Final Piece of the Puzzle, Solar Kiln Build !

Andy White · June 06, 2014, 06:27:03 PM

Gadrock, and Darrel,
I have been extremely busy lately due to some consulting work on a big project for the company I worked for before retirement. The kiln has a load of Red Oak that has air dried for eight months. It has been " idleing"
with no fans or DH unit running. I checked the stack three weeks ago, and the moisture meter showed 13%. Tomorrow, I'll go out and check it again, cause I'm going to load up some Walnut this weekend. When I shut it down last month, the temp stayed above 95° all night, so I turned the DH off. It looks like it will be a "set it and forget it " deal until I can spend more time with it. Andy :P :P

Andy White · June 08, 2014, 07:54:58 AM

Well, Now What???
Got back to the lake Thursday, and decided to try the kiln again for the weekend. Programmed the logger , and put it in the kiln and started the fans and DH after resetting timers. Started at 6 AM Friday, and let it go on it's way. Saturday, at 6.00 PM the outside thermometer showed 140°. This morning at 6.00 AM it read 100°. The outside temp was 75°. I don't think the DH unit can be effective at that temperature. It started at midnight, so it was still above 100°at that time. I will pull the logger out and download data Monday morning, and see what it tells me. I may have to convert it to the VT design??? I sure like it this way tho. I need to get this figured out before I start cooking the Walnut load!!

Andy White · June 09, 2014, 12:18:23 PM

Went to the kiln early this morning and took all my toys with me. Shut down power, and calibrated the meter to SG of 59 for Red Oak. Took several readings in different spots on different boards, and this is what I found.

Next was retrieve data from logger. This is for almost 48 hours.

I think this load is done. Will unload this week, and get ready for the Walnut. I don't think the DH ever cycled on during this whole cycle, and I never seen any condensate on the panels . I guess as long as it don't sweat, and I get numbers like these, it's working! Andy 8) 8)