Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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and black solar collector. Another option would be to
paint two coats of aluminum paint for vapor barrier
and then a third coat of black paint to absorb the solar
energy. Some examples of sealers are shown in Figure 3.
The current design has large doors at the rear of the struc-
Figure 4. Rear view of kiln showing access doors.
ture for loading, unloading, and checking kiln samples
(Figure 4). Previous versions of the dryer had two access
doors at each end (east and west walls) to permit periodic
examination of the lumber and measurement of moisture
content. The previous version also had a roof hinged to
the north wall and the south wall hinged to the floor. This
permitted the roof to be raised and south wall lowered
to facilitate loading and unloading. You may wish to add
these features to the current design. Regardless of the
design, vents should be added to the north wall. The vents
can be as simple as framed openings with a small piece
of plywood to cover the vent when not needed or you
can purchase a commercial vent similar to those used for
basement and crawlspace ventilation.
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Operation of a Solar Dryer are used to measure the moisture content each day
and determine the daily rate of moisture loss. This loss
should be compared with the safe drying rate for that
Preparing the Lumber species (see Table 1 for hardwoods). If the drying rate
Green lumber should be end coated with rubber based is too fast, then it may be necessary to block off part of
basement sealer or other commercial end coating such as the collector, or else turn the fans off and open the vents
ANCHORSEAL® (wax based) immediately after sawing during the hottest part of the day.
to prevent large losses from end checks and splits. End
coating is not too effective when applied after the lumber While the solar kiln described in this publication is
has begun to dry. Lumber should then be stacked in the designed to dry red oak without checking, you will still
kiln with a 1-foot clearance on either side of the stack want to monitor the drying process. Monitoring the
(between the north and south walls and the stack) to per- moisture loss and quality of the wood during the drying
mit adequate air circulation, and in neat layers, separated process will help you to maximize the efficiency of the
by stickers or spacers running perpendicular to the lum- solar kiln. Lumber should be dried to the maximum safe
ber’s length (Figure 6). The lumber in each layer must be drying rate. The safe drying rate refers to the moisture loss
uniform in thickness. If the sawn lumber is quite variable in one day, not the average loss over several days. Table 1
in thickness, one or both faces of the boards should be lists the safe drying rate for common 1-inch thick North
planed before drying to obtain a uniform thickness and American hardwoods. Softwoods are typically able to dry
reduce warping during drying. Green lumber should be at a much faster rate and moisture content losses above 10
stacked with stickers quickly after sawing or it may begin percent per day are quite common.
to stain, particularly in the warmer months.
Table 1. Safe Drying Rates for North American Hardwoods
Stickers used between each layer of wood are typically
Maximum rate of
3/4-inch thick, 1-1/4 inches wide, and as long as the lum- MC loss per day (%)
ber pile is wide. It is important that stickers are uniform
Species 1-inch thick 2-inch thick
in thickness and kept dry. Stickers are placed perpendic-
ular to the boards’ length, every 12 to 18 inches along Ash, white 10.4 4.1
the lumber’s length. The stickers are placed directly above Beech 4.5 1.8
the stickers in the lower layers. If the lumber is of varying
lengths, shorter boards are staggered by alternating them Birch, yellow 6.1 2.4
from one end to the other with the longest pieces always Cherry 5.8 2.3
on the outside edges. The ends of every board should be Elm, American 10.4 4.1
supported with a sticker. The stickers hold the lumber flat,
preventing warp, while allowing air to circulate through Maple, Soft (Sapwood) 13.8 5.5
the pile and dry the lumber. Maple, Hard 6.5 2.6
While the lumber is being stacked or prior to loading the Oak, Red Upland 3.0 1.5
kiln with prestacked lumber, several sample boards must Oak, Red Lowland 1.0 – 2.5 -
be cut (see Procedures for Cutting and Using Sample
Oak, White Upland 2.5 1.0
Boards). Periodically checking these samples will allow
you to determine the moisture content of the lumber in Gum (Red Gum) 5.3 2.1
the kiln and observe for possible drying defects. After the Tupelo (Black Gum) 10.9 4.3
lumber is stacked in the kiln, lay a final layer of stickers
down and then a black-painted sheet of plywood to act Walnut 8.2 5.5
as a cover and collector. Yellow-poplar 13.8 5.5
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for interior uses should be dried to a moisture content ratio works well for 1-inch oak, but may provide too
of 6 percent to 8 percent. This will limit the amount of much heat for 2-inch or thicker oak and too little heat
dimensional changes that would occur when the wood for pine and other fast drying woods. To dry pine or
is processed and in service. Lumber that is to be used other fast drying woods, you can reduce the amount of
for exterior purposes is usually dried to 12 percent to lumber in the kiln, thus increasing the collector to wood
15 percent moisture content. Softwood lumber used for volume ration, or increase the collector size. To reduce
framing is usually dried to 19 percent. the collector, cover part of the collector with opaque
material.
The best method to reduce the drying rate in the solar
dryer is to cover up part of the collector. Shutting the fans One modification found in tropical countries is to
off will also reduce the drying rate but may result in tem- make a clear south wall. This is not incorporated in the
peratures high enough to melt the plastic fan blades. design presented here since there is a significant tradeoff
between the area of the collector and the area of insu-
It is impractical to weigh every board in the dryer to lated, solid walls. The larger the collector size, the more
measure the moisture loss rate, and electric meters are solar energy collected, however, the greater the heat loss
not accurate above 30 percent moisture content. There- in cold weather. For most North American latitudes, the
fore, use the sample board method to determine the heat loss through the clear south wall negates the greater
moisture content of lumber in the kiln. This method energy gain that a clear south wall would provide. For
uses short, carefully chosen sample boards sawn from this reason, the solar kiln is designed without a clear
larger pieces of lumber and these sample boards are south wall.
weighed periodically and estimated moisture contents
are calculated. Since the wettest or slowest drying lumber If you want to make your solar kiln entirely solar pow-
in the kiln has the highest risk of splitting and cracking, ered, there are several options available. The two most
the sample boards should represent this kind of lumber. common are to 1) use a solar collector and converter to
Typically, samples should be cut from the most recently solar power the current fans or 2) use a solar collector
cut wood, the widest and thickest boards, lumber with to replace the fans with DC powered fans. Both options
the most heartwood, and boards that are quartersawn. will significantly increase the cost of building a solar kiln.
At the time of construction of the current kiln, powering
The temperature inside the kiln will increase during the the three fans with solar energy increased the construc-
day until it peaks at mid afternoon and then cools at tion costs by one-half to two-thirds. For more informa-
night. At night, as the air in the kiln cools, the relative tion on solar powering of fans, see References.
humidity will increase significantly. The increase in
humidity at night is beneficial in reducing or relieving
the drying stresses that developed during the day. The Procedures for Cutting and Using
result of drying during the day and increasing humidity Sample Boards
at night helps minimize drying stress. Fans should be
turned off at night for the same reason. 1. Select a few boards from the pack of lumber that rep-
resent the slowest drying material. This would be the
There are two simple controls that can make operating widest, thickest, and highest moisture-content boards
your solar kiln easier. A simple timer can control the and those boards that contain the most heartwood or
fan operation. The timer can be set to come on at mid are quartersawn.
morning as the temperature in the kiln increases and to
shut the fans off in the evening as the temperatures cool. 2. Cut a 24- to 30-inch sample that is free of knots and
A humidistat can be used to override the timer for the at least 12 inches from the end of the board. Then cut
fans. The humidistat is used to keep the fans off during two 1-inch sections from the sample board as shown
days when it is raining, causing high humidity, which is in Figure 7. Make sure to number the sections and
detrimental to the drying process. sample board.
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4. End coat the sample board with a rubber-based
sealing compound or two coats of aluminum paint
(Figure 8). Now, weigh the sample board and record
weight on sample (an accuracy of 0.1 pound).
wet weight
%MC = – 1 x 100
oven dry weight
wet weight
current %MC = – 1 x 100
est. OD weight
References
End of Lumber Virginia Tech Solar Kiln
Plans, construction, and operational information, www.
woodscience.vt.edu/about/extension/vtsolar_kiln.asp
Over 1" 2'6
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Solar Powered Fans Appendix
Creative Energy Technologies Inc List of Materials and Estimated Cost (2005 dollars)
2872 State Rte 10
Summit, NY 12175 USA SOLAR LUMBER DRYER - LIST OF MATERIALS
www.cetsolar.com/solar.htm CONSTRUCTION LUMBER
Dimensions (inch)
Green Home: Environmental Store Length (feet) and type Qty
850 24th Ave. 8 2 x 4 No. 2 58
San Francisco, CA 94121
10 2 x 4 No. 2 14
Fax: 415-752-6389
14 2 x 4 No. 2 12
www.greenhome.com/products/appliances/ 14 2 x 8 No. 2 2
solar_power/fan000001
8 4 x 4 Treated 6
8 2 x 8 Treated 15
Lumber Drying 14 2 x 8 Treated 5
These publications can be downloaded from www.fpl. 112
fs.fed.us. PLYWOOD
3/4 Ext. Grade Plywood (floor) 4 pcs
Simpson, W.T., ed. 1991. Dry Kiln Operator’s Manual.
United States Department of Agriculture. Forest Service. 3/8 Ext. Grade Plywood (walls) 20 pcs
Forest Products Laboratory. Madison, Wis. COLLECTOR MATERIAL
26” x 12’ PVC panel 7 pcs
Denig, J., Wengert, E.M., and Simpson, W.T. 2000.
Drying Hardwood Lumber. United States Department INSULATION MATERIAL
of Agriculture. Forest Service. Forest Products Labora- Square feet of insulation material
tory. General Technical Report. FPL-GTR-118. (R11 3-1/2x15) 300 sq ft
www.ext.vt.edu
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107 7/16
98 5/16
26 1/4
7 1/4
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24 1/4
7 1/4
70 1/2
107 7/16
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