Crazy Ideas & Sawdust Drying!?

[aniakhenry]

I am interested in any ideas of how to dry sawdust especially if they involve an outdoor wood boiler. 

I live in the middle of remote Alaska and everything is very expensive to ship to me as I am off of the road system.  We just got 4 goats and I am needing dry sawdust to sack up for the winter.   I have been considering putting a dust collector on to my mill but it is still damp since I am milling green wood. 

I am considering ideas about how to dry sawdust using my outdoor wood boiler.  My first idea was to run a short loop off of my wood boiler to a long wooden box with a supply and return layed right in the bottom of the box.  I could then shovel the wet sawdust into the open long box and it should dry quickly shouldn't it.  Is there a risk of the dust igniting with up to 190 degree water running in the loop?

Then I started thinking of ways that would involve possibly a metal tank with a loop in it.  It would have to be cut in half and welded together so that it would be opened on the top, I would think.

I can't justify shipping bedding out here for these goats when I have tons of sawdust that I can use if I can figure out how to dry it.

Any Ideas?  Thanks to all who ponder the problem and offer suggestions. 8)

[amberwood]

do you have any roof space avail in the boiler room(assuming it is indoors)? you might find that bagging it, then stacking the bags on a mezzanine to allow air flow(stickers) might be enough, and free.

DTR

[thecfarm]

Would you get condension from running a loop through the sawdust?I suppose you mean the pipe touching the sawdust.I reallly don't know.Would you use more wood than what's it's worth to dry the sawdust?I myself would not want the wet sawdust to touch the pipeing.Make a false floor maybe.Good luck.

[BBTom]

I think Bioman put something about sawdust drying in the sawdust burner thread.   

I envision a long barrel (could be a piece of culvert or even a long wooden barrel you made yourself).  You put slats in the barrel to make sure the sawdust "rolls".  Put the barrel at a slight angle so the sawdust slowly feeds from top to bottom.  Then put an old radiator at the bottom of the barrel to heat the air going into the barrel.  A fan behind the radiator would speed things up.  Now rotate the barrel slowly to keep the sawdust mixing all the the way thru. 

[limbrat]

Im lazy when drying sawdust to mix with with lime and use for insulation in the cordwood walls of my shop extention. I just leveled the pile and pulled the top couple of inches off every coulpe of days with the back of a garden rake. Had more than i needed in a week.

[Sprucegum]

Limbrats method would work for you til you run out of sunshine 

After that the wooden box with the hot pipe should work for small amounts each day. I don't think 190 degrees will ignite on its own but I would sure keep an eye on it. You will want to stir regularly anyway.

Them goats will learn to look forward to fresh bedding hot off the pipe  ;D

[jack]

hey, sounds like your on the right path,  Heat transfer.......thru a exhaust pipe,  pipe with in a pipe,,,,,,sawdust can be blown, or augered........gravity too  thru the heated chamber of the exhaust.  Even a culvert pipe with a exhaust pipe in the middle of it.......would heat up enough to get the moisture out. 

Some of the canerys have old augers with heater jackets around the outside,  heated fluid (RADIATOR JUICE) can be pumped in and heat the auger to a toasty heat to dry the dust.

one fella,  uses a BIG AIR COMPRESSOR>>>>>>.small nozzle, creates lots of heat......then blows the sawdust thru a chamber to heat and move the sawdust to the end of the pipe,  and then into the container....   
DUST IS EXPLOSIVE>>>>>so be careful......

what part of Alaska are you in?  MY son  (BOY WONDER) is commerical fishing on N. Kodiak island..  haveing the time of his life.

JACK