Cost of running a nyle in NH

[Bruno of NH]

I'm thinking about building a kiln this Spring
A stand alone unit .
Wondering if it would be to expensive to run in the winter. 
We have some of the highest electric rates in the country.
I hope to also build a solar kiln.
Both would fit 10' material in.

[Escavader]

My experience in maine  on nyles kilns once they get to temp they heat themselves.get an old trailer furnace to thaw and get up to temp and your good to go

[Southside]

Insulation is key.  Honestly you can't build a chamber as tight and as cheap as a used Conex reefer unit.  

[YellowHammer]

That's a fact.  I just spent 2 days reinstalling a new Nyle to replace one of my old ones in my stick built kiln chamber.  I had concrete floor degrading and powdering up where the acids in the moist woody air destroyed it and concrete paint I put down every few years, I had air leaks where the floor met the wall, I had caulk seams that cracked and were leaking.  So part of the reinstall was fixing all that wear and tear in the chamber.  I put several hundred bucks into fixing and sealing what amounts to a home made walk in cooler.  Caulk, silver seal paint, floor paint, weather stripping, paintbrushes, etc.  

In contrast, my high cube reefer looks and seals as good as when I installed it several years ago.  

To me it's kind of the difference between a wooden boat and an aluminum boat.  Both float, both work, but the wooden bot requires lots of maintence and the alumiminum boat does not.  

I'll not build a stick built kiln chamber again.  

For the ultimate in efficiency, I'd install a high cube reefer in an old building or chicken house.  That would double insulate it.  

[K-Guy]

Bruno

We use this as a guide. 4/4 green oak will require 450 kw hours per 1000 to 8% bf or green 4/4 pine 250-300 kw hours to 10-12%

That's with the ambient outside temperature of 50°F

[offrink]

This December my nyle 200 ran 4,000 bdft for about 32 days and had an electric bill of $510. 

[alan gage]

This December my nyle 200 ran 4,000 bdft for about 32 days

Interesting, I thought leap year was 2020.
Alan

[offrink]

That's why it was "about". 

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

There is a chapter devoted to cost in DRYING HARDWOOD LUMBER. 


Put in your actual energy cost, etc.

[jimbarry]

I'm no scientist, and a hack at best for data logging so take this for what its worth  When I ran my kiln the other week for a couple days, this is what I recorded for electrical consumption. Feel free to poke holes in it.  ;D



 

Edit: I tried a couple times to upload a larger pic to be easier to see, but the forum software must resize afterwards.

[Tom the Sawyer]

Consider saving it as a .pdf and attaching it so readers could open and read it.

[jimbarry]

Thanks for that. I've added  a PDF version and a xls version.