kiln from old insulated garage door panels.

[doc henderson]

I am about to replace our garage doors.  the price is up 65% from 2 years ago, and a 2 month wait for Rayner (my fav.) and 8 month on Coplay (wife's fav. "pretty").  At least they look like wood.  I will have two 9x7s and a single 8x18.  all are about R18.  I might just make it as a firewood solar kiln so not for pristine hardwood lumber.  would keep it out of the weather.  three sides from the panel, and a front and top from clear material with rough sawn framing.  some fans! thoughts?

[Nebraska]

Sounds like good repurposing to me.  How much heat will they take?

[doc henderson]

I will have to check on the insulation.  used to be Styrofoam, now many are urethane.  i think the higher R value stuff was tougher and would likely just be "you get what you get" solar firewood "kiln" storage area.  could just build a forced air tunnel the size of my crates?

[DWyatt]

We've been running one like that for way longer than I've been alive. Gramps built it at 20' long on the 80s then moved it to his new shop in the 90s and cut it down to 16'. Through all that time him and Dad custom dried year round for people. Then when he sold that shop, Dad moved it in to his barn and cut it down again to 12'. Back in the day Gramps and Dad used to run it with a regular dehumidifier that sat in the kiln on a shelf. When dehumidifier quality when down the pot, Dad and I bought a Nyle L53 because we were burning up a dehumidifier every load. There is also a "plenum" with a couple fans to help circulate air better.

Since our kiln has been moved a couple times and has close to 40 years of service, it leaks like a sieve. For that reason, we only dry already air dried material, except poplar that dries perfect because it is able to dump a lot of moisture through the leaks. It's not perfect, but it's dried  I'll be at my parent's house tomorrow and will snap a couple pictures. Soon it will be retired when I build a kiln building at my place.

[Crossroads]

Should work well!

[DWyatt]

Obviously this is a mess and currently I'm using the kiln to store my tools so they don't rust to pieces while I build my shop, but you can get the idea. The entire thing is held together with the channel that you see on the walls. With the L53 in there, we have a lumber pack that is approximately 3' wide x 12' long x 4'-6" tall, 900-1000 bf of 4/4 lumber per load. Melamine panels leaning against the kiln go on top of the stack when it's running to direct airflow. Water drains out the side of the kiln into a 5 gallon bucket. Handled  1000s of boards into the kiln and back out, I am ready for a side loader kiln.