Firewood Kilns

Firewood Kilns

You can greatly reduce the drying time of your firewood with a kiln. Wood that would normally take 6 months to a year to dry you can dry to 20% moisture in 3-5 days with a kiln. With a kiln you can be selling dry wood any time of the year just days after cutting it.

No more storing wood for months or a year waiting for it to dry. You can produce your firewood and sell it on demand instead of speculating what the firewood market may be like and how much you will be able to sell 6 months or a year ahead of time.

A kiln can produce cleaner wood. The heat of some kilns will kill the bugs and fungus and prevent mold and mildew that grows on wood while drying in moist climates. This is especially valuable if you are selling bundled firewood in stores or shipping it out of state.

These are some advantages of using a kiln but you also have to weigh the costs of acquiring and operating the kiln with the benefits. There is the cost of energy and the extra handling from loading and unloading the kiln.

14 thoughts on “Firewood Kilns”

  1. To whom it may concern,

    Full disclosure: We are a manufacturer of lumber, pallet, and firewood kilns.

    Until recently most firewood kilns were either modified lumber kilns or installed in insulated containers/van-bodies. We did the same until the beginning of 2009, when we developed a kiln specific to the firewood industry called the Quick firewood kiln (www.kiln-direct.com/quickfirewoodkiln).

    By changing air flow from sideways to up-flow and increasing drying temperatures to 270F we can achieve drying times to 24-48 hours. The actual drying time will depend on the age of the logs, specie and final moisture content required.

    One additional benefit of reaching high temperatures (270F) is that you can easily meet the USDA heat treatment temperatures of 160F inside the firewood.

    Hope above information is helpful.

    Niels Jorgensen

  2. Hi, I was just wondering what you use to heat your kiln with and do you need to register your kiln with the usda? thanks

  3. Hello Larry,

    We are Mountain Firewood Kilns -www.mountainfirewoodkilns.com. We have Firewood Drying Kilns as well. A Hot Water Boiler is needed for your Heat Source for our kilns and any resource can be used as well, ie wood, oil, pellets, sawdust, corn, olive pits, etc. A monitoring system is needed for documenting and record keeping to meet USDA specs. We offer many affordable options, including Do-It-Yourself Kits for building your own Firewood Kiln.
    Thank you for your interest! Contact us anytime.

    Bill Latulip
    -www.mountainfirewoodkilns.com

  4. Hello,

    A client in Canada is looking for a woodwaste fired kiln to heat treat firewood for domestic and international shipments.
    Are you aware of any firewood kiln manufacturer in Canada?

    Diego Elustondo

  5. Nova Dry Kiln uses hot water to heat treat firewood to bring the firewood into compliance with USDA requirements. 180 degree F water is the minimum temperature requiement for the hot water. In floor heat in addition to a hot water to air heat exchanger provides overall the best operating economy. We may not be the fastest but our system provides the best rate of return on investment.

  6. I live in Hampshire,il and live in a residential neighborhood.I operate a small firewood business that has grown a lot in 4 years.I keep track of people’s names and the amount paid per purchase,as I break down a face cord,1/2 face cord,1/4 etc.I have already sold all of my firewood that was ready to sell by fall.I’m looking for a kiln I can build myself,as I have 10 years carpentry experience.I need references,photos,and information.I’m wondering if it is possible to do this safely out of my 3rd car garage.

  7. Robert, If you find out any information do you mind sharing? I am trying to do the same and I am having very little luck in finding info. It appears Mount Firewoodkilns site is no more. I would really appreciate it and can reciprocate if I find anything here in the south.

  8. I’m a one man show, and started with campfirewood bundles this year. So far so good and I see this business booming in the near future.

    I am Canadian, in Ontario and wandering how to make my own Kiln dry. Any information on them would appreciated, size, cost to run, operated by what resources. ect.

    Thanks

    Denis Seguin
    Ontario, Canada

  9. Starting in the campfire wood business and require any info on kiln dry storage, cost to operate, DIY project, how big are they ect.

    thanks

    Denis Seguin
    Ontario, Canada

  10. could a firewood kiln be built out of stress skin panels like they use on timber frames homes use 8×8 hemlock timbers for the floor

  11. Hello, I run a firewood sale business in Spain. I am very interested in buying or manufacturing an oven to dry firewood but in Spain they are not used and I do not have much information. I would appreciate the information you could provide me

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