Firewood Kilns

labradorguy · July 13, 2019, 12:06:16 PM

I'm wanting to get into the kiln dried firewood business.

About the only thing I know about firewood kilns is that I want one that I can run off of waste wood from the firewood processor. I saw one ran by gas but considering this one will be sitting just a couple hundred feet from a processor with a big pile of splintered wood next to it, I just can't see the reason why I would want to fill gas bottles all the time to keep it going.

I checked out the forum's drying section but it seems really geared towards lumber. Thought maybe getting a discussion going here would be a better option....

Seems like for firewood there are a lot of people just converting cans. Others speak poorly of doing that and say you need a dedicated design. I know nothing about it either way.

Who's kiln drying their wood on here? How's it working for you compared to just selling "seasoned" wood?

Going after the restaurant sales seems like a better way to make a buck than having to deal with homeowners and all their (drama). Our area averages around $210/cord for seasoned, but I am hearing that kiln dried wood is over $500.... That wouldn't break my heart. The is the investment in the kiln to be considered, but it seems like the numbers could be made to work without a lot of crunching.

Thoughts anyone?

mike_belben · July 13, 2019, 10:28:10 PM

I kinda built one that ran on trash wood, it was just a quick bandaid for running out of seasoned wood. Also its $50 a face cord here wet or dry so i dont fool with it anymore. I think you can find the thread in my content but i dont recall the name. Pics are in my album few years back. It did dry wood but once i got combustion maximized it became a red hot fire hazard. I could get the chamber up to 160 or so but not the wood interior.

barbender · July 14, 2019, 12:12:13 AM

I think Mike's was called the "Hillbilly Special" or something like that. It was pretty cool!👍 I would like to do kiln dried too, my problem is there isn't anything on the market IMO tha fits a startup firewood business very well. At least not my start up business. I think the smallest I've seen is $30K, I'd have to be moving a LOT more volume to justify that much.

Corley5 · July 14, 2019, 10:36:31 AM

A guy up here has a large firewood kiln. He wanted a wood fired one but the kiln company rep talked him into a
propane fired one because of the maintenance and shorter service life of the wood fired models. Joe's very happy with the gas fired one.

labradorguy · July 14, 2019, 12:12:53 PM

Just looks like a lot of expense keeping those bottles full.... Especially when there is all this scrap wood laying around. I'm a cheapskate.

Pclem · July 14, 2019, 12:59:36 PM

I started with a kiln I built from a 20' container. Spray foamed it, cut some vents in, and hooked a couple big heat exchangers with fans to run off my outdoor boiler. Then I built one out of a 40' reefer. Same design, just bigger. Now I have a propane fired kiln. spring/summer/fall, I pay $30-$45/ cord for propane. Price goes up in the winter. With the propane kiln, I can fill it, turn it on, and forget about it for 2-3 days...With the wood kilns, I fill them, stoke them up full of wood twice a day for 5-10 days straight. Yeah, you have waste wood from the operation, but you're going to need alot more fuel than the waste you are producing. I was putting a $30 bill per cord with the wood waste kilns just for electricity, and the time and cost of wood to fuel them. So propane isn't horrible considering the fact you walk away from it till it's done. I am going to build another wood waste kiln from scratch, since I have all the components I need. I don't have the most efficient air flow through them right now. I'll try to use it more in the colder months when propane prices go up

K-Guy · July 16, 2019, 10:43:03 AM

@labradorguy
Stan from Nyle here.

I can help you, call me at 800-777-6953 Ext 212.

Stephen1 · July 16, 2019, 10:37:00 PM

I purchased bins\carts on wheels from uline that fit my IDRY perfectly. Right now I use 1-2 at a time full of cookies and small craft wood to fill out my kiln loads. The kiln is 13' long and a lot of wood i'm drying is in the 8-10' range.
I plan on using the kiln to dry full loads, 6 carts at a time. I believe there is a need for kiln dried firewood and hope to sell it for $250 for 12" cords. A lot of wood fired pizza ovens in the big cities, all the rage around here. I also have customers wanting to be able to store thier firewood in thier house without worrying about bugs.

TCove · May 19, 2020, 01:42:13 AM

Can you help me find these bins/carts you speak of, from Uline?

Stephen1 · May 20, 2020, 09:35:51 PM

uline H-6125 is the model number for the carts we have.

DDW_OR · May 21, 2020, 12:06:03 AM

use an Outdoor Wood Furnace, have two circulation pumps
one for the House, shut this off during warm weather
a second for the kiln
maybe a third for the shop
and a forth for the greenhouse

go to the auto wrecking yard and get some radiators to use as heat exchangers

Corley5 · December 15, 2022, 06:49:09 PM

How long does it take to get a full cord, 128 cubic feet, of green well split, 16" sugar maple below 20% MC in a kiln? Had a client tell me today that one of my competitors told him it took 44 hours to dry wood in his kiln. I don't know what MC he his drying to. Just curious.

Pclem · December 22, 2022, 06:35:35 PM

We were getting fresh split oak down to 20%.. That's with a 1" probe in the center, with a 48 hour cycle in the kiln direct we had. It helped to keep the wood in the kiln for a day after the kiln was done with the cycle. It still stayed plenty hot for hours continuing to dry. We sometimes had hard maple, but not often. It still seemed to dry about equal to the oak

OH logger · December 22, 2022, 08:06:46 PM

Quote from: Pclem on December 22, 2022, 06:35:35 PM
We were getting fresh split oak down to 20%.. That's with a 1" probe in the center, with a 48 hour cycle in the kiln direct we had. It helped to keep the wood in the kiln for a day after the kiln was done with the cycle. It still stayed plenty hot for hours continuing to dry. We sometimes had hard maple, but not often. It still seemed to dry about equal to the oak

Wow 48 hours is fast especially for oak. How was the kiln heated?

Pclem · December 26, 2022, 08:57:18 AM

It was propane fired. It got 250-260 degrees inside. Yes. it was fast. Like I said, leaving the wood in the kiln for an extra day after the cycle really helped. I found if I pulled the wood out right when the cycle was done at 48hrs, it wasn't dry enough.