Solar kiln

[Ohio Dave]

Anyone use a solar kiln for firewood?  I would like to try to make one to shorten drying time.  I don't  want to use any power ie no fans no heat other than sun.
Everything on line seems to be for lumber.

[Wallys World]

I have dried firewood in my solar lumber kiln. I stack it one row across as I do not have my fans installed. I dry approx. 1/2 cord at one time. If I had fans I could stack more rows. It does a good job, I mostly use that wood for bundles at the community market (boutique wood, pretty, clean, and dry). This is only when it is not loaded with lumber.

[K-Guy]

Hi Dave

A solar kiln will work but in Ohio you have a short season and it might be hard to get enough dried.

[panolo]

I built a 7x25 greenhouse using cattle panels and greenhouse film. Fresh cut red oak is dried in 3 months to under 20%. My temp yesterday inside it was 153 degrees with a outside air temp of 85. I run a box fan with a timer in the door set to run from 1-6pm.  It helps but is it necessary.. Probably not. I'm actually building another so I can dry 12+ cords at time doing it this way.  Guessing I have about $300 in to each at the most. The couple rows of sugar maple I tested the other day were at 14% on a fresh split. They have been in there between 6-8 weeks. 

[K-Guy]

@panolo 

Welcome to the forum. If you fill in your location info we can see where you are to gauge the results you are getting. It will differ quite a bit north to south.

[panolo]

@panolo

Welcome to the forum. If you fill in your location info we can see where you are to gauge the results you are getting. It will differ quite a bit north to south.

Minnesota so not that far south. Even in the winter when it is 10 degrees out it sits 40-50 degrees in there if the sun is shining. 

[panolo]

 

 

 

Two pics  could find from last year. I changed the floor to heavy duty tarp and I trimmed the zip ties that hold the cattle panel together. Really simple and the hardest part is making a stable door. 

[doc henderson]

@panolo that looks great and similar to an idea I was considering.  I put my wood in totes from construction containers so it is easy to move.  I just use wood for personal use.  I may just make a plastic temp. cover with a fan.  welcome and thanks for the data of temp, time, location, and MC.

[doc henderson]

what are the dimensions of the cattle panels?  are the base 2x4s staked into the ground. @panolo  looks like for a consumer the wood could be left until needed, with some continued dehydration.  how do you unload when dry to package?

[panolo]

what are the dimensions of the cattle panels?  are the base 2x4s staked into the ground. @panolo  looks like for a consumer the wood could be left until needed, with some continued dehydration.  how do you unload when dry to package?

50" wide by 16' long. Like $24 each at the local farm store. I have a 2x6 ground contact base. The panels are flexible enough they don't need to be staked on the inside. They just pressure fit against the base.  I did stake the outside of boards where there was a connection. I used 2 2x6 10' and cut down an 10' to 5' to get to my 25' foot length so I have 4 exterior stakes a side.  I don't sell wood. It's just for my personal use.  I run an OWB and it's a gasser so it's pretty important to keep dry wood. I get a lot of oak so I wanted to figure the easiest way to dry it so I could cut in the fall or winter and burn in less than a year. 

[stavebuyer]

 

 

Two pics  could find from last year. I changed the floor to heavy duty tarp and I trimmed the zip ties that hold the cattle panel together. Really simple and the hardest part is making a stable door.

smiley_clapping Brilliant. Could this design also dry lumber?

[E Yoder]

How high is it to the peak in the center (can you stand up)? That's really nice. Double or single layer plastic?

[thecfarm]

I used them panels to make a trellis for the pole beans in my garden. I used small u bolts,the ones for wire rope,to hold the panels together. I can walk thorugh my trellis. ;D

[panolo]

How high is it to the peak in the center (can you stand up)? That's really nice. Double or single layer plastic?

6.5 feet or so. Yep, I walk through it in the winter to grab arm fulls and when I load it for drying with no issue. I just bought regular 5 year green house film off Amazon. It is a thicker single layer. 

[panolo]

 

 

Two pics  could find from last year. I changed the floor to heavy duty tarp and I trimmed the zip ties that hold the cattle panel together. Really simple and the hardest part is making a stable door.

smiley_clapping Brilliant. Could this design also dry lumber?

I'm sure it could. I would probably modify it smaller to do lumber though. It's pretty crazy how quick it starts working. 

[panolo]

How high is it to the peak in the center (can you stand up)? That's really nice. Double or single layer plastic?

6.5 feet or so. Yep, I walk through it in the winter to grab arm fulls and when I load it for drying with no issue. I just bought regular 5 year green house film off Amazon. It is a thicker single layer.

Makes sense! I wanted to stay away from metal connections on the panel to try and preserve the greenhouse film. The zip ties work well and I haven't had any issues. It's basically made it through 2 summers, and we can get some nasty storms, and our snowiest winter in 20 years.  I figured if I can get 3 years out of the plastic it's well worth it. 

[TKehl]

Nice.

If you google "Texas Prepper Greenhouse" there are door and endcap ideas.   ;)

[John Mc]

@panolo - are you doing anything special to promote airflow through your solar kiln? Seems as though the moisture buildup from piling green wood in there would cause problems without some breeze to carry it away.

[panolo]

@panolo - are you doing anything special to promote airflow through your solar kiln? Seems as though the moisture buildup from piling green wood in there would cause problems without some breeze to carry it away.

If you look in my one pic you can see a couple white floor vents at the top. If you look at the wood stack there is a little gap in the middle that corresponds with another floor vent you can't see. I fit 12 rows of 23-24" splits in there and each row has the small gap in the middle. I run a lasko all season box fan in the front door that is set with a timer from 1pm to 6pm. I'll have a little moisture in the morning but it doesn't really drip on the splits or run down the sides.  

[swmn]

My passive solar firewood kilns are posted over at h e a r t h dot com, titled passive solar firewood kiln.  Mine are basically hoop houses like for cheap places to grow plants.  A few of the guys over there are now piling on with different strategies in the "wood shed" section.  

I haven't seen 150dF inside any of my kilns yet, but I routinely see 140s dF when outdoor ambients are in the 80s with few clouds.  My current build holds about 8 cords and I well accustomed to having all 8 cords come in right around 13-14 percent moisture content at the end of summer which is basically now. That is starting from live standing timber in February- 13 to 14 % MC in August.

Already lit the stove once this fall and had the first big V of Canada geese flying south over the house just this afternoon.

[John Mc]

My current build holds about 8 cords and I well accustomed to having all 8 cords come in right around 13-14 percent moisture content at the end of summer which is basically now. That is starting from live standing timber in February- 13 to 14 % MC in August.

Is that 13-14% as measured on the ends, or in the middle of a fresh-split piece?

I'm, curious if you've checked your solar kiln against just drying a single row stacked out in the open, exposed to the sun and wind. I don't have a kiln, so that single row is my method when I've run short on time and need to get some wood dried. I can cut in the spring (sometimes late spring) and have it down to about 13-14% in the middle of a fresh split piece by the end of summer. I leave it uncovered until I get within about a month of the heating season. It seems to work for most of the hardwood species around here, with the exception of Oak, which always seems to take longer. I've never really checked with any softwoods, since it's pretty rare that I burn them.

[swmn]

13-14% measured in the middle.  Have to split a split open to see how seasoned it is on the inside.   None of my moisture meters work right plugged into end grain.

I did double row stacked on pallets on cinder blocks, top covered, for years.  Getting wood dry isn't so hard up here.  Keeping wood dry is honestly the bigger problem, autumn is a rainy season for me.  I don't like having blown snow all up in my splits either.

I hope linking to other sites isn't a big problem.

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