Any body go an idea how long it wood take to bring moister down to 25 percent with large amount of air flow and moderate heat. Cut and split 16 inchs long. Wood verys. Just ball park. I have sold around 1500 ton already and I am just about out of dry wood. May be have 4 more dump truck loads. I thought I was setup for the winter. Wrong later
Drying Firewood
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forgeblast
Elite Member
Build a holz hausen to dry firewood by Doug Fluckiger Issue #132
I have used this and if you can get away with not having to burn it until 1/2 way through the season it works well, I also came across this.
STORING FIREWOOD
but, i think that you really need to make sure the plastic is not touching the wood. I would even think something like a saltbox top would help get the condensation off the wood.
I have used this and if you can get away with not having to burn it until 1/2 way through the season it works well, I also came across this.
STORING FIREWOOD
but, i think that you really need to make sure the plastic is not touching the wood. I would even think something like a saltbox top would help get the condensation off the wood.
Kyle241
Platinum Member
When was it cut? If it was recent, it's going to take a while to get down to a decent moisture level or considered 'dry'. Depending on the species, this can range from 40%-65% when initially cut. Even at 20% moisture, it only has available heat of approximately 80% of total energy content. So I'm going to say, 'a while' or likely 4-6mths if it was freshly cut and I would lean more towards 6mths as ideally it should be dried for longer than that.
LD1
Epic Contributor
Good air flow, good heat, and smaller peices, maybe a month.
But it all depends on HOW much airflow, how warm, and how small it is split. Smaller stuff will dry faster.
But it all depends on HOW much airflow, how warm, and how small it is split. Smaller stuff will dry faster.
SandburRanch
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If you can find customers gullible enough to purchase wood by the ton, leave it at 50 percent and give um a real good screwin.:laughing:
I agree. I hope he's not selling firewood by the ton. In New Hampshire it's illegal to sell firewood by the ton. It also sends up a huge red flag cause you're usually being taken advantage of unless you're buying by the cord.
LD1
Epic Contributor
I agree too:thumbsup:
I sometimes see ads around me selling by the ton. Usually down in the big city of columbus.
And oddly enough, they usually charge as much per/ton as the people selling by the cord:confused2: And sometimes more.
Average in my rural area is $130/cord. Down in the city, it is $170-200/cord. And last I seen the guy selling by the ton, it was $180/ton.
Too bad it takes almost two full tons DRY just to make one cord.:confused2:
And what if he is delivering that wood on a rainy day?????????
And in ohio, a cord or fraction of a cord is the ONLY legal way to sell firewood too. (unless it is in pre-wrapped bundles)
90cummins
Veteran Member
I've been burning wood for years but this year I was quite late getting wood cut & split. Being in a bind I started to ponder my options on force drying my wood.
What I ended up doing was this and it's working quite well.
I took my utility trailer which is 6 1/2 ft by 16 and installed 12 sideboards on the sides & front to allow stacking.
Then I cut an opening in the front board over the hitch end and installed a squire cage fan like those found in forced air heating systems with the outlet forcing air through the wood pile.
I then packed the split wood and covered it with a 12 X 20 rubber (old floor matt) & used straps to prevent the wind from blowing the cover off.
Then parked it out in the open for sun exposure and plugged the fan in and let it run 24/7.
If the temp is going to be cold at night I UN plug the fan so the wood retains the heat then plug it back in the AM.
Hope this helps
Tim
What I ended up doing was this and it's working quite well.
I took my utility trailer which is 6 1/2 ft by 16 and installed 12 sideboards on the sides & front to allow stacking.
Then I cut an opening in the front board over the hitch end and installed a squire cage fan like those found in forced air heating systems with the outlet forcing air through the wood pile.
I then packed the split wood and covered it with a 12 X 20 rubber (old floor matt) & used straps to prevent the wind from blowing the cover off.
Then parked it out in the open for sun exposure and plugged the fan in and let it run 24/7.
If the temp is going to be cold at night I UN plug the fan so the wood retains the heat then plug it back in the AM.
Hope this helps
Tim
Short Game
Veteran Member
Sub-freezing air is great for drawing out moisture.
I hate buying wood. I haven't in many years. When I was just out of the navy and/or L.A. for the first time, and moved to the north coast, I didn't know squat. Everyone said their wood was dry and seasoned, but rarely it was. I think about all I've learned since I was that ignorant 21 year old. Just getting my own wood was so much work and trouble, selling it never seemed worth it. I didn't want to cut all my own trees, so I'd get a permit to go out and cut behind the loggers.
Now, in my old age, and having a tractor, I get my, and my neighbors' wood every year. I do my neighbors as a free service, as we're all old now. I take time to remove the moss so it dries faster and better and is cleaner. If I were doing it for money, I could never do it as well. Now we also cut our own trees (alder). With the amount of woodlot we have, we could never cut them as fast as they grow, so we have a system with a positive carbon collection.
I hate buying wood. I haven't in many years. When I was just out of the navy and/or L.A. for the first time, and moved to the north coast, I didn't know squat. Everyone said their wood was dry and seasoned, but rarely it was. I think about all I've learned since I was that ignorant 21 year old. Just getting my own wood was so much work and trouble, selling it never seemed worth it. I didn't want to cut all my own trees, so I'd get a permit to go out and cut behind the loggers.
Now, in my old age, and having a tractor, I get my, and my neighbors' wood every year. I do my neighbors as a free service, as we're all old now. I take time to remove the moss so it dries faster and better and is cleaner. If I were doing it for money, I could never do it as well. Now we also cut our own trees (alder). With the amount of woodlot we have, we could never cut them as fast as they grow, so we have a system with a positive carbon collection.
165masseyky
Bronze Member
I work for a rather large company that produces Charcoal,firewood,chips,chunks, and fire logs. I believe I can help you with your problem. I am unsure of what temps you can reach with your heating system but I will throw some numbers out. To achieve 25% moisture in 24ton cycles in a 40hr period we input 280 degrees with 70cfs air flow. We usually dry in the neighborhood of 1000T per year and I am sure you can pull back the heat and air flow to accomplish your drying needs. Our wood sizes vary as well coming thru a KordKing but you can usually figure on 40hrs for 24T. If you are drying 5T or less at a time I used a tight insulated structure that makes reaching 140 degree ambient temp easily done with a oil or gas burner with the forced air blowing in thru the bottom of one wall. Now this is the tricky part. You need to make a curtain ran in the same direction as your stacks.Attach it to the ceiling and laying on the wood to force the air flow through the wood an not allowing it to pass over. Also you need to install two baffle gates one on either side of the building high up on the walls. Switching the open/closed sides ever 8 to 10 hrs. This should dry 5T in 72 hrs. For mine that I built I purchased an Amish built portable barn 10x12 and insulated it with fiber board. Used a oil burner from a local garage that had closed down and burned used motor oil which was happily donated by the community. Its EPA approved and efficient. I built a heat channel made of metal duck work to run 15 feet to the inlet of the building. In the summer months I can hit 170. I installed a couple of spark screens that I purchased from the local fireplace store as fire safety. I have noticed it takes us(me,wife ,kids, and any neighborhood kids who show up and are bored enough to help) about the entire cycle time to haul in saw up split and have ready for the dryer 5T for the next cycle. My company uses this exact set up with saw mill slab wood for the production of Charcoal. Works awesome brings 60T of wood down to 10% or less in 50hrs at 375degree. There is of coarse some much bigger heat and air sources but the same concept.:thumbsup:
I do not sell by the ton when I p/u I have to go over the scales. When I dump it I book it I sell rank and half rank. If they say it illegal call some body else and I drive off. When you sell dry wood and the right amount
Kyle241 said:
The wood I am wanting to dry has been down in logs for 2 to 3 years from a wind and ice storm we had. They are all over our area the people want them removed. I had plenty of firewood because I only sold bundles I took on a a pardner he started selling firewood in bulk so we are out and our kiln won't keep up. Looking for another way to dry wood to sell we have customers we can't let down because our wood was dry a little more that a rank. Thanks for the help
Short Game
Veteran Member
Two years old should help. Most woods, once seasoned, usually dry much faster than green, after being bucked and split.
turnkey4099
Elite Member
If I read you right, you would sooner lose a customer rather than comply with an industry standard. Seems rather odd.
Harry K
When person informs me I might be cheating them I don't want them as a customer. I have went home and got my 48 x 48 x 32 came back to prove they are not being cheated alway have more left over. I put back in my truck the sale off. The area I live in other people a rank is ranger pickup with four foot bed threw in level of wood that's has been just cut out behind there house that is advertised as kiln dry. I do not want to be said to be one of the type I will go out of business first. Most of my customers are women no
problem but here comes the macho with his bull. The lady's don't
know the difference but I do. We make sure to go out of our way. We just got a $600.00 deal for being honest. With our customers. A customer thanks I am cheating him he no longer a customer. Selling
wood is a shady deal were I live any way. I guess your standers is different from our my rank is 4' x 4' x 32" my half rank is 4' x 4' x 16" this what my customers want and the 4 x 4 that comes with the firewoo.
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Delaware Devil
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Anyone dealing a product should know the laws about selling that product. Should be accurate in their measurements. You don't want to pay for a gallon of gas and only get 3 quarts. Same with firewood. The U.S. Department of Agriculture established the Bureau of Weights and Measures to keep unscrupulous dealers in check, no matter what the sell. They have branches in all states and are fully accessable to the general public. I live in Delaware (obviously) And will post a link to our local office. At one time they didn't pay much heed to firewood, not when it was $60.00 a cord, but with tough times and firewood reaching $150.00 a cord they are more willing to prosecute. Same fines as a gas station shorting you on gas.
the link
http://dda.delaware.gov/pressrel/2011/101011_Firewd-fuel.pdf
I hope this helps some
the link
http://dda.delaware.gov/pressrel/2011/101011_Firewd-fuel.pdf
I hope this helps some
bigbull338
Elite Member
if you have logs that have been down 2 or 3yrs its more than seasoned.it takes 3 to 4 months for wood to season an cure depending on the weather.
leonz
Super Member
To which I say Bravo!!!!,
I preach everyday to sell green or seasoned firewood
by the pound or ton with scale tickets and or certified
scales.
leonz
Super Member
As long as a scale ticket is presented to the buyer for the firewood it is not illegal or screwing your customer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Selling firewood by the ton is not illegal in any State. selling and misrepresenting green fire wood for seasoned firewood is illegal
if the moisture content is verified with a scale ticket as secondary evidence.
In New York State it is also legal to buy firewood and fireood logs by weight.
One local processor pays $33.00 per ton for firewood logs delivered
to his yard and weighed on his certified scale.
Standard firewood measures are a stacked cord being 48 by 48 by 96 inches,
128 cubic feet, or a face cord is considered basicly 48 by 18 by 96 inches BUT a face cord could also be cut at 12 inches which is what I length cut my wood at which gives you 4 face cords in one cord measure.
Some states are loosy goosy about firewood measurements and rick and rank are very old measures. With the emerald ash borer and termites becoming a greater issue the rick and rank measures will be a thing of the past eventually as legal measures for sales by weight OF ANY MATERIAL are legal means of conducting commerce.
Heat Dried/Kiln Dried firewood for sale has more value in any case and you have to have a market for the kiln dried wood to be able to sell it.
The old hay mow method of dryng always works and its easy to accomplish.
You can simply make a rectangular frame of any particular
length with 2 by 4's and making the frame with 4 by 4's to
secure the 2 by 4's to separating the lengths of 2 by 4's by
an inch to allow the air to flow into the wood you throw on
top of it or through the sides.
You can buy a fan and shutter to mount on the end of the air
drying frame and simply run it during the daylight hours and
shut it off at night.
You can always build a long plywood plenum and paint it black
and place it behind the fan and preheat the air entering the fan
and the slatted wood drying frame.
The very end of the air conduit is sealed up with a piece of
plywood to seal the end and keep all the air flowing through
the wood pile.
Throw the wood over the rectangular air conduit you made
of wood to make a pile and cover it with a "very good quality tarp"
that is water proof and weigh the edges of the tarp down to
hold it in place while you are drying the wood.
You simply run the fan which is attached to one end of the conduit
to aid in drying the wood to a certain percentage of your choosing
if you have a moisture meter.
Examining the wood for checking and cracking is also a good way to
guage drying along with a good bathroom scale to weigh the sample
piece of firewood kept in the pile.You do this before drying and during
drying to guage the amount of drying you have accomplished.
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bigbull338
Elite Member
as to selling greenwood its up the the seller tobe honest an tell the truth about the wood.but the truth is alot of people cant look at wood an tell if its seasoned or not.im pretty good at telling if the wood is seasoned.an if its green i hope i can give it time to cure.
