Hi Archie. I'm from the Czech Republic. We always used a wood stove in the mountains to heat the house. I went to the forest for wood, we let it dry naturally for two years and then it was cut and chopped and prepared for heating. It was hard work 😏. Now I live in the north of Scotland and the technology is different. I really enjoy watching your videos, it just warms me, like a real wood stove. 👍👍👍
Thanks, that sounds amazing! I do love preparing wood with an axe especially when it’s your own form of heating! Nothing better than having properly seasoned wood burner efficiently in your stove making the hard work worth it!
the air will have a lower relative humidity the hotter it gets, air at 10 degrees and 100 degrees have different ability to absorb moisture. relative humidity shows how much of the theoretical max at that given temperature the air is at. so temperature is king! i would consider electric controls to direct the air to one container at a time and cycle back and forth turning on ventilation fans when the hot air stops.
Hi Archie, I know its not an exact science but I have also noticed that the outside air temp/moisture and type of wood effect the moisture readings. I have now started to 'sweat' the logs for the 6hrs so they absorb the heat and turn the extractors on after that, sometimes first thing in the mornings as well if the burner burnt its self out overnight. All the best
Couple fans in the middle, lower left and then a couple up top on the right side. Parallel to each other but one side set high one side set low, this will act as a wind tunnel with the in and out exhausts sucking through the length of the container. Place your humidity sensor in the middle down low. Hot air in one end and hot air out the other end.
Love the content of this video. I always thought the fist kiln you made to suit is the winner. Air flow is key. I replicated yours with 4 fans and it works a treat. No issue with moisture at all. I do understand the reason for your kiln 2/3 build for quantity and forklift room cutting down manual labour as well. You just have to place the fans for the above to make it work. I’m sure you will sort it out. Everyday is a school day 👍
I love what you’re doing with the kiln, My thoughts are maybe just having a couple of fans on the door end near the floor of the kiln to pull cooler air out, as you have the hot air coming in the back up high. So Instead of just having vents on the doors I would change them out for fans, as even when a fan isn’t running it’ll still venting through it. And as far as humidity sensors; I would just have a few located in different areas, and just take an average
Would having some extra fans inside helping to circulate and mix the air within the container might help give more accurate readings and also having more air movement within the container would in theory help wick more moisture out of the timber. If they would fit that is. Just a thought. I know that having an oscillating fan within an enclosed space is better than just an intake and exhaust as it mixes the air and helps with any stagnant air or variation/heat separation issues.
A lot of good information in this video. I saw a couple others say putting it around the exhaust fan. If you want an honest reading of what the moisture is that's being extracted rather than the air that's coming in then just inside that fan at the bottom is going to be the closest to correct. Cuz you want the fan to kick on and off as it's blowing out humidity so at that fan if it's blowing out very little humidity you want it to shut off. But as we all know this is a game of testing and retesting to see what works best. Keep the videos coming
It's going to be worth spending time fine tuning the kiln because throughput will increase. A more automated system will leave you time for other stuff. Maybe even a very cheap home assistant type management system could do it. I would try that myself. Great setup👍
Thanks for another great video! I really enjoy the kiln vids! Just a thought, would it be possible to run the hot air ducts under the container, allowing air to naturally rise throught the logs and vent out the top using a humidity fan? By running the ducts from back to front it would be a more even air flow and doing that at the bottom would reduce the need to force air to places it doesnt naturally want to go. A series of smaller fans in the ceiling could be run to either vent moist air, or run backwards to force dry air back down. One last thought, could the hot, moist air be fed back to the furnace to retain the heat, but re-dry the air?
Yea good idea just ductwork under would be a nightmare and holes in the floor would weaken it. Yeah I thought about it but didn’t want to put to much moisture through the burner. Would probably be fine though
Archie, I believe you want the sensor to be where the air is exchanging. So if that exhaust fan is where you are pulling out all of the air, primarily, the sensor should be just before or near where the air just gets pulled out. This way you know what the air is.
Hot air rises, so why have the inlet in the kiln at the top? Rather than move the probe, surely it would be better to divert the hot air inlet to the bottom for a more even distribution of the heat?
If I was to have it at the bottom firstly i would need to remove the whole fridge unit. And If you had 120c air directly hitting a cage of logs I would be worried about a fire risk. I don’t ever put a cage in front of the inlet
Hi loving your kiln videos. Just a thought why not put the sensor on the outside of the exhaust fan with a shroud to stop it reading the outside humidity. I assume there is air coming out of the exhaust fan when it is not running.
Hey is there a reason you store all of your wood inside? Also after you kiln dry wood if you leave it outside to be rained on, will the moisture level go back up in it?
Because I like a dry clean product. It won’t go back to green wood moisture content but it would definitely go back up a lot and most probably over 20%. It’s like a sponge after being through the kiln
Ok...really invested in this now...Could you not pump the hot air down the middle between the baskets on the floor, so it flows UP through the wood???
Hi Archie. I'm from the Czech Republic. We always used a wood stove in the mountains to heat the house. I went to the forest for wood, we let it dry naturally for two years and then it was cut and chopped and prepared for heating. It was hard work 😏. Now I live in the north of Scotland and the technology is different. I really enjoy watching your videos, it just warms me, like a real wood stove. 👍👍👍
Thanks, that sounds amazing! I do love preparing wood with an axe especially when it’s your own form of heating! Nothing better than having properly seasoned wood burner efficiently in your stove making the hard work worth it!
I don’t have a kiln but I love watching ya an learning about them maybe some day thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for watching!
Maybe it would be helpful to have sensors at multiple locations, and after some time set your fan to the one that makes the most sense?
the air will have a lower relative humidity the hotter it gets, air at 10 degrees and 100 degrees have different ability to absorb moisture.
relative humidity shows how much of the theoretical max at that given temperature the air is at.
so temperature is king!
i would consider electric controls to direct the air to one container at a time and cycle back and forth turning on ventilation fans when the hot air stops.
Good idea!
Hi Archie, I know its not an exact science but I have also noticed that the outside air temp/moisture and type of wood effect the moisture readings. I have now started to 'sweat' the logs for the 6hrs so they absorb the heat and turn the extractors on after that, sometimes first thing in the mornings as well if the burner burnt its self out overnight. All the best
🤘Interesting stuff!
Couple fans in the middle, lower left and then a couple up top on the right side. Parallel to each other but one side set high one side set low, this will act as a wind tunnel with the in and out exhausts sucking through the length of the container. Place your humidity sensor in the middle down low. Hot air in one end and hot air out the other end.
Love the content of this video. I always thought the fist kiln you made to suit is the winner. Air flow is key. I replicated yours with 4 fans and it works a treat. No issue with moisture at all. I do understand the reason for your kiln 2/3 build for quantity and forklift room cutting down manual labour as well. You just have to place the fans for the above to make it work. I’m sure you will sort it out. Everyday is a school day 👍
Cheers yes, my thoughts exactly
I love what you’re doing with the kiln,
My thoughts are maybe just having a couple of fans on the door end near the floor of the kiln to pull cooler air out, as you have the hot air coming in the back up high.
So Instead of just having vents on the doors I would change them out for fans, as even when a fan isn’t running it’ll still venting through it.
And as far as humidity sensors; I would just have a few located in different areas, and just take an average
Would having some extra fans inside helping to circulate and mix the air within the container might help give more accurate readings and also having more air movement within the container would in theory help wick more moisture out of the timber. If they would fit that is. Just a thought. I know that having an oscillating fan within an enclosed space is better than just an intake and exhaust as it mixes the air and helps with any stagnant air or variation/heat separation issues.
Just finished watching the video where you talked about adding more mixing fans and reducing timber volume. That will definitely help!
Yes definitely
A lot of good information in this video. I saw a couple others say putting it around the exhaust fan. If you want an honest reading of what the moisture is that's being extracted rather than the air that's coming in then just inside that fan at the bottom is going to be the closest to correct. Cuz you want the fan to kick on and off as it's blowing out humidity so at that fan if it's blowing out very little humidity you want it to shut off. But as we all know this is a game of testing and retesting to see what works best. Keep the videos coming
Good idea, yeah the leads are not long enough 👎🏼 but I know what you mean
It's going to be worth spending time fine tuning the kiln because throughput will increase.
A more automated system will leave you time for other stuff. Maybe even a very cheap home assistant type management system could do it. I would try that myself. Great setup👍
Yes, I now have a thermometer so I can decrease humidity setting when temp stays above 50c
Why not talk to a engineer?
@@danadams8718 I like the learning process
Thanks for another great video! I really enjoy the kiln vids! Just a thought, would it be possible to run the hot air ducts under the container, allowing air to naturally rise throught the logs and vent out the top using a humidity fan? By running the ducts from back to front it would be a more even air flow and doing that at the bottom would reduce the need to force air to places it doesnt naturally want to go. A series of smaller fans in the ceiling could be run to either vent moist air, or run backwards to force dry air back down.
One last thought, could the hot, moist air be fed back to the furnace to retain the heat, but re-dry the air?
Yea good idea just ductwork under would be a nightmare and holes in the floor would weaken it.
Yeah I thought about it but didn’t want to put to much moisture through the burner. Would probably be fine though
Archie, I believe you want the sensor to be where the air is exchanging. So if that exhaust fan is where you are pulling out all of the air, primarily, the sensor should be just before or near where the air just gets pulled out. This way you know what the air is.
This makes sense, especially when you are actually putting your hand there to check for moisture!
Very true yes. I’m only putting my hand there out of curiosity
Hot air rises, so why have the inlet in the kiln at the top? Rather than move the probe, surely it would be better to divert the hot air inlet to the bottom for a more even distribution of the heat?
If I was to have it at the bottom firstly i would need to remove the whole fridge unit. And If you had 120c air directly hitting a cage of logs I would be worried about a fire risk. I don’t ever put a cage in front of the inlet
Love your channel.
I don’t suppose you know where I could get cheap ibc cages? Problem is I am in Ireland
Where in ireland? How many?
Thanks for update.
Hi loving your kiln videos. Just a thought why not put the sensor on the outside of the exhaust fan with a shroud to stop it reading the outside humidity. I assume there is air coming out of the exhaust fan when it is not running.
Great series. Do you get any of your cages back from your customers?
I don’t sell in cages just bags 👍🏼
@@oakfarmfirewood: My mistake, so do you get any Bags back?
Hey is there a reason you store all of your wood inside?
Also after you kiln dry wood if you leave it outside to be rained on, will the moisture level go back up in it?
Because I like a dry clean product. It won’t go back to green wood moisture content but it would definitely go back up a lot and most probably over 20%. It’s like a sponge after being through the kiln
Have you considered installing solar panels or wind generation to offset your power bills?
I would love solar but money and planning come into play
How many cfm of hot air is going to the kiln?
How hot is the air that is blowing out? Would it be worth building something that can catch the hot air and recycle it into drying wood?
Hot air is reising. Push in hot in bortom and suck out in top???? Erik