So after a week of installation and a few teething problems, we have reached a point of virtual completion, where the Dragon boiler is churning out the heat, the heat is being stored in a 12,000 litre water storage tank, which is super insulated which then releases that heat on demand to the kiln through the form of 4 fans and heatexchangers/radiators.

The fans force air down the length of the kiln, which is full of split wood, before the moisture laden air exits via vents at the far end of the kiln.  After just one day of operation, we are already seeing significant drops in the moisture content of the wood, with some of the more exposed logs showing readings under 20% already.

Why is 20% such a magic figure? Well, for a start, when you look at the Stove Manufacturers installation/operation manuals, turn to the “troubleshooting” pages! One manual I looked at earlier in the week and 21 different “symptoms” for problems with a stove. Of those 21 possible problems, and you would expect these to be the run of the mill things that could occur, 11 of the solutions were simply “use dry seasoned wood (less than 20% moisture content)”.

Kiln dried wood guarantees you that your wood meets that criteria and removes more than HALF of the potential standard issues that might occur in a woodburning stove!!