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 donât worry I wont say anything about burning down anything been there done that 
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exactly as you say Don; Thatâs how its doneâŚ
Amazingly charcoalâŚ
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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 doesnât 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 itâs 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. Iâve 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 âfire ballâ 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? Iâm 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 wasnât sure if it adhered to the metal near or around the nozzle.
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No it doesnât seem to stick to anything but itself.
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Don, have a good day. When my wife makes the mixtures por glasseing the pottery she makes, she uses ashes from several hard woods to get reduction colors of the glasse at temperatures of around 1180 degrees centegride. I think that you have a high silica contains in your wood and your temperatures al over 1000 centigrade to have this fenomena. You should try mantaining temperatures below 800C and this shouldent happen. I think.
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Abe,
To have âperfect gasâ , the charcoal bed glowing temperature should be between 1000 and 1400 degree Celcius for an complete reaction Co2 to 2 Co
Less Co2 in your gas = more efficient
Offcourse the consistency and the ashmelting behaviour are important to deal with.
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Water drip makes a huge difference in power! Friday afternoon I was out doing inspections with the Tracker on charcoal and I noticed the temps abnormally high and a serious lack of normal power so that I had to hybrid with gasoline on hills. I didnât want to diagnose a hot system so I left it in the shop till Saturday morning. I did flare it after I got back and it flared with a very blue color and not the purple/white/orange tipped flare I am used to seeing. What I found was a pinched vinyl water line to the gasifier. I came to the conclusion that the overheating and lack of power was all due to lack of water drip. After the line was re-routed we went to my nephews graduation party Saturday afternoon with it and it was back to normal with lots of power and normal temps. I went up their 800 foot 30 degree slope driveway in second gear with no gasoline and that makes me a firm believer in water drip!.
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