Fire wood Kilns

[Firewolf]

Anbody used an insulated trailer for a firewood kiln?
I am going to use an outdoor wood furnace for drying / and i have been told that a modine heater or exchanger is the way to go / any thoughts would be great. :monkey:

 

[ericjeeper]

Only one question

Why?

 

[cjcocn]

Why?

I'd guess that he wants to cut green, kiln dry it, and sell it as firewood within a very short period of time for a quicker return on his time and effort.

Is that the reason, Firewolf?

...... unfortunately I do not have any suggestions for the original question as I let time dry it for me.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

I've thought about that before. I've seen that woodmizer sells that kiln for dimension lumber, but I've always thought those would work for firewood too. I've never thought about putting it in a trailer though. If I am ever to do something like that, I might buy a cheaper insulated quonsut hut where I could store a much larger quanity of wood and be able to rig something up to dry it quickly like in a regular lumber kiln. I think the only way to make something like this profitable is if you can easly get in the building (maybe conveyor?) and a easy way to get it out and into a truck(ideally a good size bucket loader.) If I was guaranteed to sell this much wood and had the money to pay for it, I might look into this in the future.

 

[blackdoggy]

Look back a few pages I just posted this exact same question.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

After more thought, maybe a big sized firewood kiln is not the answer. After factoring in the cost to heat a building like this, as well as big fans or whatever to constantly circulate the air, you would have to be selling a lot of wood to make this thing worthwhile. Even if you did get all the right equipment, the cost of electricity and heating oil or heating source would probably still kill you.

 

[nicklt040]

was he talkin about a moblie home or a container trailer(8 wheel). I know of two local mills that use containers with fans. Im not sure how they control the humidity.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

Looking on the internet, there was a guy who dried his firewood in a storage container, he said it dried it from 50-20% MC in like 260 hours. I should have saved the link, I'll see if I can find it again. Here's an idea, just rent out like 15 of those temperature controlled storage units, and jack the heat up. What would the people running it say when there is skidsteers and dump trucks running a firewood operation going on?
Just kidding, but that would be kind of cool if money was not an object.

 

[Ford's Lawncare]

Here's that site, http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fplrn254.pdf

You'd probably be the only guy in your area offering Kiln Dried Firewood

I have seen one guy in the newspaper around me offering KD Firewood. Last fall he was selling it for $275 a cord while regular seasoned firewood was going for about$225. I should have called him up to ask what he has for a setup.

 

[Firewolf]

Container

was he talkin about a moblie home or a container trailer(8 wheel). I know of two local mills that use containers with fans. Im not sure how they control the humidity.

I'm Talking about an insulated Container / quick in and quick out is what I am after. only trying to dry about 7 cords at a time.

 

[Firewolf]

I'd guess that he wants to cut green, kiln dry it, and sell it as firewood within a very short period of time for a quicker return on his time and effort.

Is that the reason, Firewolf?

...... unfortunately I do not have any suggestions for the original question as I let time dry it for me.

Yep Thats the reason!

 

[IGR]

Chomper for sale

Anbody used an insulated trailer for a firewood kiln?
I am going to use an outdoor wood furnace for drying / and i have been told that a modine heater or exchanger is the way to go / any thoughts would be great. :monkey:

Hi
Do you still have your chomper for sale? If so could you please supply me with details also did it do a good job of cutting fire wood for you?

 

[IGR]

Chomper

Anbody used an insulated trailer for a firewood kiln?
I am going to use an outdoor wood furnace for drying / and i have been told that a modine heater or exchanger is the way to go / any thoughts would be great. :monkey:

You can reach me direct at [email protected]

 

[sperho]

Firewood kiln: An all black metal building with a little ventilation built out in the open to receive full sun in the summer. I would imagine the temperature inside that building would dry whatever is in there pretty quick.

 

[cabinman]

posted

Ive posted on this subject before, years ago with very little response, many many years ago I was involved in turning the timber in a home made kilin, barn style,..I later in life bought a refregerated trailer, totaly insulated,...sold it a few years later, then got involved in processing fire wood, and timber off the mill,...and allways wondered why not use a insulated trailer for a Klin??, I also posted several times about usiong the GREEN house to dry wood out,.. Direct sun light and controled ventelation, things can get pretty hot in there,. and man can control the heat and air circulation,.. so wood this be a good kilin or not,????, Eric

 

[sperho]

I also posted several times about usiong the GREEN house to dry wood out,.. Direct sun light and controled ventelation, things can get pretty hot in there,. and man can control the heat and air circulation,.. so wood this be a good kilin or not,????, Eric

Yes. You need heat and airflow to dry wood.

 

[seadrift]

firewood kilns

google search firewood drying kilns and see what u come up with. It was a pretty nice site that i found a while ago. You can season up 6 to 7 cord
in 3 to 5 days, they used an outside wood boiler.

 

[blackdogon57]

google search firewood drying kilns and see what u come up with. It was a pretty nice site that i found a while ago. You can season up 6 to 7 cord
in 3 to 5 days, they used an outside wood boiler.

Sure - you can season in 5 days but it takes a huge OWB - at least 500,000 BTU . If you run a 500K OWB for five days wide open you will burn a cord or two of wood easy. I have a CB 6048. It's about the size you would need . It consumes huge amounts of wood with a heavy load on it. The fans that you need to run for air circulation inside the kiln consume lots of hydro. We estimated the cost just for hydro would be $250 per week to run such a kiln here in Ontario. We currently sell air dried wood for 300-400 per cord and struggle to make decent $$. We had a good look at the kiln concept a couple of years back and decided it woud be very tough to turn a profit.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Sure - you can season in 5 days but it takes a huge OWB - at least 500,000 BTU . If you run a 500K OWB for five days wide open you will burn a cord or two of wood easy. I have a CB 6048. It's about the size you would need . It consumes huge amounts of wood with a heavy load on it. The fans that you need to run for air circulation inside the kiln consume lots of hydro. We estimated the cost just for hydro would be $250 per week to run such a kiln here in Ontario. We currently sell air dried wood for 300-400 per cord and struggle to make decent $$. We had a good look at the kiln concept a couple of years back and decided it woud be very tough to turn a profit.

Are your figures 500,000 BTU's total to 'boil off" the moisture in 6-7 cords. Or do you mean 500,000 BTU's per hour for the 5 days drying the wood.

500,000 BTU,s per hour seems quite extreme to get firewood to below 20% moisture in 5 days.

Kiln dried firewood should call a premium price payable by people with premium budgets. The average homeowner isn't going to be your best customer. Firewood is more of a service than a commodity. If 50% MC greenwoodbrings X amount and 20%-25% MC seasoned wood brings 2X amount then bone dry 10% MC firewood should bring more. I don't know that it would be profitable for the guy trying to cut wood one week and sell it as 'seasoned' wood the next but to offer it as a choice to get seasoned wood or kiln dried wood for a little more some might go for it knowing that it is going to be easier to light and burn cleaner.

I think I could heat a 14'X14'X8' well insulated building filled with cord wood to 220 degrees for 20-30 hours using less then a third of a cord. AND make it profitable.

 

[blackdogon57]

Cost to run kiln

Global Energy is one of the companies that we looked at. You should have a look at their website - lots of good info and pictures there even if you plan to build your own. I was wrong about the boiler they recommend. It is actually bigger than my 6048 which is rated at 500K per hour max. CB doesn't list the BTU on their website for the 7260 or the pallet burner (which is what you woud need), but I know it is higher than 500K. If you look at the ratings on the heating coils on that website the max on each is 290K per hour and there are 4 coils for on the kiln. If you find a way to generate that kind of energy using 1/3 of a cord of wood then please share it with us. I know when I have my 320K btu pool heater gong for 2 or 3 days straight I burn half a cord of wood - no kidding.