Kilnerator

SabertoothBunny

SabertoothBunny
Corporate Member
Took an broken fridge and turned it into a kiln. Cut the bulk of the section out that separated the fridge from the freezer to allow full air flow. Didn't do that originally and everything in the top freezer starting molding since it wasn't enough airflow. Cherry and cherry burl are in it now. Great little kiln for drying smaller stuff. A full size stand freezer would have been better but this fridge was available for free.

Pretty easy and cheap project. The fridge was free and already had the coolant removed so all I bought was an exterior light fixture and extension cord. Drill a hole in the back to run extension cord through and cut off an end to wire to the light which then mounted at the bottom of the fridge. Took some old wire shelves and cut them to width to make more shelves. Couple hours worth of work is about it. Some PVC pipe at the bottom for air to come in and a piece at the top to let air out. Took several caps and drilled different size holes to control airflow out of the fridge. Pretty simple concept and design I found online.

One upgrade I will make is to mount a power switch on the side so I don't have to unplug it from the wall every time I want to turn it off, that is just a pain. So I will disconnect the extension cord from the light and run another wire from the light to the side mounted box and run the extension cord from the box as well. Tie both wires into a light switch and plug the extension cord back into the wall. Quick on and off that way. I will probably add a thermostat to it as well, just not sure which kind yet. Would like to know the temps in there.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It heats up nicely and seems to be working for the drying wood.
 

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mdbuntyn

Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member

Bear Republic

Steve
Corporate Member
I'm looking at doing the same project. I pick up a little dohicky to help out on keeping it running at a specific temp. I figured it would be a little easier to let it manage the temp rather than play with the intake and outtake pipes. it will manage temp or humidity.

Sonoff TH16 Wifi Temperature and Humidity Sensor Switch+Si7021 RF Controller.
Sonoff Wifi Controller
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Nice idea. Lots of shops use them to store welding rods. You can also buy an inline thermostat to plug it into.

Were you able to do this without releasing the refrigerant?
 

SabertoothBunny

SabertoothBunny
Corporate Member
Nice idea. Lots of shops use them to store welding rods. You can also buy an inline thermostat to plug it into.

Were you able to do this without releasing the refrigerant?

The refrigerant was removed by the recycling center on Fort Bragg as this was a fridge they received. They just let me have it otherwise they had to transport it to a scrap metal heap for destruction. I would not have removed all of the hardware if it still had refrigerant.
 

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