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Nyle L53 Kiln Start Up

Started by maderahardwoods, November 13, 2017, 03:27:39 PM

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maderahardwoods

I have not baffled the skids, I will do that next. 

I used the plastic sheet to help insulate the door, it has really helped keep the temperature stable.  It is also great at preventing heat loss in when I open the chamber door(s) to check the moisture content. 

The fans are near vertical, I gave them 5 degree kick towards the ceiling (leaning backwards toward rear wall). I will snap some photos of the current fan configuration tonight.

I like your idea for fan baffling and will convert to this style this weekend when I baffle the metal skids.  You haven't had any issues with the fans pulling air that has not been processed by the Nyle unit?

When I open the door to enter the kiln I definitely see the plastic being pushed out, I will take a photo with the doors open and all fans running. 

Thanks for the great tips!

PS: Has any one played with baffling behind the stack? Something shaped like a funnel with fan stacks along the length? It might be easier if i draw it out. 

WDH

Here is a pic of my L53 fully baffled. 



 

I plug every hole that is not a stickered layer of lumber.  Air will preferentially go through the largest gaps and holes, so plugging every opening that is not a stickered layer of wood forces all the air through the wood layers and evens out the drying from the top to the bottom of the stack.  My auxuillary fans are mounted at a 45 degree angle to the ceiling.  With the two in the unit, I have 6 fans altogether. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

maderahardwoods

Great looking setup WDH. 

Here are some photos of my fans, the doors open with the fans on, and finally the current DB and WB temps.



  

  

  

 

YellowHammer

Quote from: maderahardwoods on January 02, 2018, 02:28:24 PM

I like your idea for fan baffling and will convert to this style this weekend when I baffle the metal skids.  You haven't had any issues with the fans pulling air that has not been processed by the Nyle unit?
No since the system is not a single pass environment, its very important to get a fully toroidal, circular mixing airflow path in the kiln, low pressure to high pressure across the entire stack, across the face.  This also eliminates any need for further baffling.  The main thing is to do as WDH shows, close off any path where the air can short cut around the stack, which it will do readily, as the wood acts as an obstruction and the air will simply go around, it allowed.  That's one reason I like to use foam, both 2 inch and 1 inch, because the better the stack gets sealed the more the foam gets sucked in the stack due to the pressure differential.  You mentioned you had foam blowing around, it should get almost sucked into place, which is one reason to baffle on the high pressure, intake side of the stack.

 
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

WDH

Your auxillary fans just seem to be mounted on top of the back table that closes off the top of the dehumidification unit, and they do not seem to be pulling air from below the table, air that has been through the wood stack.  If you look at my auxillary fans, they are mounted in boxes.  Below each box, directly under each fan, there is a 9" diameter hole in the table allowing the fans to suck the air from behind the lumber stack below the table and blow it back to the front of the kiln, creating a continuous circular air flow over the top of the baffle, through the wood layers and sucked back up through the holes in the table and so on.  The two fans in the unit blow the air that has been through the condenser out towards the back side walls, and the auxillary fans blow that air directly to the front of the kiln to be circulated through the wood layers.   
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YellowHammer

This a picture of my larger kiln deck, except it is a vertical wall instead of horizontal.  Notice the fan opening are cut in the barrier itself, to get the circular airflow pattern

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

xlogger

Robert, I was looking on Amazon this morning for scales. I read somewhere but can't find it now how low of weigh it needs to go, 1 gram? If it goes up to 10 pounds do you think that should be plenty for thick slabs also?
Also do you try to oven dry sample board off mill or does it matter if you do it later?

Ricky
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

You need two scales or balances.  The small one weighs to 1/10 gram and is for the moisture sections that weigh around 50 to 100 grams and are oven dried..  If you only weigh to 1 gram, you will have an accuracy of around 3% MC.

The second one is for the large samples and 10 pounds or 5000 grams or 5 kg capacity is good.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

YellowHammer

Quote from: xlogger on January 06, 2018, 06:27:47 AM
Robert, I was looking on Amazon this morning for scales. I read somewhere but can't find it now how low of weigh it needs to go, 1 gram? If it goes up to 10 pounds do you think that should be plenty for thick slabs also?
Also do you try to oven dry sample board off mill or does it matter if you do it later?

Ricky
My sample board is typically about the same size, give or take, as the oven board.  Small enough to fit in the oven, big enough to get in the sweet spot of the scales.

Since its important to make sure the sample boards are representative of the lumber stacks, I typically work the sample boards as I'm putting the stack in the kiln.  I grab my battery operated circular saw and whack them out real time.
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

maderahardwoods

Update:

Fan baffle has been modified as shown below, will try and baffle all of the floor beams this weekend.  I may build an angled housing for the fans to live in the near future.  But I figure with the fans pointing up and the baffling the air should be forced into the stack. 

I also decided to experiment with the shorter slabs, I pulled them out and coated them with Pentacryl, it took about 2.5 gallons to thoroughly coat 11 slabs front and back. 

I replaced them back into the kiln yesterday and went back on this evening to check in on them.  The DB was right at 120 and the WB bumped up to 93.3 degrees, a jump of about 6 degrees from it has been averaging. I refilled the WB wick water tank yesterday so I am pretty sure the temperature is correct.  I did not take any MC of the slabs, but will this coming weekend. 

I am wondering if the Pentacryl is pushing the water out and increasing the humidity which in turn raised the WB temperature.  Or if the Pentacryl has some water base that is vaporizing off. Hopefully this is the silver bullet I need. 

Thanks gang!











maderahardwoods

Update:

The WB has dropped back down to 85F. 

YellowHammer

I have no experience with Pentacryl.  I don't know how it will affect the drying. 

Be careful with the little milk parlor heater, I had one in my kiln, and in fairly short order the fan corroded and stopped working and the heater coil overheated and shorted out.  Could have easily burned my kiln down.  I personally prefer sealed halogen work lights for extra heat.   
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

maderahardwoods

Guys, it has been a while.  So I decided to pull the walnut out of the kiln and to let it air dry for year or so.  

Since then I have had good luck running softwoods though the kiln as well as getting hardwoods slabs that are 12-15% right to 7-8%.  

I have some really pretty burled elm and bastogne walnut in the kiln. I'll post some photos soon. 

Thanks!

rjwoelk

How are things going? read the thread. Very interesting.
Lt15 palax wood processor,3020 JD 7120 CIH 36x72 hay shed for workshop coop tractor with a duetz for power plant

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