I have looked at this idea too. What I concluded was the following:
*Yes, I know these are MUCH expensive to overhaul
what size of hearth would you recommend. i’m already fully committed to what i am doing. almost done with the whole build. I will provide exact measurements soon. its all experimental so its kinda trial and error. im working no budget salvaged materials. but im thinking 8 inch hearth and 4 inch pipe the whole way might do it, super blower fan. gas shut off. i need a 4 inch ball valve to dial things in but they are very expensive. also wondering of i need to ball valve air intake?
If I may ask, what is your reactor based on?
my own design 22.5 inch wide feeder barrel to 8 inch diameter 8 inch high hearth 1/2 inch walls . 4 1 inch ball valves air intake. might need more. down draft design. media filter is 55 gallon drum 1/2 sawdust, 1/2 shed paper. 4 inch DC blower fan. 4 inch inside diam pipe 36 feet long for cooling. 4 foam filters in pipe.
Almost done with this entire project. Pics coming soon. I think it is entirely done. Might need a ball valve to the engine to dial it in. I havn’t even tried it yet. Probably should get valve and alot more saw dust / shredded paper for the filter. As far as the thermo cracker I have all the parts. I just need to fabricate them and put them together. Do you think i need to water cool the gas / diesel , converter. or air cool with copper. Trying to design an auto oil filler hopper. kinda complicated. also wondering what types and amounts of catalyst metal to use to split oil into gas/ diesel. Also thinking of water cooling the entire system to prevent over heating and to get free hot water on demand for my shower / sink.
Welcome to the site Philip.
You have sparked much interest with this thread, you just haven’t answered anyone’s key questions. Without your answers, pictures or videos, it will be difficult for anyone to offer suggestions. This forum has many daily wood gas drivers with a lot of miles driven.
Phillip, I’m not quite sure here what you are trying to accomplish. Is this a wood gasifier or are you planning on using some other fuel like oil?
im incorperating a thermo cracker unit in the gasifier to break down used oil into fresh gas/ diesel and saving those resources for later
Thanks for the pictures, we can see a little better what’s going on. A drawing of how it’s supposed to work would be very helpful. Your layout is very different from the standard setup, which is concerning. We want to see you succeed, that’s why you’re hearing this type of feedback.
I hate to be the one to break this to you… but I have serious doubts that your gasifier is going to produce usable gas. Here’s a short list of problems I see.
Lack of airtight junctions. With that ash door and the barrels, you don’t seem to have airtight connections. That might work for a woodstove, but gasifiers MUST be airtight to function. Otherwise the gas will burn in the unit before it reaches the motor. This excess heat will destroy the gasifier.
I don’t see a grate. Not sure how this is supposed to work, but you probably need a grate.
I don’t understand the bilge blower on the bottom there. Is that your air intake? Regardless, it’s too near the heat and will melt.
Nobody here is able to help you with thermo-cracking oil into gasoline and diesel. You need a lot more sophisticated equipment than we’ve got to do that. Anything homemade involving gasoline is very dangerous. Please be careful.
So everything is airtight except the door. Thinking about buying a flange to make it a flat door. Although i don’t know where to aquire a rounded flange that would fit my barrel. its a 10 inch x 12 inch door. I do appreciate the feedback but try not to be so harsh and doubtful of my design. Im possitive it creates woodgas, at least enough to run my generator because i have ran it. as far as running my 454 i have not tried yet until i fix the door issue. The grate is under the biomass i have loaded in it so it is there. I have had fires exceeding 1500 degrees and have not had any issues with my fan melting, yet. I am trying to get this unit working perfectly and do some more research before i try the thermo cracker.
Nice looking motor home and i like the 454 motor,that is worth way more than $50.00 worth of design schooling,and the 75 percent operator education involved, no way i would chance bending the valves on a running 3000 $ 454 chevy motor, with a questionable suppply of maybe dirty gas with out the WK Tried, tested,designed plans with many 20.000’s miles without dirty gas engine failure.It would cost more probbly 500,$ too rebuild the upper end likely.
Philip, I doubt that you will be doing much showering when your driving so maybe try air cooling the Thermal Cracker. Have you found a good dial valve?
I’m trying to figure out what is going on here?
