Thank you. It works great.

Thanks!! Well done or why bother.

The other thing I consciously did when building it was to put it on blocks so that if I ended up not needing it anymore I could sell it and have it removed easily

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

Great idea with the free BTU's. Last year was a tough winter for sunlight outside of Boston, so it took a long time for the first load to dry. Came out great though-finally. My design is basically the Virginia Tech version but scaled down since I won't use it for large amounts of wood that often.

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 you live in Boston? I use to live in Boston. I live just outside Worcester now!

Thanks. It was fun and works great.

Thanks!

I didn't mention it but I have granite counter remnants painted black on top of each pile to hold everything flat while it's drying. They are probably 100 pounds on each end and the middle. Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.

You would think that's the case. I added a couple baffles just below the top vents. That helps. The fans are blowing in the right direction.

Thank you 👍

The vinyl is heavy duty vinyl my father had left over from about 20 years ago. It's got strong poly fibers in it which makes it very strong. I think you could probably use marine vinyl seconds. i recommend marineVinylFabric.com I've bought vinyl for my boat seats from them and their customer support is excellent. I bet they have seconds you could get at a reasonable price.

Thank you for catching that. I did some research and you are correct. Once I get the current load of wood out I will change their orientation or switch them out with wood blocks.

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 Glad to help. Would hate to see a collapse if you put a big load in there.

smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FF9Q5JH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I got the fans on Amazon. They are great. I'm trying to find the link to the thermostat that turns them on.

Thanks Dave hope you and family have a happy new year. 🙏🏾

Thought I had already replied. Sorry for the delay. I got them on Amazon. iLIVING 12" Shutter Exhaust Fan with Thermospeed(TM) controller, 65W, 960 CFM, Silver (ILG8SF12V-ST)

The fans work great. The only caution is when the wood is dry I unplugged the fans. It got so hot in the kiln the thermostat controller melted a little. I ended up covering the whole kiln unit with a silver tarp while not in use to keep the temps down.

I got them at Amazon. They each came with the temperature activated switch. I only use one switch so they both turn on and off at the same time. I got metal fans so they won’t melt when it gets really hot on there. My thinking was buy once cry once regarding the cost.

iLIVING 12" Shutter Exhaust Fan with Thermospeed(TM) controller, 65W, 960 CFM, Silver (ILG8SF12V-ST) link to the fan

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 thank you!

74C or 74F?

Where is a list of materials used?

@@AdolphusOfBlood F 30-40 outside, mentions it is cold, so it is Faren.. so 74F inthe kiln is not bad for winter.

just posted a public update. Thanks for the compliment.

Let it get as hot as you can to kill any bugs. I have had mine get over 120 in PA in the spring

@@davidbalgosky4107 From my research you need at least 130F (55C) for at least 2 hours at peak during the day to kill the post Beatles of NA. Ideally take it to 160F (70C). As for if you should vent it more, I'd say no, but it is a option you have, winter air is extremely dry, so if you can get a higher air change rate you'll get a faster dry rate due to the relative humidity being so low for the incoming air. That being said it depends on if you want a more gentle drying process or not, taking as much water out as you can as fast as you can has downsides.

been there, done that, moved on.

I think the pitch of the roof on mine was about 42 degrees +/- Boston's latitude. I think I mention it in my original video. I say build it then inform the wife. Forgiveness is easier than permission. lol

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 I've got a few projects on the forgiveness list, not sure I can add another lol!

@@Sambo16 worcestet mass here 😎

I put the original lumber in on Dec 15th and removed it a few weeks ago. There were not many sunny days through January and February so it took quite a long time. Now I have a load of white oak in there and I think it's drying fairly quickly.

Yikes! If I reply to your question and my wife sees I might be in trouble. lol Probably about 4 or 5 hours (total lie).

Honestly, I normally track hours for each project but did not for this one. I would guess it took about 25 hours over a bunch of days. Having and using a nail gun cut out a lot of time hammering nails.

I guess the only thing, which I believe I mentioned in the video, is to make it about 2" less wide. That way the front clear panels would overlap the left edge better. I had to put a small piece of flashing there.

/Users/owner/Downloads/IMG_7284.JPG

Also awesome work! Looks great!

For the first couple weeks I had the vents closed. There seemed to be a lot of condensation building up on the inside of the roof. I then opened them about 1/2"--there are four vents up higher and four lower. Then a week or so ago I opened them about 1-1 1/2" and it seems to be working well. The moisture content has gone down each week and the built up condensation seems to be dissipating. We've had some nice sunny days. Outside it's 25-35 degrees. Inside it's 80-90 degrees. I don't necessarily feel the air exiting the vents but it must be working. I'm due to take moisture readings on Wednesday and will post any changes. Do you cover your kiln with a tarp or something when not in use, especially in the summer? My wife and daughter think they have a sauna coming. ha

I do not cover it, but I may use that as an option I did not think of it. I need to work on a little better insulating and I should be close to 100 degrees in the winter. I also purchased a sensor push to record my Temps and humidity during the day it works very well.

Where in ct? I'm in Clinton looking to build one too

@@calincalabrese6260 litchfield

I don’t know for sure. When I see lots of condensation I make sure the vents are open so it will dissipate. Lately we have not had many Sunny days so the moisture content in the boards hasn’t moved much.

Aha. Didn’t know that. Good catch. Fortunately the kiln has worked well. If I ever make another ( not gonna happen) I’ll incorporate the space. Lol. Thanks for commenting.

Thanks Donny. I dried about 120 board feet of Black Locust from Dec-March. It is in my workshop stickered, waiting to be made into an armoire for my wife, the Queen, empress of all. It is 6-8% moisture content for most of it. the boards range from 14" wide to about 6" wide. I dried it with the bark on, then cut the sapwood off. 90% of it is 4/4. Then I have several 5/4 boards with a slightly higher moisture content, about 10%. That surprised me. The second load of lumber is White Oak. I cut up a 10' log into 8/4 slabs. I also had some 4/4 White Oak I had cut earlier that was air drying. There is probably about 150 board feet of White Oak in total. I'm hoping to make some doors using the White Oak. The Oak has been dry for a while-probably at least a month. It's still in the kiln but I disengaged the fans, rolled up the black vinyl, and opened the vents to keep the temp from getting too hot. Using a kiln is new to me so I'm learning as I go. I'm disappointed in the White Oak checking. Even the boards I air dried for over a year have checking. I painted the ends and stickered them as soon as they were dimensioned. I also found most of the boards have shrunk. Boards I cut to 4/4 are a little thinner. I think I'll mill them slightly oversized next time. I had read that Black Locust is one of the hardest, most dense woods out there. Harder than Maple or Oak. It's looks and feels similar to Black Cherry but doesn't cut as well-since it's so hard. It'll be interesting to work with it more. I'm hoping to make a short update video soon. I'll post the link here. Sorry about writing a novel here. Dave

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 Thanks for the update, Dave! I appreciate the thorough, detailed response. Kiln drying may be new to you, but you’re an old veteran compared to me! So you’re able to dry 4/4 boards to 6-8% in about 3 months? That’s awesome! Bummer about the white oak. I don’t have any advice for you on that (maybe post a question on one of the big woodworking forums like Saw Mill Creek or Lumberjacks?) but it’s pretty cool that you have to worry about the temp getting too hot! And that you have a good way of regulating that. Anything you wish you had done differently in building the kiln.

I think you might need a baffle to direct the air from the fans down the front of the kiln, the clear front, which should then be expelled through the lower vents as it's drawn through the stack.

Convection. Heat rises. I think you might be better off turning the fans around so they are drawing air UP the clear panels instead of trying to force it down. You're using solar power to heat the place, use it for the air flow as well. You might find you don't even need the fans.

No mice. The doors close tightly and I have screens in each vent. That said mice are very industrious.

Ok. Turns out one mouse found its way in. I put a trap out and caught it in one night. No more unwanted visitors since. I have a trap just a waitin'

I thought about that but I don't use the kiln enough to justify the expense.

Yes. I based it on the VT plans then scaled it down just a bit after watching a bunch of other kiln videos.

It took about 3 full months to dry. I think this was because it was winter with few sunny days. As soon as it got sunny the drying accelerated.

Yikes! I think it was north of $1500 but I don't have the exact number.

Thank you!

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FF9Q5JH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZV591B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The thermostat controller works great. However, I should have put it either outside or in the back part of the kiln as the cover melted at one point. I guess that means the kiln works well. :)

@@davelebleuwoodworking127 thank you

How did you hook it up for solar

Thanks Gary. I was flying by the seat of my pants.