how to stack and ventilate firewood with pallet wrap

Just as the tray is very useful, so is the \"pallet packaging --
A very thin, transparent, very strong plastic film that is provided on the roll, both elastic and self-adhesive.
Except for the tray itself-
Of course, no other product has such a useful quality?
Possible uses are endless, but helping to stack firewood must be near the top of the list.
Why do we need pallet packing and why do we need to stack firewood?
First of all, firewood needs to be stored in a dry place, preferably for about 2 years, so most of the moisture inside the wood is evaporated, otherwise, A large amount of precious carbon energy locked into the wood will be wasted by the fact that the fire itself evaporates a large amount of water.
View \"potential heat of water evaporation \".
Second, stacking wood can save space, and third, pallet packaging can prevent our stacking from collapsing and provide additional heat from the \"Green House\" effect using translucent film.
We can throw our precious logs on the ground and cover them with tarps, but there are a lot of problems with this: I pile the logs on the tray and keep them away from the ground to help ventilate --
Some air can be cycled under the log stack.
I also created special vents in the tray packaging to help evaporate the water. .
But let\'s go back to last year when I wanted to pile firewood on the tray to dry.
Midsummer is the best time to do the work as it gives the wood, which was cut down the previous winter and enough time to dry for the coming winter.
So, I did my duty to pile up my Wood and thought it was such a pleasant and relaxing job after about 1 m (3 feet)high . . . . . . . .
A corner of the stack collapsed spontaneously and I had to rebuild the whole thing from scratchDOH!
It\'s much easier to pile up wood on a wall or shed, where you have an upright surface to lean against, but my library needs to stand as freely as the photo above.
Anyway, after rebuilding the structure 3 times, I realized that I had to think and think more about the whole task before the next build.
The log stack is ventilated by the combination of natural ambient wind and hot air convection flows caused by the \"greenhouse effect\" within the stack.
When the sun shines, convection flows occur due to the need for escape routes due to the expanding hot air.
If the sun is in the West, then the west side of the pile will become warm --
Up to 40 degrees Celsius so far.
Hot air expands and rises, and this movement forms a circular current within the chimney, causing the air to move down on the cooler east side of the chimney and flow out of the vent.
The simulation above assumes that the wind and sunlight come from the same direction.
The air comes in from the vent, under the tray on the left hand side, up to the top of the chimney through the convection stream, and then up and down from the vent again.
The graphics in the \"graphics\" step confirm that the air moves fairly freely, even in the depths of the stack, by showing constant temperature and humidity changes on the probe in which it is located.
If the humidity in the center of the pile is constant 100% and the temperature has never changed much, then the conclusion is that there is no air circulation and our logs inevitably turn into compost.
In theory, if we have this skill or are just lucky, we can build the log stack without pallet packaging, but pallet packaging is the answer to make sure we are successful.
But why take the risk of stack collapse?
What if a child was playing nearby, or started fiddling with some logs on the bottom and even climbing up the top?
In addition to using pallet packaging, I also tried stacking logs with the best possible technology.
Look at the first photo above, the blue line shows vertical, the red line shows some corners the logs are slightly tilted down
This is to prevent them from spontaneously \"popping up\" from the wood pile and causing a total disaster!
This photo shows the \"xy\" plane, but we also need to have the logs do the same on the \"yz\" plane.
If this sounds complicated, then it should be helpful to look at the computer simulation log stack in the video or in the next photo.
Who will think we need computer simulation to learn how to pile firewood?
A big question about making a pile of wood is when asked \"Do you know how to pile wood ? \" Everyone will answer yes \". \'.
What could be wrong with such a simple thing?
It would be much easier if firewood were in the shape of ordinary bricks, but we still need the corners that are interlocking.
Summary: Try to interlock the corner log and lean it down slightly to the stack on the XY and YZ planes.
The computer-simulated log stack shows more clearly how to actually stack firewood without collapsing the entire stack.
In purple, we have the corners that are connected to each other. These corners are quite strong and self-supporting,, we also have \"pressure\" or \"force\" from inside the stack trying to push these corners out especially if all the logs are round.
The modeling and animation in the video uses Fusion 360.
If we want to go to the next complex phase of the log stack, we want to lock the corner itself with the other logs.
A \"magic log\" is displayed in the green circle, which is used to interlock corners with the rest of the stack.
We can also see how the logs in the corners tilt down on the YZ and XY planes, which is actually a \"push back\" of the forces inside the center of the stack \".
Please note that there is no need to process all the firewood into a perfect cylinder!
The best firewood stacked is something Square.
Ish profile, has been chopped from the turn.
To make life easier, choose as many square logs as possible for the corners and locks and use round logs for the sides.
Any \"irregular\" logs that are difficult to stack due to side branches, etc. will be put into the center of the stack, which is harmful.
They can also be piled up or thrown in at will.
Summary: create interlocks between corners and the rest of the stack and use the best shape log for the most critical parts of the structure.
Carefully choose the log that creates a good foundation for the corner.
The square logs are better.
Try to tilt the log back into the stack a little.
It is important to build the heap in a unified way, don\'t build the corners too early, otherwise they won\'t lock each other with the rest of the heap.
Now that we are entering a more critical phase, it is important to keep the corners and sides upright as much as possible.
The first floor of the package should prevent the corners from popping up as long as they are built fairly well.
Pallet packaging helps to correct and mitigate any errors in the stack.
The middle of the stack can be filled with stacked logs, or if they are too irregular, just put them in at random.
Pallet packaging is running continuously-
It is not cut at all between layers.
In the case of no damage to any prominent logs, the packaging is done well and tight.
A nice dome top was created at the end to overflow the rain.
As shown in the figure, the top is wrapped up and then a horizontal package is made to wrap all the vertical packages.
The last edge is connected with tape.
The horizontal package can be opened slightly at the bottom of each section to create a \"Louvre/blinds\" vent.
Plug a log of the right size into the gap and keep it open.
If these blinds are not created, the moisture in the wood will not be able to discharge normally and condensation will be formed inside the package.
Because the gap is at the bottom, the rain can not enter the vent.
I \'ve only had the sensor work for a few days, so it\'s too early to look at the long-term humidity trend, but there\'s already some useful information to look.
The \"greenhouse effect\" causes a large temperature on the top of the pile and on the sunny side, and there is enough air circulation to let the hot air enter the middle, causing the temperature to drop there as well, especially when it\'s sunny even though hot air doesn\'t usually want to go down.
The humidity in the center of the pile is also fluctuating, which also indicates that the air is moving well.
If the logs in the center are still wet (
They were piled up after the rainy season)
The humidity is 100%, so it is clear that the water on the surface of the log has disappeared and I confirmed this by manual inspection.
The humidity inside the log will be much slower, and I expect the humidity on channel 3 to slow down over the next 18 months.
Watch the next exciting update of this space!
To prove that the log is actually drying, a newly cut \"green\" log is cut, weighed, marked and placed in the center of the stack and weighed again after 6 days.
It has gone from 1. 638 to 1.
596 kg is 2. Lose 6%.
I will weigh again in about two weeks and it should lose about 5% by then
When shown in the chart, this will be a parabolic curve, as weight loss will start very quickly and then gradually slow down to zero.
Look at the last picture above!
Wrap any loose edges in the tray package with gaffer tape, otherwise the wind will grab the edge and start to unlock all our good work!
Point: improvement: a tree fell down in the neighbor\'s garden, so I saw it round and replaced the air vent of the Louvre with a chimney.
Please feel free to add suggestions to improve this technology in the comments section below.
If I miss something, this structure will be updated.