Don's Geo Tracker Project - 2- - Charcoal

That’s incredible Don , sounds like you may have a winner there for longevity on the nozzle front well done .
Good luck to all at Argos meeting this weekend hope its a great one

Dave

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Good for you Don. I still don’t understand that nozzle and was hoping to get to talk to you in Argos. Does that nozzle spin or do you turn it or does it just occellate and keep the oxides off the nozzle. Next a new lighting port. You will get it I’m sure. Have fun in Argos. TomC

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Tom, there is a handle on the side of the ammo box that I can wiggle to let ashes fall. I found out I cannot turn it too much cause it will bind with pieces of charcoal. Air rushes up around the narrow space between the center part and the wall of the nozzle to cool it and provide velocity which keeps the hot zone above a little way.

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Looks real good Don. Clever design. Just clean up the end of your lighting port. It will tell you how long it should be.

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Hi Don!
19.05.2016
Is it applicable to make the original ignition tube far shorter than it was originally, and use a longer, slightly smaller in diameter, telescopic insert tube only for light-up, which is removed after lightning and the hole then capped?

Max

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Hi Max
You took my exact though and post it right before I started to post.
I think a telescopic tube would work good for Don.

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I opened up my ash collector ammo box and put a small convex mirror in there looking up at the nozzle from below just to see and hear how it burns. Here is a short video of it running that way.

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don I like the view it shows how hot that is really getting I wish I could stick a camera in mine . and don’t worry I wont say anything about burning down anything been there done that :cry:

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exactly as you say Don; That’s how its done…
Amazingly charcoal…

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Talk about looking into the belly of the beast. How often do you have to turn your nozzle?TomC

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I found out the hard way Tom that the nozzle doesn’t turn and release ashes and clinkers like I thought it would. When I turn it, pieces of charcoal get wedged in the tube and that makes it really hard to get back straight and centered in the hole because my turning point fulcrum is too low. Enough ashes still get by the 1/4 inch space around the center slug and it does not plug up.

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So, do you still feel it’s necessary to have it rotate?
Very cool video Don.

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Probably not. I think I can get by fine without rotating. I would like to install a 4 inch screw on pipe cap for easy access for clinker removal at reaction height though.

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That is beautiful. I’ve got a 4" pipe union you can have. Keep up the good work.

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When you cleaned out the top could you see any stratified layers like in a wood gasifier? From this picture it looks like the “fire ball” is maybe 10-12" in dia, and I wonder how tall?

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When I poker down with the rod I can feel the slag around the nozzle area but only about a couple inches high.

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Don, does the slag stick to the metal, either on the nozzle or around the cooler metal to the outside? I’m just curious if it just lays on the bottom and can be vacuumed out, maybe a sloped bottom, so it can roll to one side?

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Bill that stuff just sort of hangs together in clumps that can be pinched into granules and then vacuumed out or settle out to the bottom. If I had a port that I could open there I could grab a clump at a time and just remove it. I saved some in a plastic bag and I will try to make a video of it being crushed in m y hand.

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Yes, i believe I seen the stuff you gathered. I just wasn’t sure if it adhered to the metal near or around the nozzle.

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No it doesn’t seem to stick to anything but itself.

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