Kiln Drying Firewood. Day 4

Kiln drying a new load of fresh wood. All heated by my outdoor wood boiler. HeatMaster g 10,000
Here’s the perfect moisture meter to know if your firewood is ready.
Tesmen TWM-186 Pin Style Moisture Meter
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[@user-sp6ki8ty2j]

Great video. As you add more totes of wood it will naturally take longer to dry. An increase in internal air flow will help reduce the time. A consistent air flow will help your quality control. The larger exhaust fan is likely to be a help also. Especially if you hook it to a switch you can control the parameters. At some point you may want to toy with the idea of introducing outside air while venting to help lower humidity quickly, if and when you do make sure you have control of that port as well. The heat stored in the wood will help recover the temperature inside the kiln quickly. This has been a fascinating project to watch. You and yours have a great day.

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah I knew it may take longer with the current set up. I have an automatic air damper on the way and will install that inline with the exhaust fan. I noticed when I open the door the exhaust fan blows a lot harder so if I introduce fresh air the exhaust should creat a nice draft and suck out the air inside the kiln more efficiently. Hopefully that will help lower moisture and help raise the temp as well. In theory that should be the case.

[@Kayla-pg9ld]

Thank you for the update. Can’t wait to see the final results.

[@Treestofirewood]

Moisture levels are looking good so far.

[@a.l.l.firewood8883]

These videos are great keep up the good work, you are definitely putting in the work eventually it will pay off and it will be exactly what you want. Take care

[@Treestofirewood]

It’s definitely all a learning curve. And I know every kiln cycle is different because the wood is different and moisture. But if I can fine tune the system then it will be awesome.

[@smorefirewood]

Very interesting.

[@fricknjeep]

interesting watching it come along , john

[@Treestofirewood]

Yea it’s going as expected. Another day to go.

[@a.l.l.firewood8883]

The only thing I can suggest is maybe a inlet valve that would open when the fan comes on it would make it easier for the fan to clear out the moisture faster then it might cycle for you without changing the fan out. I’m thinking of something gravity that would open when it starts pulling vacuum then when the fan shuts off it would close and not let the heat out. Also it probably needs to be on the opposite end so it would help evacuate the moisture. Take care

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah I have plans in motion. Exhaust fan swap out here shortly. But maybe not. I have something I can do to see if un receiving the air flow helps exhaust faster.

[@kendriedger151]

Another thought...with your existing fan in place...maybe make 4 inch and a half or 2 inch round holes cut with a metal hole saw blade...you might get a fair bit more draw from your existing fan...if the holes end up being too big...just cover then a bit ! Maybe keep the holes a foot from the bottom to keep out potential little 4 legged critters !😊

[@Treestofirewood]

Where I have the dehu connected I may put a different type of spatter on it to where that can open up and let air in. That would be a better option. To where I can close it if I choose to do that.

[@jesusistdereinzigeweg5290]

I dont know much about drying wood but I know something about pulling out water out of the air.. maybe you can install a air condition.. because it sucks out water in cars why not in your container? And second you can try to dry the air and push it in so you not loose so much heat? Like in houses where you have a heat exchange system and maybe funny but we work with lime without cement.. it pulls out water out of the air.. not out of container but maybe you did not know .. church walls was painted with white lime it least hundreds of years it has no problem with water it work with it.. the next.. i have no idea but we have this kind of blower heater in our company and the heat goes everywhere so many builds floor heating so that the heat goes at the important spot.. so i hope you get in dry some day in 3 days for us heat out of wood is the best choice ever your job is very important. God bless

[@Treestofirewood]

I do have one of those. But problem is they don’t work at those high temps. Around 120 and below they work but best temp for those are around 80 degrees. But for firewood hotter the better with airflow to heat the wood so the water comes out of the fibers and into the air and out of the kiln. There’s many ways to dry wood. This is just what I found works best for my set up.

[@jesusistdereinzigeweg5290]

@@Treestofirewood Ok, thats a problem.. I have somebody drying wood in my town .. maybe I ask him how he solve this.. but often they answer.. oh there this unit... it cost only 10000 .. for me this is not an answer.. but so it is..

[@ElijahPerrin80]

When I was a "gardener" we used larger fans to remove air than needed and with a rheostat controlled the speed mostly to extend the life of the fan and reduce heating or cooling, we also used furnace heat exchangers to warm up the intake air with the exhaust air but humidity may be an enemy. Where is your air intake?

[@Treestofirewood]

I don’t have any intake. I may redesign some stuff and give it an electronic air damper to only open and close when exhausting.

[@richarddabkowski2896]

Rather than a new fan, maybe an inlet at opposite side of boiler to allow air in rather than it just creeping in from any air gaps in the kiln. Maybe get one of those dryer vent covers so it's closed unless Tha exhaust fan starts pulling a vacuum on your kiln.

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah I’m going to put an air inlet in. Only concern is that it brings in to cold of air to often and I can’t get kiln up to temp. But I’m going to put air inlet in eventually and the bigger exhaust fan in no matter what.

[@kracticuspotts9686]

I know you have the power vent out. Do you have a inlet vent or is it pulling vacuum or just from gaps in the door seal?

[@Treestofirewood]

I do not have an inlet vent. So it is more or less vacuum or if there is any air leaks. Current set up works just looking to improve set up.

[@ChuckShaull-qj4um]

So if you put the bigger fan in and it pulls to much heat out can you put a switch on the temperature or the humidity so the fan shuts off until the heat or humidity gets back to where the fan will come back on

[@Treestofirewood]

I have the exhaust fan on a controller now. I can program it to turn on or off based on the humidity % and whatever differential I want. But I think I’m going to add an intake vent that will open and closed at the same time fan turns on and see how that works.

[@dropshot1967]

If you think about buying a bigger container, you could consider buying an insulated container like these refrigerated ones.

[@Treestofirewood]

If I were to buy a larger one I would definitely get a refer container. One less step I would have to do. But trouble is getting that large of one in and being able to move it around. That’s the struggle.

[@BeavertonFamilyFirewood]

How many cfm are you pulling out? What is the new fan cfm rating?

[@Treestofirewood]

I don’t remember the cfm on either fan. But once I get the other one on site I will compare them both.

[@brandonknowles99]

I would love to see a 40ft container

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah maybe one day. If so it wouldn’t be till late summer

[@rawwetzel]

Need a air to air heat exchanger and heat the shop with that.

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah true. But I do have a heater in the garage but when the kiln is running even on the coldest days it will stay above 50 in there. Which is great.

[@user-te2ev7yy7g]

Do you double stack your to tote or single ?

[@Treestofirewood]

I never double stack but this time I double stacked 1 tote.

[@paulweakley3440]

Whatcha using that other exhaust fan for 😉?

[@Treestofirewood]

At the moment nothing. I was going to use it for an exhaust fan above my boiler but now I’m going to use it for the kiln and use the one on the kiln for the boiler.

[@kendriedger151]

Im thing what you were saying...but it seems like you are trying to talk yourself out of !!!! Leave the small fan...take out a little consistency instead of too much at a time !! Anyway i guess you will know what works best after you put in the bigger fan !!😊

[@Treestofirewood]

Yeah I hear what you’re saying. I will see what i come up with.

[@TheWoodSnob]

I believe you said 7 face cords, you're selling for $1,000? That's crazy you can only get 140/ face cord for kiln dried wood after all that work.

[@Treestofirewood]

Customer is only getting 6 of the totes. So it’s a little better than that. If the wood was more of a specialty wood then it would be much higher.

[@TheWoodSnob]

@Treestofirewood I was wondering about both those issues. How much more do you sell your premium for?

[@Treestofirewood]

Oak hickory or cherry I charge 30% more