JO´s 8" gasifier

Here is the Mixer!
4. july 2016

Firefox crashed! Cannot send the package of the automixer.
Sorry!

No worries Max,
I think I remember where to find the thread.

I don’t know the ratio “water to wood” for getting a high quality gas…
In my charcoal its a max 1Liter to 1Kg… but i was lucky to have foreseen an “overflow bypass”
otherwise i would end up same fashion :grin:

So, Jo, the power of charcoal, even wet… it does smoke , but it makes you drive…
are you considering building gasifiers for submarines now ? Your first hand experience might help :grin:

Joke’s aside, i love your progress…

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Hi Jo,

take in consideration, the moister level changes from acceptable dry to very dry, so the gas contents at the end of your ride will be different.

One possible way to detect this:
Take the time to flare and take pictures/movie clips at different intervalls. looking for changes in the gas color.
another way is to ad an extra temperature probe in your hopper.

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Ha! I can imagine what you are refering to: My little flushing error :sob:

But in your second post I’m not sure. If it’s my suspected burning air leaks I can understand the flaring, but not the extra hopper probe. Please clarify. I’m eager to learn any trick.

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l think Koen ls reffering to flame color not being the evidence of a airleak but different gas composition due to wood being dryed out in the hopper after some time. We do thet with charcoal gas. Blue color shows high CO content, orange/ redish hydrogen, orange methane/tar. I think Koen wans to say your wood has to litle water in the end not giveing you enough hydrogen.
But the fact is wood is a carbohydrate, C5H10O5 , for easyer understanding: 5 C + 5 H2O. So you have a ratio of carbon (charcoa) to water of about 1:1,5 by mass eaven with 100% dry wood. That is more thain we use in sharcoal gasifiers.

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Ok, thanks. Supports the “wood can never be to dry” statement. But what can a second hopper temp probe show that the first one can’t?[quote=“k_vanlooken, post:304, topic:1928”]
so the gas contents at the end of your ride will be different.
[/quote]
Let’s assume I’m burning mostly dry charcoal at the end of my ride and that gives me a higher CO content in the gas. Does that also give me higher gas temp? Does the reduction into CO steal less heat than into H2? This would suggest trying to avoid running low on wood to keep the H2 content up.

Well, I usually just drive. I see very little change in performance no matter what I do. Except when I get constipated. But I haven’t had that either since I started using slightly bigger fuel. And also with a too loose charbed gastemp climbs. Size of wood seems to be the most important factor to my system.

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The second probe is a question for me also.

Charcoal burns much hoter thain wood becouse water in the wood cools the reaction. Your gasifier isnt made to run on charcoal alone ( to short reduction). It gives you poor gas (due to less H2), higher temps (due to maynly charcoal burning) and higher vacuum ( chargas needs less air thain woodgas, meaning the air valve has to be more closed-higher vacuum.
My 2c :wink:

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The second temp probe is to observe if your temperature in the hopper exceeds a certain value, where as the already dry wood, would loose even more moister, changing the energy value of your gas compared with the beginning of the run.
if your monorator does its job to well then you’ll have condensate , maybe more then needed…

just compare your startup temp and your temp curve during the run.

yes, it might be better to keep an higher level filled in your hopper…

Flame colors… endless debating :grin:
but compare your colors… is helpful…

Co content; due to the chemical composition of air, hence oxygen level, the amount of Co in your gas is limited to about 30%
I think i would need to make a visual clarification on that soon…

moister in your fuel will, up to a certain level, provide energy and oxygen to make more rich gas.

what also can help to find “faults” is installing an exhaust gas temperature probe…
I just received mine , but no time to install yet… curious dough for the results…

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I have one hopper probe and it shows a steady 75-80 C until wood level is down to the funnel area. Then it starts climbing rather rappidly. I always thought that was only due to radiation from the fire.

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Going to work tonight the Rabbit will reach 1000 miles (1600km) on wood and also brake even on store bought material for building the system. 250$ worth of gasoline if I had driven my old Volvo, which I had to put the charger on the other day after sitting for almost two months :slight_smile:
Another 2000 miles or 500$ the Rabbit itself is also payed for. I wish I had more necessary driveing to do.
SWEM

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At that rate, a little unnessary driving won’t hurt.

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I guess most of it is. Fare calculations are hard to do. Cheapest is always back on the couch, but not as fun :smile:

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Hi, Jan-Ola!
Now:
6. 0f August 2016

Here is the project address:

Vacuum Automixer project - Projects - Drive On Wood!

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Thank you, Max! I will be re-reading.

When out for a ride today my throttle got stuck wide open.
I actually have two butterflys. The big left one only opens when more than half throttle. It stayed open and the truck kept running 50-60 mph.
This is when you are lucky running woodgas and you have a few extra levers to put in use. Went the rest of the trip home hanthrotteling with my woodgas (and air) valve. No big deal.

When I got home I discovered some soot bildup. Not much but enough to get stuck. Still only just above 1000 miles on wood.
Cleaned it out a bit before the next ride - going to work. Gasifier still hot. SWEM.

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Is this white stuff oxide? Was it been there before the woodgas?

Hello, Jan-Ola!
8. of August 2016

I have another “general” question for all:

Why the h…k is there a general compact resistance against using reheating and a paperfilter to once and for all get clean gas to serve the motor?

In case after case more or less clogged inlets are presented and wondered about, as if it was completely out of reach to “cure” this from an endless repetition cycle?

Flying soot contains a small percentage ash aswell!

Everybody is prompt about air filtering with paper filters, but stay at medium filtering with hay and straw, etc…

The argument of expanding and less motor power is nonsense, as the process can be done nearer the source and well cooled again before use.

It would be easy to take the wet gas from the hayfilter into a mantel partly surrounding the heatexchanger and then straight to an attached warm “bucket” with the easy serviced large paperfilter.

The paperfilter gets warm and dry before any gas is passing it, if start-up gases are passing the heatexchanger!

Then again, after the paper filter, the gas can cool off once more, if not winter conditions are demanding it to stay above the dew point. In that case insulate the passage to the motor…

A “general” rant…

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I still use the original paper filter on my Seat, never had a problem but l do use charcoal as fuel. On my next project (wood this time) l am planing to use a sack filter made out of cotton towel. I use the same stuff on my Seat and it works nice eaven if wet (has enough surface area to compensate that wetness). In fact, eaven better. All that moist knots just glue the ash and soot on them selfs.

Do you think gas reheat is eacen neaded if one has a filter near the intake manifold? In theory that shuld get rid of all the snow in the gas when cold, and melt it off the filter when the gas gets warm. Any thods?

I was hoping someone would comment on that.
I was surpriced when I discovered it. I was in hurry fixing the stuck butterfly before going to work and I didn’t wear my glasses but my first thought was mold. Max is probably right about it beeing ash. It does however look like it’s created on the spot(s) and I wonder if I I’ve had some small backfires lighting the soot. I recall some small stumbelings when going WOT.
Anyone else having these white spots in your intake?

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