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The Solar Kiln; A Technical Post

I’ve had several people ask for more detailed information about the solar wood drying kiln so here it is.

As I wrote in the last post, this kiln is a prototype and because Mountain Man didn’t want to spend any money on his project, he sourced all the materials from items on hand.

He built this kiln for his specific needs; namely to hold his palletized firewood and to also dry 14 foot lumber easily. It had to be large enough to easily get his tractor forks into the kiln without bumping into the walls.

And in my last post which you can read by clicking HERE, I left you with Mountain Man putting in the vents. The vents will draw warm air up through the cracks Mountain Man deliberately left between the floor boards.

Next task was to install a roll up tarp on the back of the kiln. He is planning to build doors for it after testing this prototype.

He installed 6 mil polyethylene plastic sheeting for the front because we had this material on hand. The sheeting he is using won’t last long because it will degrade quickly. If you do use polyethylene, be prepared to replace it at least yearly. There are better sheetings to use which will last longer without degrading and allow more sunlight to filter through. Polycarbonate plastic sheeting would be one example.

The roof is made of steel 3 feet wide by 16 feet long.

It’s set up in a temporary location at the moment and filled with Mountain Man’s pallets.

We plan to open it in about a month. Here’s the technical details:

The floor measures 7 feet by 16 feet.

The roof is a flat design with one piece of steel roofing 3 feet wide by 16 feet long.

The ends of the building are approximately 8 feet tall with approximately a 60 degree angle sloping from the bottom to 7 feet wide to 3 feet wide at the top.

The south facing front consists of three 2 x 6 angled supports 4 feet on center with 2 x 4 cross bridging approximately 3 feet on center.

I did my best to interpret this for everyone but if you have specific questions, please don’t hesitate to ask Mountain Man. He’s always happy and willing to help. I opened a section in the forums to discuss the kiln or you can email him.

Next post will be an explanation of his palletized wood system.

As always, thanks so much for visiting us and expressing an interest in Mountain Man’s projects.