I do that plus have the air intake bring fresh air past the fins and hot air into the intake.
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Are you trying to use the heat to create more steam? I seems to me that colder intake air would be more desirable, and that re-introducing any of the heat that had already escaped the reactor would only serve to accelerate the heating of the fuel (and eventually diluting the gas to the point of it no longer being able to run an engine).
@KristijanL, you are the expert on this type of nozzle, I wanted to hear what you think about EGR vs Water drip? Also, have you ever taken temperature readings of your nozzle? What do you think about the idea of putting a little lip across the bottom of the tube, thereby making a little water reservoir inside?
Thanks everyone for the input, Its exciting to have something that is actually capable of doing work!
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What is the sizing on the charcoal and what wood species did you use? Could explain the heat.
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The charcoal is mixed, but mostly hardwoods like cherry and maple. Its graded by what will fit through 1/2" hardware cloth, and not pass 1/8". @k_vanlooken, you have made small gasifiers with a small tube on the bottom, like 6" diameter maybe? Did they tend to get hot on the sides?
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Re-introducing lost heat should increase efficiency allowing higher humidified air and less nitrogen. Fingers crossed!
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Hi Carl,
Yes, the tubes are small, 5" standard, 4" smallest.
Depending the load , engine size, i can make it hot on the outside, i have some heat pictures on another threat.
Using the heat to pre heat air or fuel does benefit the gas efficiency or at least the fuel consumption.
For heat transfer and materials there is a logical path to follow… where is the heat flowing to ?
( Logical from hot to cold )
The small size tube is creating a kind of balance between descending (cold) fuel with the ascending (hot) gas
Carbon / charcoal however is also a great insulator…
If your nozzle protrude far enough inside the drum, the outer walls will stay cool.
Practical, i could build a charcoal gasifier from or within a plastic drum… just need to know where as i am going to bring the heat from the nozzle…
To give a number; for each pound of carbon gasified to CO you generate about 4000 BTU of heat
The more heat you get in the fuel (preheating) the more efficient your gasifier will be ( higher CO % in the gas )
Thats why i keep the vertical shape, hot gas passing thru the charcoal, gas exitting cold ( ambient)
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Congradulations on your fun! Wellcome to the black club 
I am no expert althugh l have been useing it for a while
Well they both have advantiges. EGR is simple, self metering and adds to a lot better fuel consumption (up to 30%) but does nothing to gas quality.
Water is a bit trickyer and can lead to problems but the gas is A LOT faster and richer. Once you start adding water you must open the mixer walve some as the gas richens.
Sure, a lip wuld work. If l were you l wuld test the setup well first and if you are happy with the power, go with EGR. If not, start thinking about water.
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Nice one Carl , now drive down to the shops and get some lemons
Dave
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I tested the output of the little generator with a watt meter today, and used a shop-vac as a continuous load. I have a tach on there now, and so at 3500 rpm it is putting out 120v, but as soon as i loaded it with the vacuum it would drop to like 3100rm, and only 90 volts. It was showing it as a 600 watt draw. I might try and round up some resistance loads to play with, as I dont want to burn up my motors with the erratic voltage output on this thing.
Mostly this is just a way to test everything, so I am not too concerned with my actual output for now, but I might play around with water once I get a better feel for how much power I can get on just charcoal.
I feel like I have heard 30% thrown around as an anticipated reduction in power from woodgas - and that it could well be more with these small lawnmower engines? I suspect that the nameplate rating of 2000watts is also fairly ambitious even when it was brand new.
I would like to hear from anyone who has done a generator project - how much derating should one figure on? Ultimately I would like to be able to run 20 amps at 120v with a little bit of cushion for surges and such. I had been thinking that a 5000watt gas unit would be enough, but now I am not so sure.
@kyle, are you still playing around with your generator setup? I would love to hear your input.
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Carl for the very reason that you are getting now is why i went from my wineOmatic generator to small engines driving alternators that in turn are charging batteries that feed the inverter and then once i managed to find cheap inverter generators my problem with speed control and revs dropping don’t matter with inverter generators , you wont burn out motors or electronics with a pure sine wave inverter generators .
My largest generator is a 7.5 kw 240 volt and i think i am lucky if i am getting a over 4 kw with out water drip .
Dave
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Carl, here is my load testing data from Jan. 2015 on a brand new Northern Tool Powerhorse 2000i Inverter Generator: It handles 815 watts and loads down on 835 watts. 850 watts kills it.
(Readings are from Kill-A-Watt meter.) I ran it for 40 minutes.
Temperature: 60 °F Dewpoint: 39 °F Relative Humidity (%): 45%
Exhaust feeding into intake with valve partially open. Water drip (touchy valve) now and then. (Either too much exhaust or too much water will cause rapid popping at the wood gas carburetor air valve.)
The base load was an oil filled heater that draws 615 watts. The generator/inverter will handle this with no problem. Adding incandescent bulbs + heater totalled 815 watts, and engine was running slower. Then CFL and LED light bulbs were added to reach the upper limit. This was repeated about five times, while watching the power meter. When the motor slows too much, the overload lamp lights, and the motor must be almost stopped to get the light to go out. Then the
motor can be restarted and the test continued."
The 2000i is a peak load rating, with maximum continuous load of 1600 watts. Looks like just over 50% on hardwood charcoal.
Several years later, I purchased a Champion 3500 watt inverter generator, and a Wen 2000 inverter generator. The Wen (on gasoline) throws 1325 watts into a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and does it using the servo controlled governor, as does the Champion. I’ve been running each of them for one hour every month to maintain readiness in case we have some disaster where the electrical power goes out. Rather than waste the power, I store it in the large batteries in the electric cars. I believe the Champion will be able to charge my electric cars on charcoal. Both of them (Tesla and Leaf) draw about the same power on 120 vac. Both cars are normally charged on sunny days using solar power from my PV arrays.
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Excellent report RayM. by a real DOer.
S.U.
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Thanks for the info, I will have to do some research on inverter generators.
What brand of cheap inverter generators have you had good luck with? A quick search for the stuff available from Home Depot shows a champion 6500 watt inverter generator for about $1200, and $600-$1000 for a 5-7k standard generator. How much would the engine displacement be a factor, as it seems like really the limiting factor is how much HP i can get out the engine running on charcoal.
I cleaned out the hopper today, I will try and make a post over the nozzle thread about that - and then had another good easy start-up and a hassle-free 30 minute run. Took maybe 2-3 minutes to get a good flare going, and another minute to dial in the air mix and get it running at maximum rpm.
I loaded it down with an oil heater, which pulled about 550 watts. It seemed to be running a little stronger today, and the voltage stayed between 110 and 113v. Not great, but probably acceptable. The nozzle temperature did not exceed 700F, even after half an hour of running under load, so that seems promising.
Dry charcoal is also clearly a must. I am not seeing any condensation happening anywhere in the system anymore, so the upper limit of moisture seems to be somewhere between 1.3 and 5%.
Oh yeah, one other question that I had: I noticed that the breather hose is emitting a bit of smoke once the engine warms up - would it make sense to plumb this back into the intake where the woodgas goes into the carb? That is basically what is happening on the stock configuration, right? Its getting sucked in with the incoming filtered air, and burnt up?
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Hi Carl , on the breather from the crank case i plumb that back into the air/gas manifold just before the carb , i see no real change in running with or without it , but in my head i feel that oil vapor / smoke that comes from the cranckcase will help to lubricate the butterfly’s in the carb and help stop them seizing up .
Nearly all the cheap no name makes of generators here in Australia are made in china/ asia , and are just copies to some degree of the better known makes like Honda and Yamaha some even use castings from the same factories as the branded ones , and all of the inverter generators i have were all pre owned and i bought them off ebay as not working or the local paper as running but needs attention , and when looking for spares rather than look for the same name i looked at the style of the case the display and if they looked the same the chances are the internals like the engine and inverter are the same .
This is proof i am sure that these are not genuine Honda generators as they are so cheap .
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/EPA-for-USA-2kw-3kw-5kw_60402264324.html?spm=a2700.7724838.2017115.21.2a9624c1FqO6Od
Dave
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Carl,
Inverter generators are really neat combinations of electronics and a motor. To run them on charcoal you need to see how easy it might be to get the woodgas into it. For example, the Scooter Wholesale Store https://www.scooterwholesales.com/product/dg-3000-digital-generator-inverter/ had a nice looking unit for a really good price ($499 free shipping), and Gary Gilmore bought one, but found it almost impossible to get access to the carburetor. Not sure what he ever did with it? Gary has a video on YT showing his Harbor Freight 8750 watt unit, and I think that might be one of his favorites, although it is not an inverter generator. Maybe Gary will pipe in.
The inverter generator works great for charging batteries. I just paid a Morton Building crew to erect a Park Shelter, and they had a very old Honda Inverter Gen charging about ten Lithium Impact tools, a portable battery operated saw, and some nibblers, etc. They told me it was as old as the hills and very reliable. They ran it for an hour or so just to charge up their portable power tools. When it started to rain, I ran over with a big plastic tub to cover the unit, and they said not to worry about that because it sits out in the rain all the time.
My Champion works well with a 115 vac pole saw.
Do not expect a 2000i to handle a 115 volt chop saw, or anything that has a high inrush starting current. It just shuts down!
Perhaps visit a tool rental store and ask them what you might be able to run off the generators they rent, and also ask them which ones are most reliable.
I bought my Champion 3000 watt unit as “refurbished” from an eBay seller. One of the ground fault interrupter outlets failed, and they sent me a replacement, and then telephoned to tell me how to replace it. (I did not want to return the item because of the weight.)
Thanks Steve U. You made my day.
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The department of defense did a project with mini grid using Nissan leaf . I got a bid on charger used , It was $35,000
I asked if they included Nissan leaf . Last I heard from them . I spent $12,000 on lead acid Trojan L-16 and inverter Outback radian . Have 3 phase 20Kw . output 8Kw occasionally in use. generator to 48 volt 130 amp three phase 240 volt charger.
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I did another 30 minute run today with the new water gauge and the cyclone mounted, and it fired up faster than ever (even with a wood-gas skeptic observing!). The top of the reactor was only about 80F at the end of the run, but I didnt pull very hard on it today. I mostly used it to do a quick proof of concept with my grinder, and it had no problem at all starting up the 1/2hp motor. I ground up about 10 gallons of char in maybe 10 minutes?
Here is a video of it in operation.
I am feeling pretty pleased with this setup, and I am realizing I should probably start thinking about building myself a shop to keep all my toys in. The more I think about my eventual goal of WOW (welding on wood) the more I am inclined towards a battery based hybrid system. A small battery bank with a big inverter/charger combo. Maybe some solar to keep them topped off. I could run small loads like lights off the battery, and then hybrid bigger loads with the generator - the batteries thereby handling the inrush current and making it possible to get by on a much smaller generator.
Anyway, a huge shout-out to everyone who has helped get me to this point, the knowledge and spirit of cooperation on this site is inspiring. Also, if anyone has any extra lemons laying around, do let me know! 
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I guess that the culture of the vine is much less demanding (working hours) at this time of the year …
pity that “the vinifera” does not support the cold Gaspesian 
I was considering a professional reconversion
Thierry
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Well, it is actually pruning season, which is a fairly large part of our yearly labor, but since there is so little else happening on the farm it doesnt end up being too bad. I try to avoid pruning in the rain, as it is quite miserable. Vitis vinifera does not much care for the cold, but couldnt you maybe grow some v. Labrusca up there in the north? Not sure if the wine is much to write home about, though…
Anyway, I got little bit more done in the shop this morning, adding a bit of pipe so I can start playing around with EGR. I also bored out the nozzle to 1/2" which i will test and post about over in the nozzle thread.
Hopefully I will get a chance to fire it up tomorrow. Oh yes, I also put a watt meter on my welder while running it at full power to weld the iron pipe onto my thick walled nozzle. It showed a max draw of about 1900W - which makes sense since I am using .025 MIG wire. The max nameplate rating would put it at about 2400W, which is maybe what you would expect with the .035 fluxcore that the machine can also run. Not really sure how much inrush a welder has - or if my little watt meter is really capturing the true peak.
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