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Building a Nyle Kiln

Started by Sawdust Lover, December 17, 2013, 08:46:11 PM

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Sawdust Lover

What about maybe just spraying the walls? 150 degrees seems pretty hot. I hope I don't catch nothing on fire.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

At the peak of the roof, the temperature can approach 200 F when the fans are off.  Direct sunlight on a black, insulated surface can easily exceed 150 F.

Ignition temperature for wood is nominally around 450 F.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

WDH

If you line the chamber on the inside with 2" of rigid foam, seal the joints with high temp silicon caulk, then cover that with 1/2" of the foil backed rigid foam with joints staggered to the 2" foam, seal these joints with aluminum tape like that used to seal air ducts, then add your vapor barrier, then 1/2" of pressure treated plywood, that should help minimize heat loss thru the studs in the walls. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

scsmith42

One other thing that I did not see in your photo is that you will want at least two man doors into your kiln chamber - one on each side of the stack so that you can easily check the load (and if necessary fix any leaks in the baffling) during the drying process.

I've been told (but have not confirmed) that the best blend between cost and performance for insulation was to use a hybrid of spray foam and batts.  An inch or so of spray foam goes in first to seal everything up, and then the batts go behind it.  I think that this was also the point that C_Miller was making, and he has a great point about staggering the studs.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

I would suggest that rigid styrofoam boards  (also called blue boards or pink boards) would be the best insulation, as they are durable, won't sag, and will not absorb water.  If the interior is a sheet of plywood, the insulation should be cool enough to prevent melting or evaporation.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

Sawdust Lover

We got the roof on today and put up the beam that will hold the sliding door. Will start insulating and put up the framing to hold the fans this weekend. Will be adding another door on the side to be able to get to both sides of the kiln. Does anybody know what type of doors I should use or should I just build them. I'm not sure if a regular insulated door is enough.

  

 

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

A well insulated door is fine.  Heat loss through the frame can be large, so make sure you have a good fit, etc.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

Sawdust Lover

That's all I needed to hear! I will get some doors tomorrow. Thanks Gene.

YellowHammer

It sure is looking good. 
I'd like to mention that the door seals are absolutely critical.  They should be as air tight as possible.  Spare no effort making them right.  Also as the door moves and ages, the seals and gaskets need to inspected regularly. 

During normal compressor operation leaks will not be overly noticeable, because in many instances, the vents will be open anyway to allow excess heat to escape.

However, you will find how well the seals are working when its time to sterilize in the dead of winter using only the kW sucking heat strips, and when you compare your winter electricity bill to your summer bill. :D
YH
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

xlogger

Looking good so far, can wait till you get it done and I'll make the trip up. Keep the pictures coming, I like to get ideas for when I start. Ricky
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

Peter Drouin

I'm looking in to the L2oo, boy they don't give them away  :o
Did you guys get the door gasket kits?
And the moisture system for it to turn itself off when moisture content is reached? A lot of money for a kit, and I still have to make the box.  :D :D :D
Going to have to sell a lot of lumber to pay for that. :D :D But it does look like the next step.
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Sawdust Lover

O.K. So I got the kiln done and loaded it 2 days ago. Sorry no pictures yet it was 0 deg and snowing. I started by loading the kiln with 1300 bf of red oak that was down to 30%. It was so cold and the wood had seen a few below 0 nights I couldn't wait to get some heat in there. I shut the door and started the kiln to preheat by itself. Nothing was happening for 3 hours. After messing around with everything I found out that the kiln will not preheat until the drybulb is 32 deg. I had to hold the drybulb in my hand and that started heating the kiln. Once it got warm enough I could let it be. The temperature is now up to 105 with a target of 110 dry bulb and 98 wet bulb. It is really moist inside the chamber but the compressor has not yet turned on to get some of that water out. They told me at Nyle that this was normal. So I am happy that my chamber is working with tempartures being 20 deg below normal here in Virginia. I'm hoping all this works out, It's a pretty big investment!

WDH

Peter,

I got the door gasket kit.  Pricy, but I get a very good seal with the doors shut.  I shamelessly learned a lot from Yellowhammer and his experiences. 

I did not get the auto-vents (operate the vents manually), and I do not believe that the L53 comes with the auto-moisture detection. 

The L53 compressor will not come on and run until the dry bulb reaches 80 degrees in the kiln.  It will auto-shutdown if the dry bulb temp goes above 132 degrees.  I learned that the hard way. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Peter Drouin

Thanks, I have learned a lot from all you guys about this kiln. Now I have to plan.
I am going to put a addition on my woodworking shop this spring, Now I have to think how to fit the kiln in the works. I'm thinking on the south wall where it gets sun all day, Might help in the winter to keep the outside worm and not fight the ice and snow,[ melt a little on a nice day]
I have all the info from Nyle, Plans and all. :)
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

red oaks lumber

i run  a l 500 my kiln chamber is 32' wide i have 2 doors that swing out ea. door is 10 x 14 giving me a 28' opening.i change the load with my skidsteer, making the loading/unloading very easy.
i don't agree with always running your kiln at full cap. the cost per load is in direct relation to amount of time in the kiln, smaller load will get done sooner than a full load.this statment is for partilly air dried wood only.
i think the biggest cost of running a kiln in a cold weather climate is heat. i havent turned the elcetric heater on the kiln unit for years, i run a hotwater heat source which basically costs pennies to operate.on average we run the kiln 30 days a month or about 30 -50,000 b.f./ month and the electric cost to run the kiln is on average about $450/ month. if i was running the heater add another $900 / mo.
the next kiln charge i plan on taking some pictures showing my whole kiln setup.
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

WDH

I would really enjoy seeing some pics of the kiln operation. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YellowHammer

Quote from: WDH on January 31, 2014, 07:31:14 AM
I would really enjoy seeing some pics of the kiln operation. 

smiley_thumbsup

Especially the hot water setup
YH
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

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