Drying wood: how to make a dryer yourself

Device options for homemade dryers, process nuances

The problem of maintaining optimal moisture content in lumber is relevant both among builders and among those who like to make something in their own carpentry workshop. Drying wood at home allows you to save a lot on its purchase, because dry raw materials always cost more than wet ones.

Content:

• Atmospheric drying
• DIY wood dryer
• Wood drying kiln project
• Drying chamber operating modes

Atmospheric drying

If you do not have time for construction work at all, then you can dry wood at home or in the country even under atmospheric conditions.

Some owners adapt ready-made premises for haylings, sheds or other suitable buildings for these purposes. This is how one of our members of the forum found a way out.

Timakval

FORUMHOUSE member

For drying, I used the attic of the yard (former hayloft), size 10 × 5 m. I laid out each row as it should, through the spacers. A total of 3.5 cubes of boards of different categories. The advantages of this drying place are always shade, finished roof and well ventilated. I took boards of different sizes last May, bars and beams - a blank for small construction. The boards were heavy with moisture. While lying in the hayloft (1.5-2 months) they dried out to the fluff, they were not twisted or bent.

Drying under atmospheric conditions is a rather lengthy process, and since we decided to take a comprehensive approach to this issue, then let's consider the sequence of building a home dryer with your own hands, which allows you to more effectively achieve the required performance humidity. As a suitable room, we suggest you choose a building of the required size, and after that you can already start working. The room can be 2 × 3 m or 4 × 3 m (as large as possible). It all depends on your needs and the scope of your business. But when choosing a building, you should remember that there should not be a lot of free space left in the dryer. After all, drafts and chaotic air movement negatively affect the quality of wood.

DIY wood dryer

The room chosen for the arrangement of a homemade dryer must be heated by an oven or a specially installed fireplace. It is good if a heater is pre-installed in the room. If there is none, then do not forget to leave a place for it.

Here is a project for making a home dryer proposed by a member of our forum.

Nikolay Valen

FORUMHOUSE member

There is a major garage with water heating, a wood-fired stove was installed as a boiler. There is a pipe with a diameter of 800 mm and a length of 2.2 meters (a former ventilation duct from an industrial enterprise). The idea is as follows: install sealed covers on both ends of the pipe, leave 150-200 mm diameter fittings for supplying and removing hot air. The air is heated by a radiator (this can be a car stove). Air supply - table fan. 0.3-0.5 cubic meters of lumber is loaded into the pipe, the furnace is melted (the temperature of the coolant reaches 90 degrees, I think that the supplied air can actually be heated to 50-60 degrees).

If you have chosen a room that is too large, then the space you plan to use for a homemade dryer should be made insulated and sealed. For these purposes, wooden partitions are made, insulation, bricks and other materials can be used to create your own microclimate in the dryer. Do not forget to leave a ventilation window and an entrance door in the cell. After all, we shouldn't have a hut without windows and doors.

The fans installed in the drying chamber will help create a forced air flow and make the drying process more efficient.

mfcn

FORUMHOUSE member

It is advisable to place the fans on the floor to the side of the stack so that the barrel blows parallel to the spacers. Remember that when drying wood, you need to evaporate about several hundred liters of water from each cubic meter of wood.

To accommodate lumber in the dryer, special shelves or decks should be installed. These products can be made of metal - so that the structure can withstand relatively heavy loads. Dry wood to values ​​corresponding to 8–12% moisture content. Its measurements are carried out using a special moisture meter.

It is necessary to dry the tree, observing certain rules. Otherwise, the material will be hopelessly damaged and cannot be used in construction. For this, the wood must be stacked. And between each new layer, spacers of boards of the same thickness should be placed. Wood of any species, laid in neat piles, will never suffer from fungal infections, will retain its integrity and excellent consumer qualities.

Lao Czy

FORUMHOUSE member

The spacers need to be made higher for better ventilation with air between the boards. They will dry out better. You can put your chopped sticks on the edge 25×30 mm or 25×40 mm. Reason for stack height limitation – so that the board does not lead «helicopter blade», fix the uppermost layers of boards in a stack with self-tapping screws. For the third year I have been storing my boards by this method at a dacha in the suburbs. They are in excellent condition!

Gaps should also be left between boards located in the same row. This will ensure unobstructed air movement within the stack and improve drying performance.

Wood drying kiln project

Wood can be dried quickly and efficiently in well-equipped and free-standing drying chambers. The construction of such a chamber on the scale of a summer residence or a suburban area is not always advisable. After all, this type of building will cost a lot, and its construction will take a lot of time.

The construction of such a facility can be called the implementation of a full-scale construction project. You cannot avoid time-consuming operations associated with pouring the foundation, erecting walls and installing sophisticated equipment.

How to make wood drying can be understood from the diagram.

Such a mini-dryer for wood requires the placement of not only the main equipment (heating and ventilation devices), but also additional automatic control systems.

Drying chamber operating modes

The chamber dryer for wood does not involve strong heating during normal operation. And the full cycle of work related to the drying of one batch of wood can be divided into several stages.

• The first stage lasts from 15 to 20 hours. During this period, the air in the chamber heats up to 45 C⁰. Ventilation does not turn on, and condensation falls on the walls of the room.
• The second stage lasts about 48 hours. It involves connecting ventilation and heating the air in a chamber dryer to 50 C⁰.
• The third stage lasts until the required final moisture level in the internal structure of the wood is reached (8... 12%). At this time, the air temperature rises to 55 C⁰, the exhaust dampers open fully and the fans run at full capacity.

After the humidity reaches the required values, you should stop the heat supply. The fans must remain on for another 24 hours. As a result of this heat treatment, you get dry wood, completely ready for use during carpentry or construction work.

Rate ideas, like!

You can get acquainted with the practical experience of our members of the forum regarding the correct construction of the stack in the section "Atmospheric drying of wood». Those wishing to learn more about the technology of drying sawn timber can visit the section "Drying wood». For working with lumber you can assemble a comfortable table. In the video - about the construction of a frame in four hands or construction, as an adventure.

Subscribe to the channel and you will be aware of interesting updates. Do friends have problems purchasing dry lumber? Share the publication on social networks, let them consider the option of drying. Join the craftsmen FORUMHOUSE!

Do you think it is worth drying by yourself or is it possible not to bother and use wood of natural moisture?