Does anyone have any experience with solar kilns for drying firewood? I have been working pretty much seven days a week since Thanksgiving with very little time of in there and havent been able to do any hoarding. So Im in a bit of a bind here Im going to start searching for some that sells firewood and buy several cords and stick three in solar kilns like these http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/info/pubs/Harvesting/CC Accelerated Seasoning of Firewood.pdf and hopefully Ill be ready for the winter? If anyone has some experience or feed back please let me have it.
I was going to try something similar last fall and never got around to it. The other articles I read stated to make sure you use a ground vapor barrier to prevent that moisture from evaporating/condensing on the plastic. There are a couple other old PDF's out there that basically debunked the whole idea of solar firewood kilns . IMHO a small greenhouse would be the best way to attempt this - if I had flat land there would be one here already
I dont have any choice at this point I dont know of any other way to get ready for next winter. Ive been trying to get ahead but this last winter was a rough one and wiped out half of the stuff I already had css for next winter
I wrapped about 25 pieces of oak up in plastic a few weeks ago. It started out as a plastic trash bag covering a small stack, then is added some plastic drop cloth around it. It has an open bottom on a pallet. Little bit of vent space up top because the plastic bag doesn't mate tight with the drop cloth. I will soon know how well it works for me.
If you decide to do a kiln, here's some clear tarp stuff you might like. http://www.ysbw.com/Clear-Heavy-Duty-Plastic-Greenhouse-Tarps-s/104.htm
Ill definitely be doing this in the upcoming months and Ill keep yall posted on how it goes. Thanks for the link stinny that stuff looks like it would be perfect for this.
It's pretty tough stuff too. Only negative I've found is no surprise really… it's kind of brittle when it gets super cold and stiff. Seems much stronger than reg tarps tho.
