Off the wall idea

WH_Conley · October 12, 2004, 07:56:25 PM

   I was thinking, my wife said she knew because of the steam coming out of my ears, about ultra cheap lumber drying.
   The idea came after we had hung our tobacco on scaffolds to cure, you wrap it in plactic anymore because of the labor problems of putting it in the barn.
   Could a person build a structure on a slope, quonsit type, covered with black plastic with platform, building, truck body or whatever to stack wood in and let the sun do the work. Would be kind of a cross between a solar kiln and drying shed. I have looked for hours for any information about this with no luck. Maybe someone has tried it and it did not work, if so I would like to find out before I go straining my brain any more. Don't want to use it all up. Don't ask for a diagram, I'm lucky to figure out how to turn this thing on.

Buzz-sawyer · October 12, 2004, 08:05:25 PM

I have planned to use schdl 40 plastic pipe to build the frame and do the same thing , of course it will work...

WH_Conley · October 12, 2004, 08:16:32 PM

I guess great minds think alike. That will probably questioned.
Where would a person start as far as vents, choke it down or let'er rip?

Buzz-sawyer · October 12, 2004, 08:30:54 PM

Heres the frame
The greenhouse consists of a wooden frame to which are attached bows of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. The bows hold up the clear plastic film covering

Buzz-sawyer · October 12, 2004, 08:57:28 PM

Makes a really inexpensive solar kiln!
8)

jimF · October 13, 2004, 10:32:48 AM

There are two types of PVC pipes. One for normal , cold water use and one for hot water use. The temperatures can get high enough in a solar kiln that you would want to use the hot water type. I have used split Tee PVC connections to hold sensors and found out the hard way about the two types.

Den Socling · October 13, 2004, 05:18:47 PM

Actually, there's PVC and CPVC. CPVC takes higher pressure at high temperature than most PVC. However, there's schedule 40 PVC and Schedule 80 PVC. Then there's 'drain' and 'pressure' Schedule 40. Just don't use 'drain'. That's really cheap stuff that can't handle heat or pressure.

Hokiemill · October 13, 2004, 08:04:06 PM

Conley - along similar lines me and some buddies had about 1500 bdft of green maple we needed to dry and I was calling around to find someone with a kiln. There is an older fellow here in town who still runs his circle mill and sells lumber in ones and twos to locals. I gave him a call to see what kind of kiln he had and whether he could dry our load. Turns out he couldn't - he has a very small kiln for only 100 or 200 bdft at a time. Here's where it gets funny/interesting. He uses an old station wagon as his kiln! I haven't seen it, but it explained it to me. Seats are either removed or layed flat. He slides the wood in from the back and closes everything up. When it gets hot enough, he cranks the windows down a bit to vent and regulate. Now that's a great study in using what you got.

WH_Conley · October 13, 2004, 08:54:24 PM

I heard of an old man who used a wood stove and a garage. People claimed it worked. I don't know how many years he experimented to get it right.

Fla._Deadheader · October 14, 2004, 01:45:02 PM

In Arkansas, I was gonna use a station wagon. We rolled it off a hill and Ed steered to the left. Hit a stump and rolled it up on it's side. :

:

Couldn't get the tailgate to open, so, we let the brush grow up around it. ;D :D :D :D

Patty · October 14, 2004, 01:57:50 PM

My shopteacher at school says he uses an old school bus. He just loads the wood in, and then cracks the windows as needed.

shopteacher · October 14, 2004, 02:08:07 PM

I'm planning to build one and use the forestry forum for my heater. Man, there's enough hot air here to dry anything. :D

Murf · October 14, 2004, 02:13:18 PM

It used to be common around here for people to have 'firewood drying sheds' but I'm sure it would work just as well for lumber.

They were just a shed-roof design but the back wall was non-existant, the roof went almost right to the ground. They were built so as to have the 'roof' facing due south. There were vents under the lower edge of the roof to let in fresh air and more at the top of the front wall under the eaves. Most had a steel roof painted black. Some were fancier with the black steel topped with every old window they could get ahold of to make a more efficient solar gain.