So it was requested that I put up my solar kiln for everyone to check out. I based it off this video. I will keep this thread updated with wood MC readings and when the wood is finished. The first step I did was to lay out 2 4ft x 4ft pallets end to end. Then I placed a cheap($7.49@HomeDepot) 10ft x 25ft clear plastic tarp over the pallets and began to stack at one end. NOTE: this is at 7:30pm, this location will get 8-12hrs of sun a day. Based on my expierence previously using the method I will ahve sub 20% MC wood by Thanksgiving. That is the blackberry patch in the background. During the Day the wood will heat up expelling moisture driving up the humidity in the solar kiln. During the night the moisture will condense and pool at the bottom of the kiln. If you don't remove this water the next sunny day it will evaporate inside the solar kiln and not allow more water to be drawn out of the wood. So to remove the water you could add fans and vents, or just cut slits in the bottom of thee kiln. 9/2/14 wood into the kiln was Cherry between 25% and 30% Moisture Content Split random sizes nothing smaller than 4" splits I only have about 1/2 of a cord placed in the kiln. I will post pictures when I finish filling the kiln. At that Time I will staple the plastic in place and walk away To seal the Kiln all you do is place the plastic over the wood wrapping tightly. The bottom has slits to allow water to escape, and the top should not have any holes.
I saw this youtube video a ~year ago but I never saw a part 2 - the dried product. Curious to see how this works on firewood
It would be interesting to have a control pile. A similar pile next to that one with no plastic on it to see how the MC changes.
This is funny I was just getting mine prepped also... I'm using my wood shed which has direct sunlight for 6-8 hrs a day right now. I am about to take wood moisture measurements and seal it up 2nd pic is the sensor. Im not trying to thread jack but if its ok I would like to post my findings in here?
Picked up another Load at lunch. I can pile about half a cord on my little trailer before I hit the weight limit for my car, 2500 lbs with a 200 lbs hitch weight. That makes for enough work to get a reasonable load but not getting totally exhausted. Also Stopped at a pawn shop and grabbed a Husqvarna 359 with a 24 inch bar for $150.00 It runs, and has good compression, haven't cut with it, going to tune it first. Why do I need a control?I don't plan on publishing a paper, nor am I trying to build a case for the best method, I am just posting that this is how I do it, and it works. I posted this vid on the other site with a description. and when I said I tried it without putting up a control. and that it worked really well, I was told that my results were bogus and not valid. It was a big part of the reason I stopped participating. Who care how much better it is. If it can "season" some dense wood in reasonably short time compared to the accepted standard, I don't care how much better it is, just that it is better. NOTE: I am not irritated no mater how the above reads Feel free
I didn't say that you had to, I just think it would be interesting to see what the difference would be.
Looking good so far 8 degrees warmer wrapped. This isnt a perfect setup but its similar to the one I saw posted from some university study. Tested some of the wood I have some older splits @ 18+/- and some newer maple @ 25%.
I think that you need to close the eves up also. Your hard gathered heat is just running out the top.
I've got some time this week and need to get some pine cleaned up - no moisture meter through. I'll do some rough bathroom scale numbers. I can do some control numbers for you guys as well
You were right I just closed the eves and temp spiked 2 degrees in 5min up to 90 now and the high for today was only 87.
I pulled the top off to add some wood to the stack I have started. Felt the heat radiating off the pile something fierce, ran to get a thermometer and shoved it deep in the pile and left it for 10 min. Pulled it and it was reading 147, and that was after I had pulled the top cover off for 5 min. 30 min later it was still radiating heat.
Heat is where it is at. The RH goes down fast as the heat goes up. Allowing the air to have do much more carry capacity. The temp bump also supplies the 1000BTU that is needed to evaporate each pound of water. And the nightly condense and drain sets it up for the next sunny day. Once that water runs out the bottom it is gone. I wish I could do better than 5 hours of sun in my yard.
Yes as the wood heats durring the day it will force out water at a much higher rate than it will absorb it during the night
Excellent. I have come to realize that the 'gotta force vent my solar rig' train of thought was counter intuitive. And the passive vent is no different.
I put a thermo probe in the middle of the pile last night. It has been overcast all day and the center of the stack is sitting at 148. At these temps relative humidity doesn't have any thing to do with drying the wood. At 150 the water in the middle of the log is expanding forcing out the water on the ends. Overnight the water internal to the log equalizes and you can repeat the process the next day. for the first couple of weeks there is a ton of condensation every evening. In normal seasoning water is drawn out. This is why you dont worry about the water getting trapped inside the plastic getting back into the wood. We are heating the wood to force the water out.
This is very interesting post thanks for sharing Augie. About a month ago I left some wood that I cut and split the day before in the back of my truck .I have an aluminum topper and didn't get to it untill following evening .I was surprised when I open up the topper it looked like it rained on the inside of it .Iam sure it was doing this same thing.I am going to wrap some that I have also.
