Solar Kiln Assistance

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by JackLeg

The plans I'm building from include 3 fans and a total of 6 vents, high and low. I fully realize that this is going to take some learning and experimenting, but, the one thing I have is time!

I did find the poly sheets at my local Lowes, so----

Again, thanks to all who are contributing and keep the ideas and opinions coming.

Jack I'm really out of my league here and like I said before, I was just sharing my own personal experiences. There is a government reg about drying lumber and lists kiln schedules for HD kilns per species. it schedules (in number of hours) periodic differing humidity levels and temperatures. In the beginning the humidity is high and the temperature is low. It's graduated like a stair step, humidity decreases and temperature increases over time. It's important to maintain these three (Temp / Humidity / Time) and there is not much margin of error either. Exceed either of these three and you risk excessive defect ether by under drying or over drying. Under drying defect is usually stain caused by mold or fungus, over drying is usually cup split check twist bow etc... Even when things go perfect You can expect some percentage of drying defect just because it's the nature of wood.

I have heard some people gloat about their solar kilns then I have heard other say they are worthless. How you maintain constant temps and humidity for any length of time in a a solar kiln, without supplemental heat and a humidification system, so you can stay within the maximum allowable moisture content loss per day I have not a clue. Weather is nowhere near constant, nor is day and night for that matter.

Like I said please keep us posted, I'm very interested to see someone get some consistent results out of a solar kiln. I still stand firm in my belief that they would be best for polishing off air dried lumber I don't think I would throw a load of green fresh off the log lumber in one, that's when lumber is most susceptible to excessive defect cause by drying to fast.

Later dude and the best of luck to you, sound exciting and if you can figure out how to get it to work consistently please don't keep it to yourself. Share with the rest of us - I would really like to build one myself one day but there are to many unknowns to justify the time and expense. I could pop a few 1000 for a small Nyle DH unit and know I could archive consultant results after I learned how to use it.

Thanks

[woodydiver]

hello jack,
if you would like some help with the fan and vent control i am willing to experiment with you. I have some drives and other controls we can use.
i am going to build a solar kiln sooner or later , but my gargage comes first. just let me know if you are interested.
thanks,
curt

[JackLeg]

Originally Posted by woodydiver

hello jack,
if you would like some help with the fan and vent control i am willing to experiment with you. I have some drives and other controls we can use.
i am going to build a solar kiln sooner or later , but my gargage comes first. just let me know if you are interested.
thanks,
curt

Curt: You bet I'm interested. If you want to PM a phone number, I'll give you a ring some night and we'll discuss what I'm doing. THANKS!