A Dry Building Is A Happy Building

How to Dry a Structure...

When it comes to drying out a structure, there are several ways commonly used. Most are incorrect. We've seen the aftermath, the anguish of homeowners having to tear apart a brand new house and the extreme expenses the builders had to absorb. Here are the ways it is traditionally done...what is right and what is wrong.

1. Let it air dry naturally. This works well if you do it during the summer and you have long stretches of nice dry weather. The drawbacks are two...first chance are your materials were wet when they were delivered in the spring (it rains then) and those materials may not dry in closed areas such as crawlspaces without airflow help (see the rental department for help in that area!). It is also very time consuming. The good part is, it is cheap if you have the time.

2. Close it up and turn on the furnace for a weekend. This method is a big source of business for us and we want to thank the builders who use it. Think about it...a furnace is designed to circulate the air within a house. If you heat the structure up and vaporize all the moisture...where does it go? In addition, this does nothing for the wet zones like attics and crawlspaces but provide some additional growth heat. In addition, a weekend or even a week isn't enough time to get the heat thru the un-insulated structure. A house furnace simply doesn't have the BTU or airflow capability to heat and dry an uninsulated structure and you must dry the structure BEFORE insulating and drywalling or you'll trap all the moisture in te walls and give us a nice large contract in a few months.

3. Run Electric Heaters. Good clean source of heat...but there are several problems here again. What happens to the moisture? It circulates in the house. Most do not have much in the way of airflow. They are insanely inefficient and need absolutely hellacious amounts of power to run them. And they are a fire hazard if not properly placed. 

4. Use indirect fired diesel heaters. Now we are getting someplace. An indirect fired heater puts a tremendous amount of clean heat into the structure and it gives you a flow of air thru to help remove the moisture driven out. The problems are several. First, diesel is toxic. Spill it on the site and you have a toxic spill liability. Second, it stinks and spews tons of pollution into the air. Also, your typcal rental indirect fired heater runs about 10 hours before needing to be refueled. You must keep a continuous flow of heat into the structure or it won't dry properly...so you must refuel them 3 times per day and that means getting a worker out there in the middle of the night and early in the morning to put diesel or kerosene into a heater.

5. Use a large desiccant structural drying unit. These work great! But...they require so much power you have to have a huge generator onboard. They make an insane amount of noise, still burn fuel to regenerate the desiccant wheel and/or run the generator and they cost a bloody fortune to rent (think $1500+ per DAY or more.

What Works?

The best system would give you the following attributes:

• Clean Heat Air without carbon monoxide or water vapor.

• Long Run times with non-toxic fuel.

• Low power usage and noise levels.

• Affordable with a lot of heat output and a lot of airflow for fast drying. You MUST have an exchange of heated air thru the structure and lots of airflow to properly dry a building. Think about your clothes dryer for an obvious example.

Bio-Dry is the Solution

• Indirect fired BIODIESEL fired furnace system. Biodiesel is the ONLY fuel that is rated totally non toxic by the EPA, it is vegetable oil. You can drink it. There are zero site spill issues. It burns 90% cleaner than petro-diesel or kerosene. It has practically zero odor. And no, your rental indirect fired units will NOT run on it (their flame sensors don't work and the fuel lines and seals aren't designed to handle biodiesel...they will fail and leak all over the place).

• Long run times, low noise, low power use. A 200 gallon tank onboard allows for 72 hours of run time without stopping. Enclosed trailer-mounted unit is very quiet. A single 20 amp circuit is all that is needed.

• Huge heat and airflow output.  Your typical rental indirect heater is 180,000 BTU's and 1000 CFM of air. The bigger units are 280,000 BTU and 1900 CFM or air. The Bio-Dry system is 550,000 BTU's and 5000 CFM of air.  It would take 3 of the smaller rental units to match one Bio-Dry system. The larger rental units would require 2 to match the BTU output. Neither will match the airflow. Drying is partially dependent on airflow and again Bio-Dry is way ahead. This means longer air hoses for more coverage, more air outlets, and more airflow for faster drying.

• Cost effective. Typical rental costs vs. Bio-Dry: Rental Indirect fired units to match the BTU output of a single Bio-Dry unit: $450 per day plus labor costs for refueling plus delivery and pickup charges. You do the set up. Short hose runs (low CFM limits the lengths) and lower air flow mean more time on the job, thus longer rental times. Bio-Dry: $350 per day plus $50 delivery/pickup fee and setup fee. We set it up and take it down for you. Includes 100' of hose in the rental charges, no refueling for 3 days. Higher BTU and airflow mean faster drying so you'll need less rental time.

Fantastic for Portable Heat

Have a large area to heat? Have to dry out a large concrete pour job? Big Party tent to heat? Big Water damage problem? Bio-Dry is ideal for these applications. Digital Thermostat allows you to control the temperature to a comfortable or constant level. Low to undetectable odor, low noise levels and self contained secure trailer prevent tampering. Long run times mean less refueling worries.