# homemade firewood kilm



## Little Monkey (Dec 20, 2008)

hi i was thinking of making a homemade kilm for drying firewood so as to shorten the turnaround time to perhaps 3 months ?? for top quality firewood.
i was going to modify a 40ft shipping container to have a heating system in a false floor run by an old log burning "wetback" boiler, i was wondering if anyone had experience with kilms or some advice as to if it will work well or not, :monkey:


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## Rftreeman (Dec 20, 2008)

sounds like an idea to me but you might want to ask it in the firewood forum I'm sure someone over there can help you.


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## drmiller100 (Dec 20, 2008)

i've been pondering on this for years.

The container has been done and for sure can work.

One of my thoughts is to get a steel or plastic pipe, 3 or 4 inch diameter. Figure out how to get a bunch of 1/2 inch holes in it.

Lay it on the ground, then throw a huge pile of firewood on top of it.

Then cover the firewood with clear visqueen to gather the suns energy.

Then use a shop vac to suck the air from under the visqueen, push it through a small wood stove to get it hot, then pump it into the 4 inch pipe so it blows up through the wood.

If a guy did it right, I bet the water would condense and run down the visqueen and dry out pretty quick.


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## Little Monkey (Dec 21, 2008)

in short what i was going to do was 1.cut off side of container and attach doors for access.
2. install false bottem with old radiators in the floor,
3. hook up old rads to a cirulation pump.
4.hook up system to old woodburning wetback boiler so as to heat rads.

it will work just how well ? i know nothing about kilms and was wondering
what is fundamentally important for them to work, and also roughly how quick it will season the timber ??:monkey:


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## Husky137 (Dec 21, 2008)

A properly running firewood kiln should produce dry wood in a week or two depending on factors like insualtion,ventilation,etc...


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## acer saccharum (Dec 22, 2008)

These guys claim 3-4 days in the kiln

http://www.treehuggerfarms.com/firewood.html


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## Rookie1 (Dec 22, 2008)

Sounds interesting. I am curious about energy usage. How much wood,oil or gas would it take to heat wood to dry. If not efficient it wouldnt be worth it.


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## cleanburn (Dec 22, 2008)

The biggest thing you need for a kiln is the fan. You need the fans to be blowing contantly to pull all the moisture away....I'd personally be surprised if it was worth the cost to someone who sells firewood....

A good kiln can dry wood in one to two weeks depending on if its a soft or hardwood and the size of the wood....


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## Ozzie (Dec 22, 2008)

A guy in California has plans for just such a set-up. He is Phil Jergenson and be contacted at [email protected]. He claims 2 months from green to good, but didn't say soft or hardwood. Could be either in California.


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## drmiller100 (Dec 22, 2008)

i ran the math on the process. it takes surprisinglyl little energy to heat up the firewood and make the moisture go away if you are going 24x7.

the big trick is going to be insulation to not lose all your heat and air flow to maintain optimal humidity.

the lumber kilns talk about having problems with too low of humidity, which means the lumber dries too quickly. 

as far as the cost of the heat, if you are drying firewood, i would think you probably have a source for some sawdust or at the very least some firewood to burn.


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## leon (Dec 22, 2008)

Little Monkey said:


> hi i was thinking of making a homemade kilm for drying firewood so as to shorten the turnaround time to perhaps 3 months ?? for top quality firewood.
> i was going to modify a 40ft shipping container to have a heating system in a false floor run by an old log burning "wetback" boiler, i was wondering if anyone had experience with kilms or some advice as to if it will work well or not, :monkey:



Save your time and money:

The professional folks who build and sell lumber kilns told me the best thing to do is use a plain dumb hot air furnace and heat the kiln that way- don't forget that the air has to circulate through the wood to dry it properly - over here they kiln dry prepackaged wood for the fireplace market- they dump it in metal baskets in a conventional fire wood kiln they already own and stack it 5 five in the baskets to dry it and kill the bugs and mold.




We have several folks selling prepackaged kiln kits stateside for the packaged market with a container, wood fired hot water pressurised boiler, fans, two wheel carts etc. for a lot of money. 

The big problem is air circulation as you cannot throw the wood on the floor and expect it to dry. 

Search for a solar firewood kiln on the web and you will find several of them

Stacking the firewood on hollow core concrete blocks and covering it with a water proof high quality tarp does wonders.

leon


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## Edmccabe (Dec 22, 2008)

A friend in Plainville, MA stacks his wood in a greenhouse attached to the room where his stove is located. The wood dries very quickly and is convenient to move to the stove.


Jonsenred 316
Jonsenred 2138
Jonsenred 490
Jonsenred 80


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## John Paul Sanborn (Dec 22, 2008)

You can make a solar kiln like a hothouse for starting seedlings. Something like the greenhouse mentioned above, but smaller and you put black plastic under the glass. Convection is supposed to be enough for circulation since the idea is to not use any energy but the sun.


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## Little Monkey (Dec 25, 2008)

good points thankyou, i never thought of a fan, as for running costs they would be nil with the wetback boiler, i have all the bits and pieces lying around so it will only cost time and as things are taking a nosedive here i will have lots of that. even if it takes ,, say 3 months to dry the timber i would be chuffed, its still better then 12 to 18 months, , if i could get it to season timber in 3 weeks i would be over the moon and could prob even rent it out to smaller firewood merchants ? 
on one reply someone said you dont want it to dry to quick ,, why ??
thanks again for all your imputs


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## KRS (Dec 25, 2008)

drmiller100 said:


> One of my thoughts is to get a steel or plastic pipe, 3 or 4 inch diameter. Figure out how to get a bunch of 1/2 inch holes in it.




Just use septic tank leach field pipe; it's large, plastic, and has holes....


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