iDRY Vacuum Kilns

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the opportunity i fell into

Started by teakwood, November 28, 2022, 07:25:09 AM

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Satamax

Ramon, do you have much wood waste?   You could do a rocket  stove kiln. 
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

teakwood

Yes yes, lots of waste. i was thinking of some sort of stove. what's a rocket stove kiln?
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

kanoak

I recommend seriously looking at solar and/or thermal kiln options available and the economics of each.

I just landed an old Solar Dry Australia SG22 box; 6k bdft capacity in a 40' container profile. Ill get around to posting the build in the drying and processing board. I am off grid with a serious wet season too; a boiler is in my future. Quite impressed with their design which uses a solar drain-down system with heat exchangers and auxiliary propane. I am going to change this around a bit. I am going to have some learning, and building to do.

I calculate that at my site, I will to need 20kw of solar pv generating capacity to power the two circulation fans and brains continuously. Heat has to come from somewhere in these designs, and a boiler can kill two birds with one stone. If you are doing a water system hydronics is real. I grew up with home-made solar hot water. Lots of gotchas.

I started using slabs to edge around the yard and along fences. Might be a market, or at least an upcycle around the hacienda.

Never kiln dried any yet, but Teak has been one of the most forgiving woods I have worked with.
Aloha,
Kanoa

teakwood

Nice score! I have a self made solar hot water system since 15years.

a 20kw solar system here would set you back 10k 
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

kanoak

If I can get this pv system in for 10k Ill be tickled!
I grew up with home made solar hot water; still using the system although I had to replace the panels dad made after about 25 years when the ferns growing out of the 2x4 frames started to make too much shade. People look at me like I am talking black magic when I tell them I get a free hot shower most of the time and start explaining the physics of a thermosiphon.
Aloha,
Kanoa

YellowHammer

Quote from: teakwood on December 06, 2022, 07:09:57 AM
a question about the vents: if my outside air has 100% at 27 degrees and the solar kiln isn't a design that can heat air fast and efficient why would i want to let outside air in? isn't it way more efficient to extract with a dehumidifier? i could put two in there or a more industrial one if they can't keep up
The most efficient way, money wise is to vent the hot air and moisture it contains.  That's free, and since a solar kiln is a slow, basically passive system anyway, wasting heat and reheating isn't generally an issue because if there is a lot of sun, it will heat up fast so venting works fine because it's making more heat than is need.  If there is no sun, then venting doesn't matter because there isn't any heat to waste, its just a shed with a clear roof.

Dehumidifiers work fine, I used a Wal Mart 30 qt on in mine in the winter.  However, hp is cost of electricity, whether it is a Nyle DH unit or a Walmart dehumidifier.  Hp per Hp electricity usually cost the same.  Generally, the best rule of thumb is 1/2 hp compresser per thousand bdft for a dehumidifier.

So whether you're running a Nyle, and Ebac, or a couple Discount Special dehumidifiers, the cost to run will be about the same.  Unfortuanlty, home and even commercial units are not designed for the continuous activity and sometimes slightly corrosive environment in a kiln, so will rot out.  I generally had to replace my homeowner dehumidifiers every year or so, where the Nyle and similar units are built with corrosion proof or resistant parts so will last much longer.

The most economical way to kiln dry lumber, by far, except for labor, is to stick build a small kiln and use a heat exchanger with waste wood to heat the air, and cheap electric fans to vent the hot air outside.  So the only electric used is what's needed to run the fan deck fans which blow the hot air through the wood.  Both a solar kiln and a conventional DH kiln can be "assisted" or run this way.  Some people who buy DH kilns will slowly convert them to waste wood boiler style kilns and almost never use the dehumidifier, except in emergencies.

All you need is heat and venting for a kiln.  The more long term heat you can get into it, the more venting of moist air you can do, and the faster the wood will dry.  Boilers are better than rocket stoves because a kiln is more like a smokehouse (with no smoke) than and oven  Slow and steady heat over a couple weeks does the trick, not just a blast of hot air.  Temperatures of 120 to 180 can be used.

Put in a load of teak, get the air temperature to 120F or so, generate enough excess heat to have the vents slightly open (not much) and still maintain temperature for couple weeks until the wood dries out, and that's a kiln.



YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

teakwood

Taking bets on teakwood keeping the tablesaw.  


 

 


Sold!  :'( but I did it barge style, with a tremendous profit. Could get used to the easy money work
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

barbender

Well as long as there was a huge profit, I think I can understand😊
Too many irons in the fire

teakwood

Lets just say that after the deal with the table saw the Manitou was free  :D

But i didn't rip the guy off, he was darn happy and told me that his business is growing crazy and he was looking for a sliding table saw since quiet a while. i would bet that there are not more than 30 sliding table saws in Costa Rica and none of the used once for sale is as good as this one. the price was still cheaper than import one.


National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

bigblockyeti

So there might be an import opportunity for quality used european sliding table saws into Costa Rica?

Resonator

As a business it's best to not grow too attached to a piece of equipment. One should be prepared to liquidate an asset if needed to keep the business going, and in turn use that sale money to reduce debt and generate more income. 
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

teakwood

I don't have a single dollar in debt and I like it that way.  :D
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

Resonator

Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

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