I'm in the process of drying my first ever load of only Poplar. Most of the 800 bf load is 4/4. This is the smallest kiln charge I've run. I usually try to fill it to the 1800 bf capacity of the box. The stuff went in fresh cut green with end sealer on it. MC was about 65%
In the 5 days it's been in the kiln, I've not been able to get relative humidity up to recommended amounts. At 90° the RH wouldn't go above 41%. I raised the temp to 110° and RH went down to 27%. Last night I raised the temp to 120° and now he RH is 11%. The 4/4 boards are measuring around 8% MC.
There are no air leaks in the kiln and everything seems to be working OK. My last charge of 1800 bf of Red Oak dried OK and right on schedule. This stuff appears to have dried very fast and I could do nothing to slow it down. Should Poplar dry this fast?
