solar heater and wood kiln

[Hey George]

I'm planning on building a solar heater for my workshop for winter and using it as a heater for a wood kiln during the summer. has anyone tried this or any ideas.

[Sunking]

Not sure I follow you. You are talking an enormous amount of energy.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

I have a solar air heater on my workshop. But don't see anyway to make it disconnect able to hook to something else. Don't see how that would be possible.

WWW

[peakbagger]

I think I get your gist, you are talking about a solar air heater. There are hang on the wall type units that are fairly modular and it may be easier to just move the units than ducting.

I would strongly urge you to head over to woodweb.com and read over Gen Engert's articles on solar wood kilns Here is link to a part 1 of many article http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...Designs_1.html

Most of the solar wood kilns I see are passive designs, there is no substitute for surface area so I think the trade off between an expensive solar air heater and passive kiln may not break even. On the other hand a solar heater for the shop makes sense as you can shut it off at night so it does reradiate all the heat back out at night. Best thing to do is just cover it over with plywood in summer.

[Hey George]

I checked out wood web and my thought was using a homemade solar air heater or can heater as the collector for a small kiln next to my shop, then with a small amount of additional piping and valves I could switch between heat to the shop during winter and the kiln in summer.