The LumberWorksForums

Thanks Robert. Ran across this website "only" about about Solar kilns. Puts me to shame with all his detail. Very nice.
http://www.solarkilninfo.com/

Harry

Update on a load I finished. Had a mix of mostly cherry and some oak. I was air drying for a while before I loaded.
I left in in the kiln for a month. All the wood is between 7% to 8%. Real please with that. The fans come on at 10:30 and off at 6:00. Just set the timer that way. The highest temp I got in there was 139 degrees. Averaged about 134 on the sun days. Harry

Top temps between 130-139. I wonder if it held long enough to kill the bugs?

Did you find a location for the kiln that receives unobstructed sun all day? How about orientation to the sun?

I notice the tarp seems blue both sides. Are you going to paint it black on one side?

Tree,
My understanding is internal wood at 130 degrees kills all the bugs. I don't know how to measure temp of wood in the core,
but I know the internal temp of the kiln is above 130 for at least a few hours. If I spent the time making the kiln more air tight,
I'm sure I can get it up to 150. It has sun all day and I have it facing due south. Being portable, however, I could change that. Also,
when it's empty I can turn it around so the sun won't heat it up so much and i can turn the fans off, etc. Being in the New Orleans area
the blue tarp color is no big deal. The farther north you live, you certainly would want to have the black color for the solar properties...
Now that this load is done, I'll just open the vents and still leave the fans run during the day because I don't have the time to unload it.
Will be in there 2 -3 weeks before I get to it. That's another convenience about a solar kiln.

so how do you deal with the space from side wall to end of stack
it seems the air wood just flow there instead of through stack

Mike,
This is what I do... simple and cheap.
Yes, you have to block off the side.
H