All of our systems have an excellent return on investment.

13 Companies own and operate our vacuum kilns.

40% of them have multiple kilns.

More than half have added or plan on adding additional vacuum kilns.

General Benefits

Extremely high throughput: Our VacDry 1.25 can dry over 100,000 Bft of 4/4 Red Oak per year, from 70% to 7%. Compare that to a 1200 Bft DH or conventional kiln which can only dry 12,000 bf of 4/4 Red Oak per year from 70% to 7%. The VacDry 10.0 gives the highest throughput with the lowest initial investment by board foot per year, drying 998,400 gross Bft of 4/4 Red Oak from green per year (1,164,800 double-stacked). Our longest schedule, for 3" Red Oak squares, is only 14 days from 70% to 7%! Using the VacDry 10.0 to dry 3" RO squares would yield 299,520 gross Bft a year!

Economical: Our kilns are very economical to operate. Practically all of the energy entering the kiln is used to heat the wood, with no convective and only very minor radiative and conductive losses. The majority of the losses come from transmission to the kiln. Our vacuum kilns never vent. This produces extremely high efficiency. A small kiln charge is offset by the extremely rapid throughput. The net result is lowered operating costs when drying any species or thickness compared to anything else available today; conventional kilns, DH kilns and our competitors vacuum kilns included.

Low relative investment: Compared to our competitors' vacuum kiln systems, our kilns dry the most wood per year for the least investment.

Clean to run: No VOC emissions are released into the atmosphere, everything is condensed out into the collected drain water. Easy to meet any local environmental regulations!

Use less valuable space: Our kilns take up a fraction of the space needed for conventional kilns of equivalent yearly throughput.

Precise control: Our system is designed around the concept of precise control. We work out the schedules and provide the equipment needed to maintain control, no guesswork involved.

Available in several sizes: Our kilns are available in 5 different sizes: 1250, 2500, 4000, 8000 & 10000 gross Bft.

Ability to explore other markets: Our system will help you to explore other avenues of revenue by drying difficult species, difficult sizes, or anything which the market is demanding 'right now'.

Load Flexibility: The chamber does not need to be full to operate nor do the plates need to be fully covered. You can easily mix similar species on different layers and run on the least demanding schedule of the species involved.

Very fast drying / lean manufacturing: This reduces inventory and makes it easier to react to market fluctuations. You can react to quickly because of the vacuum kiln's ability to dry different species very quickly. You can also implement lean (or just in time) manufacturing, completely changing the way you currently do business.

Ability to dry thick sizes: Vacuum drying facilitates moisture removal from under the surface instead of simply skimming it off the skin of the wood. This allows thick material to be dried in a very short time. Products that were never available before (or prohibitively expensive) are now able to be dried effectively and efficiently: 4" Cherry squares, 3 1/2" Red Oak...now available in a matter of weeks, not months.

Low temperature: No change in color from green / no damage to the wood structure.

No pre-drying necessary: The sooner the wood is moved from the forest to the kiln, the less damage done in the yard and while air drying.

Infinitely variable programmable settings: One kiln can run schedules to dry lumber, squares or timbers.

Easy installation: Only basic electrical and plumbing skills are necessary for on-site hookup. Supply 3-phase, cooling water in/out and heating water in/out and you are done. No stickering Self-contained unit

Wood Quality Benefits

Very little degrade or defects: Production runs of Red Oak and Maple 3 1/2" squares regularly yield 98% plus.

Color: Outstanding! For most drying schedules, the wood is typically under 30% moisture content before the wood temperature exceeds 43’C/110'F. This results in a fresh, bright color for the wood.

Strength: Superior for the same reason. Reference jorbins.com, probats.net and xbats.com: popular opinion is that vacuum dried bats are of higher strength and quality. Wood fibers are never exposed to the violent stresses from our competitors vacuum process and the schedules needed to dry thick stock conventionally.

Uniform drying: EMC is set by the final stage of the schedule. By design, the wetter portions of the wood dry more, and the result is a uniform EMC. Michigan Chair reported 100% of their test load was between 12.5% and 13.%, a tightness that they had never seen before.

Boardfeet Per Year

Example:

If you took our VacDry 1.25, a 1250 Bft vacuum kiln available in 14'L x 4'H x 4'W or 26'L x 2'H x 4'W sizes, you could load it with 960 Bft of 4/4 lumber. For the 26 x 2 x 4, this works out as 12 layers of 80 Bft each. We can dry this lumber from 70% to 6% in 53 hours, with essentially zero degrade. At 53 hours per load, you could dry three and one half loads per week, with nine hours a week set aside for loading and unloading...but for this example of near 100,000 Bft per year, we are estimating a conservative 2 loads per week, with a 72 hour drying time. 2 loads x 52 weeks = 104 loads per year x 960 Bft per load = 99,840 gross Bft per year.

Operating Expenses

Example:

For operating expenses, PC Specialties is paying about $.28 cents per hour for electricity for our research and development 1000 boardfoot kiln. We typically use about $.35 cents per hour worth of fuel (we have a fuel oil boiler on our system) for typical drying schedules: total electric and fuel costs per hour: $.63 cents. During the most aggressive schedules, the cost for drying near 1000 Bft of 4/4 Red Oak in 53 hours was $52.91. Compare this with data from a major dehumidification kiln manufacturer: their listed cost for drying 1200 Bft of 4/4 Red Oak is $30.52...but after talking to a couple local companies utilizing DH kilns, the actual cost to dry is closer to $120 per 1000 Bft. DH kilns are typically considered the most economical method available. As you can see, using an oil fired boiler on our vacuum kiln results in a cost to dry less than half of that in a DH kiln. Of course, if you use a wood waste boiler, the cost to dry per 1000 Bft is closer to $27; just the electricity needed to run the pumps and control system. At $27 per 1000' for most common hardwoods from green using wood waste heat, the cost much less than even conventional drying with wood waste. When you consider the fact that a 1200 Bft DH kiln only has a yearly throughput of 12,000 Bft with MC from 70% down to 7%, you would need nine 1200 Bft or one 10,000 Bft DH kiln to give you the same capacity of one VacDry 1.25 vacuum kiln. We have recently added a sample chart to each of the VacDry pages that calculates how much fuel is needed to dry loads of 8/4 Red Oak for each size kiln.

How Fast Will It Pay for Itself?

The larger kilns are the most economical!

When you work the capacity, price and operating expenses, our VacDry Series hit the peak of most 'bang for your buck'.

Examples:

The VacDry 10.0

4/4 Red Oak

The VacDry 10.0 is sized 8'W x 8'H x 25'L

Can hold a maximum of 60 layers of 4/4 lumber. (Or, most species of 4/4 can be double stacked with the drying time just slightly longer. Then you would only need 61 plates; 2 plates per layer).

At 160 Bft per layer, you can dry up to 9600 gross Bft of 4/4 per load.

Drying 72 hours per load, with two per week, you see an approximate throughput of 998,400 gross boardfeet per year of 4/4 Red Oak, from green. Creating equivalence with our example above, at $.13 per kilowatt;

You are looking at around $46.54 per day or $139.62 per load (9600 gross Bft) in electric expenses.

Fuel oil costs ($1.79 gal) are about $334.57 per load.

Total cost to dry 9600 Bft of 4/4 Red Oak lumber: $474.19, or about $49.39 per 1000 Bft.

Using a gross profit for buying and drying 4/4 Red Oak of $.30 per Bft, you would make $2880 per load using the VacDry 10.0.

$2880 per load - $474.19 = $2405.81. $2405.81

104 loads per year = $250,204.24 * The VacDry 10.0 currently starts at approximately $335,000. This includes 72 heating plates (2 plates per layer) and everything necessary to operate the kiln, except for a heating source.

Your wood drying equipment will pay for itself in under 17 months! And that is running a conservative two loads per week. 3" Red Oak Square

The VacDry 10.0 can dry over 299,520 Bft of 3"x 3" Red Oak squares a year, with a 14 day drying time from green. * At $.13 per kilowatt, you are looking at around $46.54 per day or $651.56 per load (12480 gross Bft) in electric expenses.

Fuel oil costs scale directly, and are about $434.94 per load.

Total cost to dry 12480 Bft of 3" x 3" RO squares: $1086.50, or about $87.06 per 1000 Bft. * Using a gross profit for buying and drying 3" x 3" Red Oak squares of $10.50 per Bft, you would make $131,040 per load using the VacDry 10.0.

$131,040 per load - $1086.50 = $129,953.50. $129,953.50

24 loads per year = $3,118,884.

Drying this type of wood, the 10.0 system will pay for itself in under 39 days!

The VacDry 4.0

4/4 Red Oak

If you can turn $.30 per Bft drying 4/4 Red Oak:

At 80 Bft per layer, you can dry up to 3520 gross Bft of 4/4 per load.

$1056 per load - $190.92 expenses = $865.08 * $865 * 104 loads per year = $89,960 a year.

Our VacDry 4.0 currently starts at approximately $170,000. This includes 27 heating plates and everything necessary to operate the kiln, except for a heating source..

The VacDry 4.0 will pay for itself in just under 2 years! And, of course, our drying capability for thick and valuable dimensions is phenomenal (see above example).

Let's Compare

It's hard to compare apples to oranges but we gave it a shot.

PCS Vacuum Kiln vs. Conventional Kiln

Lets assume you have a conventional kiln that can hold approximately 42,000 board feet of 4/4 Red Oak. This kiln is equipped with 6 7HP 3-phase fans and is heated with wood waste. Your basic operating expenses are $97 per day (5.2kW x 6 fans x 24 hours x $.13 per kW/hr = $97 per day). Lets say it takes you 30 days to dry 4/4 Red Oak from green. It costs you about $69 per 1000 Bft (($97 x 30 days) / 42 = $69 per 1000).

Now assume you have a VacDry 4.0 that can hold approximately 3,520 gross Bft of 4/4 Red Oak. The kiln only uses two pumps which draw a total of 175kW per day, and can be heated with wood waste. Your basic operating expenses are $22.75 per day (175 kW x .13 per kW/hr = $22.75). Lets say it takes you 3 days to dry 4/4 Red Oak from green. It costs you about $19.40 per 1000 Bft (($22.75 x 3 days) / 3.52 = $19.39 per 1000). The figures below are based on information we've collected from a customer. These figures are based on drying single layer 4/4 Red Oak, in ideal conditions, with both kilns heated with wood waste. (Heating plates, cooling tower, RH control and a computer are included in the cost of the PCS Vacuum Kiln 4.0 in the chart below)

The figures below are based on information we've collected from a customer. These figures are based on drying single layer 4/4 Red Oak, in ideal conditions, using an oil-fired boiler on the vacuum kiln and using the compressor and oil-fired auxiliary heat for the DH kiln. (Heating plates only are included in the cost of the PCS Vacuum Kiln 1.25 in the chart below)

This page was updated on June 8, 2005.