I got a good start on my solar kiln this week.
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Your making a portable solar kiln? That's cool, great idea. I look forward to watching this project progress
It wasn't going to be portable until I started looking at everyone else's build.
I was also having a hard time finding a good place to put it so the kiln would
be getting max sunlight. Now I will be able to adjust it to the sun. Also being
on wheels might help with taxes. I got enough buildings.
Plus you can build it at your shop.
Excellent use for an old travel trailer frame and there are a lot of those around. Another plus I see is you could load it at the mill and move it to where you wanted it.
Quote from: KirkD on June 12, 2017, 03:54:03 PM
Excellent use for an old travel trailer frame and there are a lot of those around. Another plus I see is you could load it at the mill and move it to where you wanted it.
This one was not a travel trailer frame. It started is life as a floor that I had antique water pumps
bolted fast to. I could life the whole floor off my trailer when i needed the trailer for something else.
Them years later it became our DJ floor at out picnic area.
First picture is the pump floor.
Second picture is the DJ floor behind the dance floor. (very hard to see)
This whole floor is made up from scratch.
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popcorn_smiley
HOT 95f and I'm tired...
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My projects are wearing me out.
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K, I hear you about this DanG heat. Same here too already. :(
Quote from: Kbeitz on June 13, 2017, 07:22:21 PM
HOT 95f and I'm tired...
Wait until you start installing the panels, and it starts acting like a hot box. Then it will really get like an oven. I built mine when it was snowing, and was working inside in a short sleeve shirt. :D
The higher you build the front knee wall, the taller the rectangular stack of lumber you can load.
Watching with anticipation. k, how are you insulating the floor.
Thanks
Buck
Quote from: bucknwfl on June 15, 2017, 08:24:50 AM
Watching with anticipation. k, how are you insulating the floor.
Thanks
Buck
I used 1-1/2" Styrofoam dense blocks.
Working solo sure is tough...
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Today's work... I'm now off to the legion.
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The framing is done except for the doors.
One heck of a lot of angles.
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That doesn't look very big?
It's not...But it's big enough for me.
18ft tall
16ft long
6 ft wide.
Big enough for one pallet load of wood. That's my plan.
I like it! I just found a large, inexpensive supply of windows just like yours.
I got the inside plywood on both angled sides today.
I also got the vents in.
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Looking good. ;D
Quote from: fishfighter on June 21, 2017, 11:53:58 AM
Looking good. ;D
Thanks...
I did not get enough done today to post any new pictures.
I'm putting up the inside plywood across the top inside.
It take so much time working around all the studs that its going slow.
I'm hoping tomorrow I will be done with that part.
Then come the itchy insulation. Uck...
Just a though today as I was building this kiln...
I was wondering if I could use this thing to help heat my home in the winter. ?
What do you all think ? Dry wood in the summer and heat my home in the winter...
In the winter, due to low sun angle and short daylight. The solar input is low, so you might heat the air from 32 F outside to 60 F during the day, but then you would have to heat the air further before it goes into your home. Further, your home is perhaps 10x more volume than the kiln.
What does it cost per day to heat your home? In WI with natural gas we had a bill of $50 for the coldest months for gas. If the kiln save $5 per month or maybe $30 per year, the cost of piping would probably be much more.
On the other hand, if you have a garage that is unseated, a little solar heat would make the garage feel more comfortable during the day.
Quote from: GeneWengert-WoodDoc on June 21, 2017, 10:44:34 PM
What does it cost per day to heat your home? In WI with natural gas we had a bill of $50 for the coldest months for gas. If the kiln save $5 per month or maybe $30 per year, the cost of piping would probably be much more.
Wow. I know your winters are a lot colder - my cold months (50 day/32 night) heating (to 65°) is $200-250/month for gas!
Insulation ...
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More plywood...
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Maybe you gas usage includes hot water. I was just talking heating. Also our house was 2x6. We paid around $0.50 per therm. We also had a flat fee of $17 per month, which I did not include. Of course, there is electric for the fan too.
Quote from: GeneWengert-WoodDoc on June 23, 2017, 04:49:07 PM
Maybe you gas usage includes hot water. I was just talking heating. Also our house was 2x6. We paid around $0.05 per therm. We also had a flat fee of $17 per month, which I did not include. Of course, there is electric for the fan too.
Now that gives me a sick feeling in my stomach! ::)
I don't have a flat rate portion but my gas rate is $1.31/therm! >:( My gas bill now (in the summer) is for running two tankless water heaters (so just on actual use) and a gas clothes dryer was 8 therms and is $11 for last month.
My error...$0.50 and not 0.05. A typical house used 700 therms per year for heat or $350 per year for gas heat.
Question...
Looking at many plans on google I see that some people fan the air in from the bottom and out the top. Other people fan the air in from top and out the bottom. What do you thing is best? I'm thinking in from the top so it pushes the hot air down through the wood and out the bottom. I'm thinking the other way would waste all the upper heat.
So what do you all think?
Quote from: Kbeitz on June 24, 2017, 11:15:19 AM
Question...
Looking at many plans on google I see that some people fan the air in from the bottom and out the top. Other people fan the air in from top and out the bottom. What do you thing is best? I'm thinking in from the top so it pushes the hot air down through the wood and out the bottom. I'm thinking the other way would waste all the upper heat.
So what do you all think?
All 4 of my VT Design based solar kilns have vents located directly behind the fans, and a second set of vents located at the bottom of the doors on the discharge side of the stack.
When operating a solar kiln, I tend to adjust the vent settings throughout the drying process. With slow drying woods such as oak, at the beginning of the cycle I keep the vents closed. There is enough leakage to allow some air exchanges w/o damaging the lumber by drying too quickly. On the other hand, if I have a load of 4/4 pine in the kiln, then the vents will be open.
Vent position is also based upon the amount of lumber in the kiln. If I have a half charge of a medium drying rate wood such as maple or walnut, the vents are closed. If I have a full charge, then the vents may be cracked open a bit at the beginning of the kiln cycle.
Keeping the vents mostly closed also helps to increase the temperatures inside the kiln. Drying at a higher RH%, higher temp allows you to dry faster but with less risk of damaging the lumber. If you keep your vents fully open, the kiln will run at a lower temp, and with lower RH% inside, which will result in a longer drying time and potential damage to slow drying species of green lumber.
Fans should blow southward across the collector space and then northward through the pile. If you go the other way, you will bring in some fresh air at the bottom and it, with recirculated air, will go directly through the pile, and then pick up heat as it goes upward and then some of this freshly heated, drier air will be exhausted before it can do evaporation.
I agree with the comments on how to operate the vents. In fact, with pine, you may even consider opening the main doors to increase venting, as it is high humidity that will be slowing drying the first day or two.
I dont see vapour barrier on the inside. Just wondering.
Quote from: rjwoelk on June 24, 2017, 02:04:11 PM
I dont see vapour barrier on the inside. Just wondering.
The vapor barrier is on one side of the insulation.
Do I need more ?
I'm painting the inside with a 50/50 diesel & tar mix to get my flat black
For the inside walls. I made a gazebo with this mix and it works great.
Within one or two weeks it's dry to the touch and it really protects the wood.
This should also help with the vapor barrier. I have stoped working in it until
I finish making myself a metal break so I can alum cap some exposed wood parts on the kiln.
You just.need a vapour barrier on the inside to keep moisture from migratin in to the insulation. It also seals it up from air leaks
The same as one would do for a house. But only the warm side gets it.
A plastic vapor barrier is better than using the insulation barrier, as the plastic "seals" the walls or floor better...unless someone puts a hole in it.
Unlike a regular kiln where a leak in the vapor barrier means less insulation effectiveness due to wetting and then we can add a little more heat to offset this loss, in a solar kiln we do not have the option for more heat. So, the solar kiln runs cooler with longer drying time with wet insulation. With wood walls, decay is also a possibility.
Not sure i would use tar on the inside. Hot day you brush up against it you will be tarred. Some were i read about a black paint that was good for obsorbing heat.
Quote from: rjwoelk on June 25, 2017, 04:47:21 PM
Not sure i would use tar on the inside. Hot day you brush up against it you will be tarred. Some were i read about a black paint that was good for obsorbing heat.
Once you mix 50/50 with diesel fuel and it soaks in it does not come off.
It's one of the best wood treatments that I have ever found. After two weeks
it will be dry to the touch.
I had to stop and build a tool. One tool I did not have was a metal break.
One part of the solar kiln was not getting covered by glass so I went to
the junkyard and found two rolls of gutter alum. I needed a way to make neat
right angle bends so this is what I came up with. The last picture is a small flat
chunk of plate steel that I made my first practice bends on. It works great.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/Dsc06086.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1498427799)
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K. designed & built press brake dies for 33 years - couldn't have done better !
Quote from: 1938farmall on June 25, 2017, 07:32:50 PM
K. designed & built press brake dies for 33 years - couldn't have done better !
Thanks...
Loving the brake...
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Looks like a handy tool. You found a good piece of steel. That bevel is the ticket.
Quote from: btulloh on June 26, 2017, 08:03:04 PM
Looks like a handy tool. You found a good piece of steel. That bevel is the ticket.
I got that last year from the junkyard. I'm thinking that is was part of a brake
or bending machine. I had to drill and tap two holes in it and it was some hard
stuff. It has three rows of magnets resisted in the bottom side.
I liked it enough to give it a coat of paint...
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Working on the doors...
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I ran short of plywood... Wow... $22.50 a sheet.
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After seeing the price of large hinges I decided to fabricate my own.
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I spy a nice forge and blower in the background of an earlier picture, do any blacksmithing kbietz?
Quote from: Reddog sawmill on June 28, 2017, 07:38:58 PM
I spy a nice forge and blower in the background of an earlier picture, do any blacksmithing kbietz?
I do some but I mostly cold work my steel.
blacksmithing take so much time but it's so much fun to do..
I have a heat treating oven. an english wheel and a planishing hammer.
I'm in the process of building a piranha iron worker.
I love to work with metals and wood. Not so much with rock and cement.
It is important that the hot air from the collector area go through the lumber pile before it is vented. Then, after cooling and picking up moisture as the air goes through the lumber pile, some of the cooled, moist air is vented. At the same time, outside air is brought into the kiln before the air goes across the collector area, so that this fresh air can be heated before it goes through the pile. This scenario requires vents for exit air at the lower rear and also the vents for incoming at the upper rear wall.
Quote from: Kbeitz on June 25, 2017, 05:41:52 PM
Once you mix 50/50 with diesel fuel and it soaks in it does not come off.
It's one of the best wood treatments that I have ever found. After two weeks
it will be dry to the touch.
Would this be a good treatment to use on lumber that is in contact with the ground? Like maybe a fence post or deck support? Just curious.
Quote from: 50 Acre Jim on June 29, 2017, 08:48:50 AM
Quote from: Kbeitz on June 25, 2017, 05:41:52 PM
Once you mix 50/50 with diesel fuel and it soaks in it does not come off.
It's one of the best wood treatments that I have ever found. After two weeks
it will be dry to the touch.
Would this be a good treatment to use on lumber that is in contact with the ground? Like maybe a fence post or deck support? Just curious.
I would think so but I have never tried it.
Sure was hot today...
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Your last picture makes me say, hmmmm. Is the hinge just for that newer looking piece of plywood (a man-door) or were you planning to open up the entire kiln for easy loading? If the latter, I think you might have to take the wheel off!
Quote from: ljohnsaw on June 29, 2017, 07:43:21 PM
Your last picture makes me say, hmmmm. Is the hinge just for that newer looking piece of plywood (a man-door) or were you planning to open up the entire kiln for easy loading? If the latter, I think you might have to take the wheel off!
Yep your right... The new plywood that you see is two doors or a double door.
I was going to put the hinges on the second door on the inside between the two
doors but with the tire there it would make the door swing in to far and it would hit
my drying lumber. My plane is to get low profile tires.Until then I will take the wheel
off to open the doors.
Good eye...
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I was going to ask about a small lift kit but then I just realized as you add weight it will get worse.
Doors are done except for latches and inside trim.
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Doors are swinging... I screwed the door frames up to the kiln and built
the doors in place. This is a sure way that they fit perfect the first time.
Well I forgot to remove 3 screws. What a time I had cutting off 4" hard
screws. But everything working fine now. I'm real happy with the hinges.
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I hate painting...
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All day job making the door latch. I copied the tractor trailer door latch.
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Coming along nicely. 8)
I love the mindset of a guy who will spend 2 days building hinges before he'll succumb to spending $50 at Lowe's. :-) Seriously, that's not a jab, I do that kind of thing ALL the time! ;D
$50 for hinges
$50 for latches
$50 for screws
$50 for paint
$50 for calking...
It all adds up. Now if I could just make my own screws...
Yeah, but the door paint is pink! :D :D
Quote from: YellowHammer on July 06, 2017, 03:03:17 PM
Yeah, but the door paint is pink! :D :D
It said purple on the can before I dumped in a can of off white.
I use up old paint on the first coat of what ever I'm painting.
Them I to coat with good paint.
Just leave it pink so your sawmilling buddies won't bug you to use it :D
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 03, 2017, 06:43:01 PM
I hate painting...
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Good God, only he knows how bad I hate to paint too. :o Guess that is why I have a few spray rigs. ;D
Looking real good K.
Quote from: fishfighter on July 07, 2017, 08:42:54 AM
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 03, 2017, 06:43:01 PM
I hate painting...
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Good God, only he knows how bad I hate to paint too. :o Guess that is why I have a few spray rigs. ;D
Looking real good K.
I have all kinds of spraying equipment but over the years of painting different
things I found that putting paint on with a brush last many years longer
that using a spray gun. But I still spray my cars.
I got my Tar to coat the inside with. Now I need the rain to stop...
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All Tared and feathered ...
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Bet the fumes had you going with the heat. :D 50/50 mixture?
Quote from: fishfighter on July 08, 2017, 07:16:27 AM
Bet the fumes had you going with the heat. :D 50/50 mixture?
1/3rd diesel 2/3rds Tar seemed to work best.
Fumes wasn't bad.
You cant buy hindges like that a Lowes
Good work!
I few more days work and I will be done.
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Looking good. What are you using for glazing?
Quote from: btulloh on July 10, 2017, 07:16:28 PM
Looking good. What are you using for glazing?
40 year Silicone caulking between the doors.
Nice to find that many doors that match. You never cease to amaze me at what you can come up with.
It looks like my best bet will be the corrugated polycarbonate stuff they sell at the big orange or the big blue place. I'm just not enthusiastic about using it. Or paying for it.
Is that a paddle wheel for a stern wheeler in the foreground of the picture? Or a waterwheel?
Quote from: btulloh on July 10, 2017, 07:31:49 PM
Is that a paddle wheel for a stern wheeler in the foreground of the picture? Or a waterwheel?
Water wheel...
My brother bought a 4 story factory that was at one time a large bakery.
It came with all the baking equipment. We had to clean it all out to make
room for textile machines. One item was a large pizza oven. It was 18 feet
wide. When I seen that I said that's not going to the junkyard. The oven was
on the 4th floor so I cut the ends off it and rolled them to the elevator. They
just fit and it was a very large elevator. I took the two ends home and made
a water wheel out of it. I was going to mount a getset on the top of it but
never got the time. It works great until it ices up. I made it in 2001.
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Quote from: btulloh on July 10, 2017, 07:29:32 PM
Nice to find that many doors that match. You never cease to amaze me at what you can come up with.
It looks like my best bet will be the corrugated polycarbonate stuff they sell at the big orange or the big blue place. I'm just not enthusiastic about using it. Or paying for it.
Do you have a mr seconds or something similar by you? The one by me has tons of windows very similar to those that were either ordered and never picked up or ordered wrong. they are usually pretty reasonable. what you spend on windows you would save on replacing polycarbonate panels.
Good tip. I'll check around. I don't know the life span of the polycarbonate panels but it's got to be pretty short. It is the last thing I'll get done, so I have some time to look. I've seen plenty of windows, but trying to incorporate a bunch of small windows just doesn't appeal to me.
The ones at the mr seconds near me are usually large odd triangle shapes that were custom ordered and then never sold.
Most of the windows are really big windows. have bay, bow, double hung, awning, sliding, casement, lots more. Sliding glass doors to.
Glass is up... Time for a break...
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Looks good K.
How's the heat up there? You seem to be getting a lot done (as usual). Hot and humid here. Can't do much after 11:00 in the morning. Gives me a good excuse, I guess.
It's Hot and humid here to. I just keep pluggin away.
When I start something I want to get it done.
I'm not moving to fast in this heat.
It looks great Kbeitz!
Sorry I forgot to take pictures of getting the upper doors on.
I just wanted to get it done. This is how I did it.
My loader would not lift any higher.
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Probably some puckering going on during that operation. :D Nice solution.
Great job, looks professional. You could use to start plants in the spring also.
I can see kiln dried twisted timbers rolling out the door soon. :D
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 11, 2017, 02:35:37 PM
Glass is up... Time for a break...
:o
Better watch what you say!
Quote from: samandothers on July 12, 2017, 05:31:27 PM
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 11, 2017, 02:35:37 PM
Glass is up... Time for a break...
:o
Better watch what you say!
It's just a spider...
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Weel I got it in place and on blocks. One more coat of paint to go.
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Looks good. How's that black tar drying now that it's good and hot in the kiln?
I really like your latch. Perfect for those doors. Wish I had time to make on like that, but I don't have the right materials on hand and I don't live close enough to your junkyard.
You don't have too many flat spots around your place. It sure looks green and lush though.
Most of the tar paint is now dry to the touch. The floor is made from ash and it's
taking a little longer to dry. I'm thinking another week and It will all be all dry.
I could use it now if I wanted to because only a pallet will be touching anything
so a little tar on the bottom of a pallet would not hurt a thing. I got enough
work to keep me busy that I don't think I will get any thing in it for probably
another two weeks. Yesterday I opened the door to touch the tar and Wow was
it hot.so it looks like it's going to work. Moving this thing around with my little
Kubota was not something I would want to do everyday. There is a lot of weight
in this thing. I don't plan on moving it again. The wheels and tires are coming off.
Looks great K. You might want to add some ground straps. If a bad Tstorm passes over, the wind might blow it over. Just something to think about.
Quote from: fishfighter on July 16, 2017, 08:19:36 AM
Looks great K. You might want to add some ground straps. If a bad Tstorm passes over, the wind might blow it over. Just something to think about.
In the valley I live is we don't but very little wind and this thing is HEAVY...
Eight buildings that I have built on my property sits on top of the ground with
no ground straps or tie downs. Never had a problem.
I put my last coat of paint on everything today. man is this thing
putting off some heat. Tomorrow I'll do the fans and electric.
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That looks sharp!
Quote from: YellowHammer on July 18, 2017, 09:16:59 PM
That looks sharp!
Of course it does. It's pointed at the top. :D
That came out really nice. I too like the latch.
I'm now doing the wiring. The tar mix is all but dry. Only a few spots that
is still sticky to the touch. I had 188F with it all closed up yesterday.
I got fans coming from E-bay... My store for almost everything.
Today I bought 130 lbs of #14, 12 and 10-2/G wire for the kiln and my shop
from the kunkyard. It all looks in great shape. I got if for $1.00 per lb.
K, you and I should have built our kilns during the cooler season. :)
I am still concerned about the lack of vents on the rear wall.
Quote from: GeneWengert-WoodDoc on July 22, 2017, 11:13:00 PM
I am still concerned about the lack of vents on the rear wall.
My rear wall has a vent at the top.
My plane is 4 fans. Top vent fans in.
The two side vents fan out.
One large inside fan to keep everything moving.
Today in this hot weather I dug a 25 foot 2 feet deep ditch to my kiln
for the electric... Fun fun... But hey... I got it finished...
So, the air comes in, goes through the collector along with other air in the kiln and then the air goes out the side vents before it goes through the lumber pile? This is my concern.
I'm sure I will loose some air but .... What would you do ?
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 23, 2017, 06:05:31 PM
Today in this hot weather I dug a 25 foot 2 feet deep ditch to my kiln
for the electric... Fun fun... But hey... I got it finished...
That just doesn't seem like all that big a deal.... from inside my air conditioned trac hoe... :-)
Quote from: 50 Acre Jim on July 24, 2017, 07:15:41 AM
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 23, 2017, 06:05:31 PM
Today in this hot weather I dug a 25 foot 2 feet deep ditch to my kiln
for the electric... Fun fun... But hey... I got it finished...
That just doesn't seem like all that big a deal.... from inside my air conditioned trac hoe... :-)
My problem was that the ditch was 99% rock. So I could not just scoop it back in.
I had to shovel dirt on top of the conduit until covered and hand pick the bigger
rocks and lay them so it would not damage the conduit. Then I could finish up with
the tractor. Hot hot hot.
Quote from: Kbeitz on July 24, 2017, 08:05:03 AM
My problem was that the ditch was 99% rock. So I could not just scoop it back in.
I had to shovel dirt on top of the conduit until covered and hand pick the bigger
rocks and lay them so it would not damage the conduit. Then I could finish up with
the tractor. Hot hot hot.
I can relate...
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You guys got nothin... :-) The ground here was so rocky I had to haul sand in from the other side of the property. Uphill. Both directions.
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We have the rocks...
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Roofing material, just layin' around in the ground. Free for the taking.
I don't really see any rocks.
ljohnsaw had A rock. Now my place would have about 6-7 that size and about 40 more smaller ones than that.
Kbeitz,looks like your will at least break up for ya. ;D Not many flat ones around here
50 Arce Jim,now that looks like what I have.
The only trench I dug was for the outdoor furnace lines. I hauled off what I dug out and put in sand.
I was dumb enough to have a trench dug down to the garden for a water line. ::) Why I did not just bury it a few inches deep,hindsight in 20/20. It's all down hill,I just drain it each year.I am surprised the line is still good. I just backfilled with what was dug out.
Quote from: thecfarm on July 24, 2017, 09:25:02 PM
I don't really see any rocks.
ljohnsaw had A rock. Now my place would have about 6-7 that size and about 40 more smaller ones than that.
Kbeitz,looks like your will at least break up for ya. ;D Not many flat ones around here
50 Arce Jim,now that looks like what I have.
The only trench I dug was for the outdoor furnace lines. I hauled off what I dug out and put in sand.
I was dumb enough to have a trench dug down to the garden for a water line. ::) Why I did not just bury it a few inches deep,hindsight in 20/20. It's all down hill,I just drain it each year.I am surprised the line is still good. I just backfilled with what was dug out.
Well, there is a bigger rock at the bottom of the picture that I couldn't move at all. What you don't see is further up the hill on both sides of the "road" are rocks that size that the backhoe guy managed to pull out of the trench. Ok, here are some "rocks" I had to deal with when making my footings:
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Can you run a duct from the side vent to the rear of the lumber stack so you get the air after it has gone through the pile?
Sleepless night... So I worked up my fan control.
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Rocks and a solar Kiln. :D
When he dug for my foundation alot got buried on the sunroom side. Than I had to call in the dynamite guys in to do some blasting for me. He was doing good until he got to the bedroom. ::)
I got the underground electrical run and got the fans in.
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Ready for liftoff?
10
9
8
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.
.
I got my controller built today. If the rain holds off I will have my first load of wood in tomorrow.
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That's quite the controller Kb.
What are you going to run for your first load? Green or air dried?
Quote from: btulloh on August 03, 2017, 07:59:38 AM
That's quite the controller Kb.
What are you going to run for your first load? Green or air dried?
Air dried white pine slabs. I want to get to building my projects.
Gotcha. After all, that's the whole point of the kiln.
Loading it up.... First load.
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Elcheapo meter say 14%...
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Closing the doors...
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It's 108f with the doors open and the fans running. I will check the temp later.
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You used car cooling fans?
Quote from: fishfighter on August 03, 2017, 01:36:00 PM
You used car cooling fans?
No ... They was 120vac industrial fans from E-bay.
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Very unorthodox fan placement...
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 03, 2017, 09:26:24 PM
Very unorthodox fan placement...
It's my own idea and it seems to be working great.
Hot air rises so the top fan pulls new air in pushing all the hot
air down onto the wood. The two lower side fans takes out
the old air. And then I have one fan blowing threw the wood.
Thinking out side of the box I am...
Yesterday the unit was holding 111F with all the fans going
and it was a partly cloudy day.
It is good to always think "outside the box". ;D Can you shut off a fan one at a time to help adjust air flow? By any chance do you know what the rated temp for those fans along with the CFM's?
Quote from: fishfighter on August 04, 2017, 07:06:49 AM
It is good to always think "outside the box". ;D Can you shut off a fan one at a time to help adjust air flow? By any chance do you know what the rated temp for those fans along with the CFM's?
Each fan has it't own switch. 7 fans in all.
CFM's 200
Operating Temperature : ~10 to +80 Deg.C.
Has superior features such as low noise, high temperature endurance and super long life
In 5 week I lost 5%. Does this sound about right?
Looks like it's working.
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Did you mean to say Aug 1st to Aug 9th? Did you measure the MC just prior to loading the kiln?
14% would be right in the ball park for air dried in this region. 5% drop in MC in pine in 8 days sounds about right.
Being the do it yourself inventive sort of guy you are smiley_thumbsup, you might find this article interesting. Using a multi-meter to measure MC in wood. Most of those inexpensive meters are not very accurate. If you happen to come across a precision multi-meter (capable of reading .001 volts), you could get some very accurate measurements without laying out a lot of coin.
http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html (http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html)
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 11, 2017, 08:39:04 PM
Did you mean to say Aug 1st to Aug 9th? Did you measure the MC just prior to loading the kiln?
14% would be right in the ball park for air dried in this region. 5% drop in MC in pine in 8 days sounds about right.
Opps... Hey your right. I had to go back a few post to see when I put the load in.
I loaded it up on Aug the 3rd.
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 11, 2017, 08:47:45 PM
Being the do it yourself inventive sort of guy you are smiley_thumbsup, you might find this article interesting. Using a multi-meter to measure MC in wood. Most of those inexpensive meters are not very accurate. If you happen to come across a precision multi-meter (capable of reading .001 volts), you could get some very accurate measurements without laying out a lot of coin.
http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html (http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html)
Sounded like a great idea... Until I went to E-bay and seen that a 10 mOhm meter cost $520.00
We had a rainy day so I shut down the fans all day. My MC jumped back up a few points.
Is this normal ?
If the core of the wood is still wet, then moisture will still be migrating from the core to the surface. So if the fans and "heat" are off, that moisture won't be evaporating, and so the MC of the surface would increase slightly.
As Ianab said, the case and core have probably not equalized, so there is migration of the core moisture to the case.
The best, least expensive, most accurate moisture meter is using the oven dry method. It utilizes a cheap food scale and a microwave or conventional oven.
Thanks for all the help...
I picked up this Air Switch at the Flea market today. I'm going to use it to turn on/off my fans when the temp drops.
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The air switch I know about uses air pressure from a push button to turn on an electrical switch. You can do this with wet hands. It was popular before gfi. This looks different...can you explain? Please.