Installing a fan in woodshed???

[michaelthomas]

Do you think it would be of any benefit to install a large fan, like a greenhouse fan, in the wall of the woodshed to increase air circulation and maybe faster drying times of wood. Are these types of fans super power hungry? Is airflow more important to drying than sunlight?

 

[KP Matt]

I think the wood is supposed to be dry by the time you put it in the shed - that is to say you shouldn't be counting on it getting a whole lot drier in the woodshed, unless it's really fairly open to wind.

It might be more useful if you live in a very humid environment. But how tight is your woodshed? Does it have a door? Any vents or other openings?

 

[BrotherBart]

Airflow is more important but a gentle breeze that you hardly notice will move more air through that wood in twenty four hours than most any fan you could make the electric company rich with.

 

[restorer]

Moving air is important to remove moisture. Moving high volumes of air doesn't necessarily increase reducing humidity. Wood dryers don't depend on moving huge amounts of air, but moving huge amounts of humidity/moisture. My suggestion, if you want to increase air movement is to use an attic ventilator type fan. These can be as small a 1/4hp on a 30" fan. Similar fans are used to ventilate chicken or hog houses. They are usually belt driven, so you could change pulley size to change volume. This of course will only help until the ambient humidity is reached.

 

[suematteva]

Airflow is more important but a gentle breeze that you hardly notice will move more air through that wood in twenty four hours than most any fan you could make the electric company rich with.

seconds here..we have a sliding barn door on our woodshed it was basically two sheets of plywood on 2x4 frame, changed it over to 1 x 6 spruce to more or less match the sides, left a .75 inch spacing between boards, that made a difference in the volume of air moving through it.

 

[martel]

A guy talks about doing this here:
http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=36730

He does this in his basement and claims it helps a lot.

 

[michaelthomas]

I haven't built the shed yet, but I plan on using 1x6 pine vertically for the siding. It is fresh milled green pine so it will shrink and crewate some natural gaps. I plan on it being 8' deep 7 1/2 ' high in the front (rear slanting lean-to) and 24' long. I would like to have 3 8' bays for this years, next years, and the year after that wood. I am hoping to be able get 3-4 cord per bay. I would love to be able to just split it and stack it and leave it be, instead of moving it from here to there. I was thinking about using that clear plastic type roofing material to get some heat from the sun, as well as have the shed fromt direct south facing. The window fans and the belt driven fans sound like a great idea. Wood stacked in a fairly open shed sitting for 1-2 years should dry?