Your pictures loading just fine for me MikeL.
“Any day burning (even metal) is better than a day just thinking about it”
Do I put in my order for a new MikeBuilt woodstove grate now, or wait?
Regards
Steve Unruh
The new unit looks great Mike. When The frost lifts out of the ground I will head your way and look at your projects. For now, the frost is down to 8-9’ in the streets and we are finding a lot of frozen water supply and sewer lines. I had to devise something to hook onto the bottom of the water meter horn so once we open the line, it doesn’t blow water all over the basement. It works out pretty well and we are gaining recognition with all the local municipalities. Yes there are people still trying to thaw these using a portable welders from the hydrant to the curb stop. And yes they are still starting fires with these.
Do you still have water running to your house? I know last weekend when we talked on the phone, the water temp was dangerously close to freezing. 4-6" of snow expected between today and tomorrow. Looks like we may get close to 40 degrees F towards the end of the week. Spring just may be right around the corner.
Keep warm and we’ll talk soon
Bill S
Hi Bill & Steve, Water was coming in at 31 still this morning. People forget when they pour salt on the roads it drops the temp around 20 degrees or so. I am dealing with a bunch of morons here. They blame the problems on the engineers. F that … At any rate, I just got my gutter in the new unit. It’s a pretty good picture. I still hope Chris will post them on my blog as I can’t do it. Here’s the link
Keep it simple … Mike … PS, I won’t win any races but I will be be going down the highway …
Hey Mike, those are some good looking welds. For a weld resistant person, I think you are going to have some more creative projects coming up. Some day I’ll be over by you pulling a flat trailer full of sacks.
Hi Mike I been looking to get a peak inside one of your units .It sure is a whole different breed than Mr. Keith"s with your nozels at the bottom of the fire tube. What is this going to power? Is this how all your units are laid out and what is your reasons for doing it like this? how do they perform compaired to Mr Keith’s. It seems there as many ways to do this as there are respected builders. Makes it confusing for a newby to know where to start. Seems as many right ways as wrong. I will be watching close to all as I wait for the snow to melt down enough to find materials to get started.
Jim, The hearth (firetube) is below the nozzles. Everything above the nozzles is just hopper. I bring hot air with a shroud up the outside of the base and hopper to preheat the air going into the nozzles and heat the lower part of the hopper. I also have a “tube” around the lower part of the hearth and grate to force the gas to the bottom of the base and heat the base for the heat recovery. It’s just another variation of an Imbert but very easy for me to build. Wayne has a unique but probably the best design I have seen. Both really work but I won’t be winning any races with mine. I hope the copper tube nozzles pan out. If they don’t it won’t take me long to do what I did last time or replace them with iron pipes. I don’t expect any problems as all the real heat should be in the hearth and I have run copper nozzles before … Mike
I am not sure I am understanding. What I ment was to me it seems Wayne’s air inlet is high in his fire tub at 15-20" above his hearth making him sort of a fuel storage tank. as opposed to your nozels right at the oxidation zone. Am I seeing this right or am I missing something? I’m a total newby but very interested in gathering as much info as I can as to what works and why and what makes one system better than another. Thank you all for your help and patience as I try to grasp this
Jim, Wayne gets up early in the morning and has to go check and or feed his cattle. He lights his truck off and will then probably drive a minimum of 20 or so miles. Some of that may be on the 4 lane. He will repeat this activity in the afternoon and maybe go with Lisa to Wally world to spend some money. I haven’t left town in several days. I started my truck this afternoon to drive it 500 feet up the road so I could have my axe, large bar, and shovel and metal detector so I could find the storm drain above me and get it opened as some ars wipe up town decided to wash his truck and the water flowed all the way down the hill and into my driveway and then down to my shop. Tomorrow after another 5 inches of snow I will have a broken hip if I let that ice form there. I wasted an hour doing that where I could have got some work done on my base. My typical drive is 7 to 10 miles one way and then I park for hours. It is all 2 lane 55 mph roads and hilly. I simply design for that. We haven’t been above freezing for months. I also design for that. Sun is going down and I need to start working on the base … Regards, Mike
Hi JimLaP.
Maybe I can help with your understandings.
When MikeL says his is a modified “Imbert” this means high velocity air out of his jet faces attempting to have the air plumes meet across from each other in an oxidization across plane.
WayneK’s is different letting the air just slower speed burble out and flow down with the air plumes fanning out and blending below. I figure his oxidation zone is a varying shaped Vee or U bowl.
Imberts and Imbert variants the oxidation zone edge I figure as an actually tulip or vertical trumpet shaped varying in depth and shape depending on the actual gas pulled out flow.
Then you have StephenA./AvidO’s with a combination of 30? and 60 degree downward angled protruding air nozzles.
Actual air-jet-less designs in others with all of the air pulled down through the top thorough the raw fuel pac; center jet designs from the top down in, or from the bottom up in. These will all vary in the actual working internal velosites and internal ozidization zone shapes and VOLUMNS.
You have to chose what will work best for you depending on your actual “biomass” fuel you WILL be using. Your engine speed/loading variability (or non-engine) produced gases useage. And your fabrication skills.
There is no perfect gasifier design that can do ALL, for ALL, on all types of biomass fuels. No matter what some would say, or desire.
Variety in Life is great. Makes you work, think, and really have to stretch, broaden yourself out. Will humble you. And then make you practical down to earth realistic. What MikeL is saying.
Regards
Steve Unruh
yeah Mike I know all about winter i’m 50 miles south of Duluth/ Superior on Hy 53. I also only leave the compound when I have to and generaly not over 25.miles each way a few times a week in winter if at all. In the summer I venture out a little farther when lured by the right opportunity.So your units are designed for ease of construction and less severe duty? Faster warm up time or no? what other than condensate draing promptness or tank heating do you do differently if you don’t mind me asking. So far it looks like I have materials to start what you have going but a lot of snow to melt before I could start on a WK model. With as many vehicles I roll in in the summer months one gasifier wont be enough.
Hi Jim and Steve, I’m pooped and off to bed. Looks like another pile of snow headed here. I got my gas diverter on the lower hearth today. I hope to shorten the lower section tomorrow by about 5 inches and get the outlet pipe welded in and then I can maybe do a burn in after this next snow. It’s almost too heavy for me to lift the unit now
The gas will head down to just before the bottom of the bottom section and then back up in the anular area to heat the outside of the base. It burns the paint off
was the last one after it’s burn in.
I will eventually put a shroud around the base and lower hopper so the air can come up in that next space and pick up the heat on it’s way to the nozzles. I usually can light off and go in around 3 minutes or so with this design. I have to build a cyclone after this. I have a collection of coolers to play with … Mike
I have the base finished … There is nothing I enjoy much more than than watching snow melt !!! Look at this picture. (Chris / Steve) please upload if you can. My woodburning computer can’t on this site or yahoo … Segregation has returned. I need a slow speed water fountain even though I’m surrounded by water …
I’m making a temp hopper lid / insert next …
SWEM, Mike
Main gasifier is complete. I will need some help to plop it all together. I made a temporary hopper lid out of an oil drum lid but after brazing and beating on it a bit it showed many holes. Before and after pics
The red RTV is plugging just the few holes that I patched. This was a new shiny drum lid here around 5 years ago … It will survive but I will tack a solid lid over it.
If anyone wants to visit tomorrow we can pile all this crap up and fire it off. Freezing crap coming on Thursday and have a busy weekend … :o) …
Mike
Mike, your photo of buried cars reminds me of a few years ago when the neighborhood Yahoos drove snomobiles over my junkers and broke a few windshields…
Do you have any ideas to incorporate the DrizZleR concept?
And what’s with your computer? Do you run Linux?
I really like your photo links, however, thet come right up and full screen: very nice.
Nice house picture John … Did you take that today ?? I’ll explain the NSA hassles tomorrow ??? … I don’t have a static / tracable IP so it’s pretty tough … M
Gasifier is complete and ready for FIRE … I just need to pour in sand around the hearth. Maybe someone can upload these pics here. Many Thanks, Mike
I forgot to mention it is 46" tall so easy to load hopper … M
Mike, how many lbs. of wood do you estimate you can load into her? Lookin good!
Sure looking good Mike !
Don, I don’t weigh wood anymore. It will take 2 onion sacks or so. I think when I had it hooked to the big black truck it would run 40 miles flat. Meschke and I clocked that on the way home from Argos on Ron’s wood. It goes way further on the red truck. Black truck gets 18.2 mpg and red truck gets over 30 mpg on gasoline so wood consumption is similar. I usually figure 50 to 60 miles with the 2.2 liters. I had it on my 97 cavalier for over 1000 local miles … This new gasifer is near the same as the one on my trailer but with a shorter base and some “improvements” to make it simpler … Only a few days of building. I think the only thing I arc welded was the grate. The rest was bronze brazed, most with a small turbo tip (no oxygen) … Bring on spring !!! Mike
Ditto on the spring wish Mike! That hopper should be about right for your driving habits. Do you light up through the side or top? Empty or full hopper?