solar kiln

[sawwood]

I would like to build a small solar kiln to dry small loads of lumber. I don't have much room on my house lot.
I have a 16 x 20 shop and was thinking about putting one on the end of the shop that faces south. It would
hold 500bf at a time and made like PineyWoods solar kiln. That way i could have electric from inside the shop
to the kiln. I would have doors on each end to load and unload the lumber. The kiln would be 12' long and what
size width so the solar pannel would be the right angle, Plus hold 500bf of lumber. I like the solar kiln that
pinerWoods has and would not need to have any vents just the dh unit.

Sawwood

[MattJ]

I've had good success with the solar kiln I built and I was aiming for the same capacity.  Mine can hold around 500 bf if everything is perfect, more typically I'm at 300-350bf a load.  It has worked well and I like it being 100% off my house power (solar only).

Changes I would do are work on making loading it a bit easier, right now I load it a board at a time, but then again this is just my hobby lumber.  I also would use two layer of plastic/lexan in the future.  I might still try to add another layer.  This would help it got a bit hotter in the fall/winter. 

Here's the post with pictures

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,76042.msg1176560.html#msg1176560