The Forestry Forum

I have the opportunity to buy a used walk in freezer from some one at work. Not sure on detentions exactly but the guy told me it was roughly 12x10x 9 tall. I can get it pretty cheap 200$ and it's already disassembled and ready to put on a trailer. The walls floors and ceiling are all made of 4" thick panels of yellow foam with aluminum on each side. All pieces lock together. I know I would have to cut the roof and make the back wall into some kind of door. Maybe using the roof I take off to extend the length. Has any one here done this before? do y'all think it's a good idea to try? I'm sure I would have to do a lot of work but it would be super insulated from the get go. Maybe leave it whole and buy a small demuhidifaction  kiln like a nyle ? I don't know looking for what you guys think on it...
  I was going to start a solar kiln when done with The pole barn build (another thread aready started) and I'm thinking that this would be a good start. What do y'all think? Thanks.

I am considering building something about that size for a solar kiln.  I have looked at coolers, but have not found a good deal.  My plan would be to keep the cooler intact and build a solar collector on the side.  I would duct in the hot air with closable doors.  I could then close it off from the solar collector and heat it up to sterilize the wood. Here is a rough drawing of what I have planned.



 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/37117/IMG_6468~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1502159321)

Rather than a solar kiln, that might be better used as a chamber for a Nyle L53 dehumidification kiln.

I think that can work but it will probably take some fine tuning to get right.  Doing it like that would allow you to maximize the collector area.  You could also control the flow of heated air to suit your requirements.  You could still add a DH unit as well, initially or later on.

It's almost the perfect size for a Nyle L53.

I looked at the nyle L53 my concerns are that 1 it's not near as cheap and 2 it's a lot easier to mess up wood with dehumidification  (sp?) Kiln right. Maybe I'll just get it and build a solar kiln to get my toes wet then one day get the nyle. Haven't really been looking for a nyle but maybe I can find a used one... that would be great.

random idea. build a solar kiln for the heat part and use that box for the wood part. Have them connected now but in the future when you decide to go to a dehumdifier kiln then close the one wall up and you still have a solar kiln.