Penn State Extension will be hosting an Advanced Lumber Drying course on June 28, 2018 in Strattanville, PA. Dennis Clay will be the featured presenter at this course.
The course is designed for kiln operators, but presents crucial information for managers and owners of kiln drying operations. It is not a rehash of current drying practices and drying schedules, but a critical analysis of lumber drying techniques that have remained virtually unchanged since the first drying manual was published in 1917, techniques that have not solved the recurring problems that kiln operators attempt to eliminate often with each kiln charge.
We will discuss how lumber dries from an energy standpoint, using painless physics to introduce a practical technique (alternate heat/dump/rest cycle) that has the potential to revolutionize lumber drying. Everything is presented by a kiln operator for kiln operators, managers and owners, with the focus on practical application to help solve the problems that continue to plague lumber drying operations, ultimately affecting profitability.
However, we do not stop there. The afternoon session will critically analyze current kiln design and offer helpful, practical suggestions that can improve the performance and efficiency of our kilns. In fact, as a group of kiln operators who are charged with making these often-frustrating machines operate properly every day, we will offer suggestions that could make our lives much easier and actually dry lumber that does not have the same recurring problems. Do you know how much fin pipe your kilns need, how many circulating fans, which control valves are best, etc. etc.? Does your kiln controller allow you, the kiln operator, to do what you need to do instead of following protocol established by someone who probably has not dried lumber commercially? We will answer these questions with standard values empirically derived over 20+ years of actually operating large industrial kilns.