What generator are you using?
Dave, what I was trying to ask was if the burn lobe is below the nozzles on a downdraft unit and the heat and gases go down, can you use up all the charcoal down to the nozzles or do you have to leave 12 inches above the nozzles like on an updraft?
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Don , this is where i have to be totally honest and say at this moment in time i have no clue as to what direction the lobe is going, yesterday due to the fact that i was rotating the flute nozzle pipe from pointing straight down to just above the horizontal plain i certainly felt a fair amount of heat up on top so maybe the lobe reaches upwards before being drawn down , as for leaving charcoal above the flute i donāt see why it should cause an issue as long as there is enough charcoal between the flute and the outlet pipe it should be no different to Garyās simple fire apart from being upside down .
I will carry on playing every day if i can and try changing one thing at a time now i have a sort of base line to work off , i still think i need a deeper charcoal distance between nozzle and outlet ,that can only be done if i weld legs onto the bottom of the drum and then weld another small container maybe 6 or 12 inches with outlet on the bottom of that so doubling the distance without losing the amount of run time charcoal on top .
Tom i have a collection of cheap inverter generators ranging from 1kw & 3kw up to a 7KW one i have never managed to get more than 50% of the power of dyno out of them while on charcoal , but to be honest that is good enough for what i need , mainly charging up 24 volt battery pack and a few 12 volt packs ,
Because i am on a max feed in tariff for my solar panels on the roof , ( i get paid twice as much as for what the grid power costs me ) i try not to use mains power during the day ,so manage to get my power bills right down , and during the day all power tools, washing machine , computers , tv all use battery power , only the recliners and tv, computers run on battery at night as well , just not bothered running fridge freezers on battery power yet as they use very little power during the day it has little effect on bills .
Dave
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Dave, if l get this right, the nozzle points down and the gas outlet is sllso on the bottom?
Hi Kristijan , yes thatās about how it is . i placed the nozzle tube (flute) about half way down a 60 litre drum and filled with charcoal through the larger of the bung holes , and screwed a 90 deg elbow into the 22mm hole and then turned the drum upside down and sat drum on some bricks .
Dave
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Well the polar vortex should be leaving next week and Iām going to finish the one gasifier Iām working on and I am going to run my larger one. The larger one has plenty of fuel capacity. The smaller one, not so much. What will happen if I open the hopper to put in more fuel if it is running. I donāt have any hair but I still have eyebrows. Iād like to keep them. Are they at risk or worse.
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Yup keep your face away at all times during an on the fly refill and you will need to be very fast or just shut it off for refilling. If you use a batter bank its no problem then as you wont lose power and I dont know why losing power for a few seconds would be an issue anyways But you should use a battery bank with any stand alone gasification technology. Its way more efficient this way, only make the power you need otherwise it a waste and way more labor then is necessary.
Generally when we open the lid under operation or just after a run there will be some lag time and then a real vibrant blue flare will emerge and POOF! out the top of the hopper. Yes indeed I found this out the hard way and after a gasifier run I had to run down to the corner store. I put my mask on and proceeded into the store. "What the hell stinks in the store?? God thatās an awful smell!!! Yeah it was my goatee half singed off my face and now the smell was trapped inside my mask.
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Thank you Matt. If shutting it off means stopping the engine then no problem. Just didnāt want to have something blow up and I didnāt know if I had to have the thing cooled down before I could add more.
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yeah if you can let it sit for a few minutes that is best. If you have a big open lid like I have; then the puff back isnāt such a big deal as long as your expecting it and your keeping body and face away.;
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Tom,
During the WWII gasifier era I understand that it was a common practice to toss in a lighted match immediately upon opening the gasifier lid to burn off the gasses so they would not explode in your face.
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