How many have Kilns?

[Frank_Pender]

I would probably enjoy just looing at the old box more than using it for a kiln.   That is really a "cool" idea! ;D 8) 8) 8) 8)

[GarryW]

gee, I was just outside finally putting the trim on the kiln to try to keep out the snow this winter.

I have a Nyle L-50. I got it to dry the wood when I doing the finish work in the house. It runs off of 110V, so I can run it with a heavy duty extension cord. I had the electrician run a separate circuit for it and put the box on the outside of the garage  that plug in a 100' heavy gauge cord..

I built the building out of left over contruction material from the house. It was originally built in my garage without a roof on it since I needed to get the cherry, ash, and pine dried. That was done before I poured the slab. Then I used the tractor to pull it out of the garage and then I put a roof on it. Then I moved it again with the tractor to its current location. I only ripped out half of the floor joists doing that. So I used to tractor to lift it up in the air and we repaired them. It was a little too flexible on the floor especially with a full load.

The walls are made from 2x4 covered with 1" insulation board and then 1/2 plywood on the interior with R-13 in the wall cavity. That gave me about R-20 on the walls. On the outside I had just 1/2 plywood but my friend recently gave me some of the insulated panels that are used for buildings. That more than doubled the wall insulation. That seemed to help a lot on operating costs. It was costing around $50 a week to run.

The chamber is a little over 16' long, 7' feet wide, and about 7' high. Depending on the wood length it will fit a bit over 1,000 bd.ft. with a stack width of 3'.

It was worked pretty well and I also done some drying for others (including woodman with his smelly red oak 8) ).

If I had to do it over then I would get a larger unit mainly because I cut a lot of pine and it would be really handy to do 1500-2000 bd.ft without it staining. Of course, I was hoping to win the mill at the Woodmizer party and then trade it in but that didn't work out. And now with a longer mill, I would build it longer too.

Someday, I'd like to add tracks and loading carts to make it easier to load and unload. It only took me a couple of years to put on the trim so carts should be done in around 10 years or so.  :D And also a concrete pad too to keep out the chipmunks.

garry

[Larry]

Thought I would let you all take a look see at my solar kiln.  The studs and floor joists are cottonwood.  For the inside and outside I used 3/8" exterior plywood and some cottonwood bats to make it look a little better.  Insulation is 4" of pink foam that I got for free off of a construction site.  They were using it to form up concrete and after the concrete set up they threw the insulation in the dumpster.  A lot of the 4' X  8' sheets were broken but it is R-5 per inch.  Roof is just corrguated fiberglass.  The fan is a old furnace blower with a baffle to circulate the air.  

I built the kiln in 1994 and dry any where from one to three loads a year in it.  It will hold a 1,000 BF of 4/4 lumber 10' long.  The only upkeep is a little paint once in a while and I have replaced the blower motor once but the orginal motor was a used one.

There is another picture of my kiln on the inside cover on the June/July issue of Sawmill & Woodlot.

Larry

[Larry]

Here is a look see at my little DH kiln.  I bought a used Ebac LD800 with a new compressor in it dirt cheap a couple of years ago.  Built a new chamber for it.  It will hold about 800 BF of 4/4 lumber 10' long.  I really like how it works but as I said it is small and green lumber off the sawmill takes a LONG time.

I am relocating (someday) from NW Missouri to NW Arkansas and plan on buying a new Nyle L200 and building a drying shed along with tracks and kiln carts.

Larry

[Brian_Bailey]

Hey JoeyLowe,

 I have to apologize to you.  I just noticed your post (7/27) asking me specific questions about the kiln. I don't know how I missed it but it wasn't intentional.

The profitability of the kiln will depend on what kind of markets you have available to you.  In my case,  I'm taking lumber that would sell for approx. .75 cents / bf green,  Kiln drying it and getting over $2 / bf.  I get twice that figure for black cherry.  Figured woods even more.  So the potential for some large profits are there,  you just have to find the buyers.

I know of a guy that had 2mbf of 8/4 FAS Walnut dried and sold it to a Japanese Co. for $12/ bf.  That one load would have paid for the kiln and then some.  This is what I meant by fast payback,  opportunities like the above.  You have to have the kiln to grab hold of them!

I didn't have any hidden costs except for replacing the fiberglass insulation with Dow blue board insulation.

I'm not a production mill so it's kinda hard to nail down a pattern of use.  I have had my kiln since 1989 and have dried a little over 40 loads.  Some years I run year round, others just a couple of loads,  it all depends on what my needs are.

I dry mostly Red Oak,  this species is my biggest seller. I only sell retail to local woodworkers and to some small cabinet shops.  

On 4/4, I air dry first then it goes in the kiln for approx. 3 wks. White Oak takes a few days longer.  I have an electric meter on the kiln so I know exactly how many kilowatt hours are used / load.  I pay between $80 - $120 / load for electric.

Joey,  I hope this is of some help to you.

Dugsaws,

 Nyle doesn't reccomend you use fiberglass Insulation.