AL Trip Report

Congratulations!!!
Really looking forward to the videos :slight_smile:
Many happy miles to ya.
TerryL

Well done grasshopper.

Congratulations Chris! You must feel proud. I can’t wait to drive my first mile on wood. Looking forward to all the videos.

That;s some wood gassin for ya…gotta luv it. Carry some GOOP with you and rubber gloves.

Way to go Chris, another glimmer of hope for me to succeed. Wayne, ya done good again. Can’t wait to get started… just have to decided on a vehicle and get one.

Harvest in circles
John

Sorry I didn’t post this earlier, our internet died last night and just now came back.

Here’s a video of the trip home. Only thing that happened, I had connected the throttle body to the mixing box using a flex hose, which collapsed under heavy vacuum. I was effectively running half-throttle for the first half of my trip. And still maintained good speed! Fixed the problem in Dunlap TN, about the halfway point. Proceeded to climb a mountain using woodgas almost all the way. Video of that coming later (we have a slow upload speed here).

Morning Chris ,

I think I remember someone saying that flex hose would fail , Can’t remember who it was ?

Ha! I wonder. The way I fixed it was with a piece of thin PVC pipe slit on one side and rolled up, inserted in the flex hose. Permanent fix will involve welding a custom elbow.

Climbing mountain on woodgas. I did have to use a little gas towards the end, not because I was out of power, but Wayne did tell me to take it easy on gasifier temps until I can ascertain where “normal” is at.

Hey Chris ,

I bet you wanted to drive and play the banjo at the same time !!!

The fact that the gasifier was getting a little congested at 400 miles means you could have used bigger fuel, could have shaken the grate just a little or drove speeds that might have gotten you speeding tickets.

As you learn where the normal temperatures are you will be able to avoid the congestion.

My hat is off to you.

Chris,

Great video and very good confidence builder for all of us. thank you…

Hi Chris. How many miles from Waynes place back home? Must have felt good passing up all those gas stations!

Great job Chris. How many miles did you travel and how much wood did you burn?

Hi guys,

It’s 308 miles from Wayne’s door to mine. I just counted, 28 bags burned, four left. Average was about 14 lbs per bag. So about 400lbs for the trip. That means 1 1/3 pounds per mile, running mostly 55-65 with a medium load of tools etc. Will improve somewhat once I add the exhaust heat exchanger.

Pretty impressive trip Chris. we dont have any hills like that in IN for which I am glad!!

Mr Wayne and ChrisKy great job doing this and posting up the steps and the first learning trip.
All just remember BOTH Wayne and Chris have said it is 75-80% the operator and only 20-25% mechanical.
All the actual Gearheads and “I can Fab anything” guys out there take this to heart and r-e-a-l-l-y listen to the operator pithy advice Wayne and Woody puts up.
Wayne, Woody and now ChrisKY the way to really nail this home is start teaching some of the women here now, and in your lives how to woodgas drive/operate now and have them performance shaming the builder fella’s into listening and hearing this.
My wife, and one of three of my sisters can out shoot me any day, any time as long as there is not any fur on the intended. They do leave the eatin’ shooting to me. One niece though . . . . and she is an excellent woodstove operator too.

Regards
Steve Unruh

That is excellent. you probably saved about a hundred dollars on fuel already! my 91 Dodge with 318 and TBI gets about 15mpg. Hope to get some work done on the gasifier this weekend.What is the farthest you were able to go on a hopper full?

Darren, about 50 miles was the average distance on a hopper. Depending on the speeds and hills, sometimes more or less.

I don’t mind getting out once per hour anyway!

That’s a perfect trip to break things in Chris. About the same from here to Argos … C ya soon … Mike
PS, Hope Wayne can get back to work on HIS new truck now …

My hat’s off to both Wayne and Chris on a job well done. My question is for Chris, have ya been able to get that smile off your face yet? It is just the begining of a wonderful adventure in life. Has to be a great feeling knowing your not sending all your money over seas like the rest of us. Looking forward to learning and then passing it on.

Harvest in circles
John