Call me crazy but I have an idea..

[roberthathaway7]

I want my firewood to hurry the heck up and dry. I think I know how. Long story short- my family retails garden plants and now I have a small spare greenhouse..here's my plan...

I stack my firewood in an open field on pallets forming isles for people to drive through and pick up in pre-determined sized stacks. I think I can take this greenhouse and make a sort of mobile kiln of sorts. there are large portals on each side that you can make your own doors for, which I would make out of wood frames and greenhouse plastic. I open both doors, I roll (i will have attached wheels to the bottom of the greenhouse frame to mobolize) the greenhouse over 5 or six stacks of wood, I shut the doors, and I leave it there for two weeks of 95 degree weather. Here is where I need some input.

This is the shaky theory- I realize that air movement is just as if not more important than heat, so I plan to put on one of these what-i-call whirly vents that air out attics, on top of the greenhouse so that heat will pull the air up and out, hopefully taking moisture with it. I assume there will be enough air seeping through the cracks at the bottom of the greenhouse to circulate air from the bottom up. One beautiful thing about this is, that on a rainy day the vent will not be pulling air in or pushing air out because lack of sunlight/ heat should slow the cirulation of air.

So does this sound like a crackpot idea or what? I like it. I'm also at that age to try things and fail miserably almost every time, trying to put myself through college cutting firewood lol. Let me know what you think???

I'll take tips, pointers, thumbs up, shoot downs, anything

 

[roberthathaway7]

ok I might have just shot myself down a little.. I just realized that I will also be encapturing a certain amount of grass within this greenhouse. Hopefully it wouldn't wick enough moisture to null the drying

 

[rtrsam]

If you do a little searching on this site you'll find probably several dozen scenarios for "best" ways to dry wood in a hurry. Although I msut say, I don't believe I have heard the concept of a mobile woodshed being moved over piles of wood before.

Prehaps if your greenhouse on wheels has a bit of gap around the bottom of it, and especially if you can configure it so that most of the air discharged from your roof vents must be drawn up through the stacked woof inside (as opposed to air being drawn up inside the walls of the greenhouse between the wall and the stacked wood), it would probably be pretty effective.

Honestly, I don't understand how wood seasons at all in climates where summertime humidities run on the high side...

 

[rmihalek]

You need dry heat. If you can find a way to burn the culls/scraps from your firewood operation inside the green house, that's a start. Raise the temp in the green house >120 degrees, and you'll get some dry wood in a couple weeks. Maybe set up an old 55 gallon barrel-type wood stove amongst (but not too close to) your stacks and then let the green house serve as the vessel to contain the heat.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

The amount of moisture that comes up through the ground is huge - and you need to get enough air movement to get that moisture out of the air in addition to the moisture from the wood itself.

You could improve your results if you put a piece of plastic on the ground under each pallet. I always place some plastic sheeting on the ground before I put a pallet down to stack wood.

 

[roberthathaway7]

Great guys keep the discussion coming!

RSTRAM, i'm right there with you on the crack at the bottom to circulate air, I just cant figure out how I would get the air tocome up anywhere but the sides, although it may depend on the direction my wood is stacked relative to the direction of the greenhouse/space between the walls and wood..

RMIHALEK, that does sound like a great idea..especially at night or on a cloudy rainy day to keep the moisture/cool air at bay. I could just burn a bunch of scrap cottonwood chunks/etc I get from my property service business. Also- the temperature on a closed greenhouse on a sunny 90 degree day will easily reach 120, but you're right it's the moisture that is key

ONEOLDBANJO- good call on the vapor barrier idea. I actually plan to have gravel out there soon so maybe that would help also. luckily i also have good drainage here

 

[smokinj]

It would be no differnt than klin drying as said before you need dry heat and a way to contain it....120 degrees for a couple weeks and the the month of aug.and sep. will take care of the rest. Good luck I do this in my shop to klin dry slabs...

 

[Wood Doctor]

Crushed Rock?

The amount of moisture that comes up through the ground is huge - and you need to get enough air movement to get that moisture out of the air in addition to the moisture from the wood itself.

You could improve your results if you put a piece of plastic on the ground under each pallet. I always place some plastic sheeting on the ground before I put a pallet down to stack wood.

The plastic sheeting would seal the moisture in the ground from coming up. But, if the wood is not covered, you need to drain the rain away. My wood is not covered and dries much faster when stacked above a 3" layer of crushed rock. When it rains, no puddles form underneath and the water dissipates or evaporates faster.