Despite the more intense energy needs for fast drying pine, our solar hybrid kilns are still able to deliver substantial energy and cost savings. In most cases, solarola produces higher quality outcomes than conventional medium and high temperature drying.
Unlike hardwoods- for softwoods our technology generally cannot always match the fast production achievable from high temperature kilns. However, in many cases pine drying is less costly dried in several large batches of timber using slower cycles in our solar hybrid kilns than when drying many smaller batches of high temperature dried stock. Major savings are possible in handling, storage, stabilization time, penalty shift wage costs, storage sheds and the many other hidden costs of high temperature drying.
Large energy savings and environmental advantages will accrue from using solarola technology for pine drying, even in average climate regions like Melbourne. Limited by its maximum operating temperature of 65 degrees celcius, solarola drying rates for 25 -50mm stock range from 3-7 days, depending on several wood and final target moisture related elements.
For pine drying, solarola stands out best when drying higher value products where quality really matters. The main applications are for lower temperature dried products like furniture material and after treatment re-drying, where internal checking and stability are important criteria.