is only for people that really need it, no way would I mess with one but am willing to help some one out that wants to try one, I love green houses and thats more o less what it would be. Glad I dont have a storage area problem.
