A quick and easy to play with gas and a flare. It is fun to play before you get into building larger units.
A few years ago I was playing around and made this simple stratified downdraft out of junk laying around. It worked well until I finally toasted it.
I started with a muffler off a lawn mower - drilled some holes in it for the grate - used the exhaust section for my gas out. I added a piece of sheet stock to make a “hopper”. Used an air ejector.
In the beginning I used a paint can for the flare - did not work well. Halfway through used pipe with a piece of stove pipe added. At the end of the life I was using an exhaust pipe 2-3 feet long for a flare. (Last Pic) The exhaust flare worked great.
I started with wood pellets and tried plastic and used motor oil successfully.
Pics with flames coming out the top are when I switched to pressure fed instead of suction.
Looks like a fun project though I’d be concerned with number of sparks coming out of the flare. Sparks would be particles of wood passing through gasifier. For a fun project its nothing to worry about but if you hooked that gas flow up to a generator, you might get a few hours before having to rebuild your generator.
Good observation; I should have mentioned that I did not intend for anyone to hook this up to an engine. Just tossed it out there for anyone wanting to play with a flare.
This was never hooked up to an engine. This was just playing around in the Winter time. Although this unit produced no Tar when the fuel got low, and with gas valve fully open and the air ejector on high, particles are drawn through the unit. When running with lower air pressure/cfm and with the adjusting of the valve no particles come through.
Hi Wayne,
I wondered what your avatar photo was. Now THATS hot pipe !
This kind of stuff is good wintertime fun too. With snow on the ground, wildfires are less of a concern. Thanks for sharing !!
Thanks Gary
Yeah that exhaust pipe gets hot! It sounds like a Jet engine when I am using it; way louder than a typical torpedo heater. Eventually I figure on using it with a water jacket to heat the house.
