Dehumidifier In Solar Kiln

[Woodslabs]

Hi Guys,

I have a Solar kiln but am hoping to speed up the process a little.  I just finished loading the kiln (i'm in Ontario) so it won't be drying too much in the winter.  I have the fans run from 10 am to 5:30.  I am hoping to add a dehumidifier in the spring when the wood hits around 15%.  Has anyone done this?  Does the placement of the dehumidifier make a difference?  Can i just place it on top of the plywood that covers the wood and run it for a few hours at night with the louvers closed?

Any advice would be welcome.

[pineywoods]

Yep, done that. There's 3 solar kilns locally that use a small room de-humidifier to remove the moisture from the air inside. They are closed enclosures, no vents. Do a search on "pineywoods solar kiln". I'll try to find the link. I built mine before I found the forestry forum, so there's not much documentation. However, member planman1954 copied mine and added a few improvements. He posted pics and descriptions. Another thing that's different, there is black painted sheet metal attached to the bottom side of the rafters to serve as the collector. Makes a huge difference in the heat collected from the solar radiation. hits 180 degrees internal air temp.

click here
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,50281.0.html