Tractor Trailer for air drying

[jasonpuckering]

We have two empty 53' tractor trailers.  Wondering if it would be beneficial to stack lumber waiting to go into the kiln, in the trailers.

We are located in Ontario, Canada.  I can keep the trailer doors open and add some fans on timers.  If this would be beneficial, what would be the best method? I was thinking lumber stacked on the sides of the trailer, with a big fan sucking air out of the trailer.

Hoping to get wood down to 20% MC prior to entering the kiln.

We have a solar kiln about 2000 BF and a ebac ld800 around 1200 BF.

[farmfromkansas]

You will probably need a track and carts to make it easy to move from the air drying trailers to the kiln.  YH has a great thread on building track and carts. 

[K-Guy]

You would be better off with a drying shed.

[mike_belben]

if one of them is a reefer unit then the big hole at the front once refer is removed will help a lot.  if theyre just regular dry vans youll get a lot more drying at the rear than at the front.  but a vent window up high at the tractor end will really help let that baking hot day time summer air out the front and pull cooler dryer air in from the back doors.  you could modulate this to some degree by adjusting how open the door is, or putting adjustable louvers in the door and keeping them shut.  

putting the cans on the ground and building track and carriage would help a ton. 

[doc henderson]

maybe hook this up to your wife's truck to pull around town?    if you have a predominating wind, you could build wings that act like a "scoop" to increase air flow (venture), but again, may do better with an open but covered drying shed.  you could paint them black, and have the fans go up when the temp is over 100° or humidity over 80%.  depends on the species, and would be hard to control.  careful control of the the temp and humidity by species is why you have a kiln.  If you process lots of wood, and the trailers are in good condition, you could put finished wood in there with a dehumidifier to maintain until sold or used.

[jasonpuckering]

Thinking it's going to be best to use as finished lumber storage. 

They are in pretty good shape. I can add fans and DH for the summer time. Assuming the winter is dry enough here in Ontario Canada that I don't need to worry about humidity in the winter. 

[scsmith42]

The challenge, as I see it, is airflow through the lumber.  Unless your lumber is less than 8' in length, you will have to load it in the trailers length wise; yet air flowing from the front to the back will not flow through the stacks, only past them.

As Stan mentioned, a drying shed would be a much better option.  For starters, you can load and unload it easily using a forklift, and you can situate it perpendicular to the prevailing winds so that you have airflow though your stacks, not alongside of them.

If you go the trailer route, you  may end up with mold on your lumber, and also severe end splits caused by the outer portions of the boards (exposed to airflow) drying more quickly than the rest of the boards.

[alan gage]

Thinking it's going to be best to use as finished lumber storage.

I think that's the best plan. I've been using one for that purpose for the last couple years and it works great. It has as side entry door as well. I built bunks to store the lumber and it can swallow a lot of it. The bunks make the lumber easy to access since nothing gets buried. 
I haven't seen any problems with moisture buildup or condensation. Lumber is air dried to 12% before it goes in the trailer. During dry weather I leave the doors open for air flow just in case and I close them in wet weather. 
My thread about it here: https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=111143.0
Alan

[DaleK]

Depending if you can get away with it bylaw wise you might try using the trailers as the walls of your drying shed and getting a cheap container shelter to put over the top, and use the trailers for storage. You should get lots of cross airflow coming through under the trailers and you can open or close the ends of the shelter as much as you need

[jimbarry]

If you are going to use them for dry lumber storage you likely might run into condensation accumulating on the interior roof. I use a shipping container and after a cool night, then the sun comes up and shines on the roof, condensation forms and drips down off of every corrugated rib. During the winter, small mounds of ice can form on the floor. Makes for dangerous walking.