The Forestry Forum

I finished my kiln build this evening, A big thanks to the people on this forum and especially WDH,Yellowhammer and Glen for their help.
My finished dimension ended up being 11ft wide and I think around 10ft deep.   I still need to add another box fan to the front of the stack on the floor but other than
that the chamber is done,  I will load it tomorrow with some air dried 8/4 walnut live edge slabs that are just under 18%MC. Looking forward to finally getting this kiln up and running and hopefully paying me back from all the $ invested in this structure. 

Per the recommendations of WDH I went ahead and replaced the fans in the unit to avoid a bad day later on by them failing. Those two fans are now on my horizontal baffle until they eventually fail. 

I also added two 500 watt work lights to assisting in heat during start up and sterilizing.

I will update as soon as I get the first load in the kiln and hopefully see the water flowing out!
I would like to add that if you need a lesson in patience; build a kiln.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25380/kiln_done2C.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1505790298)

That is a fine job  8).

Two comments.  You might want to build a metal cage with an open top around the wet bulb probe/bottle.  Also, the wires to the probes would be better if they went straight up the wall from where the probes are located to the ceiling then along the ceiling to the back wall.  How do I know this? :).  Hitting the probes with a pallet of wood is not a good thing.  It has been done  :).  Catching the wires along the wall and breaking them with a pallet of wood is not a good thing unless you like ordering stuff from Nyle  :).  It has been done, too  :).

Looking forward to when you get water!

Very nice.  I'm glad you got it done.  One you get over the new, cut a hole in the bottom of the kiln unit about the size of a shoe box lid to let air in from the bottom as well as the front. 

 I believe that cutting the hole in the bottom of the unit really helps increase the amount of water vapor getting to the evaporator per unit time thereby increasing the amount of water that the unit can remove from the air.  I also believe that it helps to even out the drying of the lumber stack from the top layers to the bottom layers.  Here is a pic looking inside the unit.  I made a frame to cover the hole and used a filter like you see on a ventless range hood.



 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14370/IMG_0848.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1473120833)

Here is the view looking up from the floor at the bottom of the unit.



 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14370/IMG_0849~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1473120974)