Well it seems like that many screwups anyway (G) Part of the problem was getting the right info and then applying it. I got a lot of help and some info that does to work. But hell I am not blaming anyone. I was rushed and had little money so things sometimes were not done right. Ok here are some of the things I was told. First that you need a little fresh air in to move the moisture to the pump. This is false the moisture makes it to the pump just fine. Second is you don't need heat. But you do I was told you still need 1000 btu's per pound of water removed no matter what you use. I found you need atleast some heat the more you have the faster the wood dries to a point. 140 degrees is about the max. I was told you can leave the pump off and turn it on once in awhile. But you need the pump running the full time to remove the moisture. First thing that caused me problems was not leaving the pump running. I could not get a good enough seal for it to hold the vacuum. This drove me nuts and was a big battle. I put my good pump on a timer so it was not on all the time. This burned out the motor out. It was a good but slow pump with very old motor. So I got another pump but I never know how much vacuum you needed to pull so I only got a pump that goes down to 24" well I finally found out you need atleast
29" of vacuum to boil the water out of the wood and 29.5 to.9 is better. Though the higher the temp the less vacuum you need though it only goes down to about 28" when you are at about 140 degrees I think. Now you need a pump that can handle some moisture this is a tricky one. You need a pump that can go down to 29" minimum handle a little moisture without dieing and one that is meant to run continually. I have a gast saa pump that has two pistons/diaphragms. I don't think the moisture will hurt it (I will find out soon enough) that seems to work well. Pumps like this I think will work well- posted
20 years ago