I talked with Mr. Steve almost three hours on the phone last night . WOW what a treat !! I made a repeated offer if he needs any help with updating his computers I would personally help even if I needed to cash in a couple of cows.
Over the last 10 years I have had the opportunity to be around a lot of well educated and very smart people ( me not being one of them ) I have had as many as seven PhDs including the dean of Auburn engineering and also the head of the automotive engineer dept.in my living room. Have spoke at many universities and events all around very smart people . Each scientist or professor was an expert in there field. When it comes to the several thing one should know to make gasification work ( biomass growth, availability and characteristics , gasification system and how it is applied to the ic engine ) I know of none that could hold a candle to Steve !
I think to really understand some of the above one would have to be in there mid 60s like me and Steve. Also April Woods touched on it above , priorities begin to change.
One big bright note Steve has ask to come down in the fall and visit a few days WOW!!
Sucks the progression is so fast as we are the same age. My first thought is a good guided acid trip might do him good … Total timeless confusion and then reorganization. Guess I won’t bring the extra tent. Have to head to Chicago in a couple of hours. Argos in 6 weeks … M
Sorry to hear the news. Steve has contacted me in the past to share his knowledge. Very helpfull fellow. He would have been a great treasure at the meet! I wish him well.
Terry
I also will miss Steve, if it wasn’t for Steve I may not have done the Caddy. Before I purchased the car I posted wondering about the feasiblity of doing a 91 Cadiliac. Luckily he answered my post and latter we talked by phone, he told me all kinds of things about these cars, not only things like it having a adjustable distributor and modern EFI making it a good canidate for gasification but how the sales guys used to fight for the “trade ins” for there personal cars back in the day, he did wonder how I could get all the hardware mounted on the back of it, he’s not the only one, I did too. Anyway in a way his confidence gave me confidence. Heck he knows everything about wood, from growing it, drying it, certainly burning it and many many other things, he is a man’s kind of man. Thanks Steve, I appreicate you and I will miss YOU and your wisdom! Herb
PS Amother thing I had to add, how a man could know so much about gasification but has never drove a mile on wood, that is a real mind blower!!
I felt very fortunate and honored when Steve U commented on my thread. He always takes time out for everyone whether they are brand new or experts. Over the last year since I discovered DOW, I noticed that anytime there was a new idea offered or suggested by anyone, Steve would weigh in with his expertise and help to guide the person in the right direction. You could tell he was speaking from his “life’s work” and “lessons learned” and truly cares about seeing folks succeed if they are willing to listen. I learned along time ago to keep my mouth shut and listen to the experience of people like Steve and try to learn as much as possible from them.
Thank you Steve U for spending countless hours sharing your valuable knowledge and expertise with all of us and then ultimately making sure that your message is clear…Get with it and learn by doing for this is the way to successful Gasification!!!
Perhaps all his wisdom to others could be put into a topical file with an index so if you were looking for something on flow rates, or timing, or cyclones (whatever) a person could just go to the index and find what they were after. Whoever was looking could then maybe even talk to whoever he posted it to and find out how it worked etc. and then the ones that received the advice could post the outcome within the topic. A book of sorts. Perhaps it could even be an E-book with the proceeds going to Steve and the Mrs. Not sure this would work because he may have addressed more than one topic in a post.
Maybe this is just a dumb idea. I will leave it up here anyway. Might make some other ideas spark. I wish I could say I could contribute. I had a harder time following his posts, but I think that has more to do with my impatience and not taking the time to read, re-read, and decipher. Well back out to work. It’s a beautiful spring day.
David S
Great idea David!
When I talked to him on the phone he told me someone mentioned to him he should write a book. His response was, “I did, it’s all on the DOW site. Everything I know, is all right there”. Since I have been on this site, I’ve made it a point to read and reread his responses to people that posted that day. There are so many posts I have yet to read but as I progress in my woodgas knowledge, my intentions are to do what you just suggested.
Agree that a book would be wonderful. I have lots of emails to contribute if someone took on that project.
Just FYI, you can list all Steves (or anybody’s) posts by going to their profile page. Steve graced us with well over 1,000 posts in the past two years.
Here is another little “tidbit” of wisdom Steve shared with me while conversing with him about doing the Caddy. To me this is astounding information!
He said that these old Caddy’s had such a long chasie and therefore such long exhaust systems that the moister in the exhaust gases would condensate and end up with the mufflers full of water. When these Caddies were new customers would bring them back in to the Dealerships complaining about hearing a “slushing noise” in the rear someplace, they would look in the truck and every place else. Steve being the genus he is discovered that the muffler was full of water!!
Steve said that for every gallon of gas that any ICE burns it creates/gathers/generates about one gallon of water that goes out the tail pipe!! Normally not noticed because it comes out of the tail pipe in vapor form but because of the extremely long exhaust Cadillac got caught with this problem. He said that after replacing a lot of them the dealers got to where they would just drill a hole in the bottom of the muffler to let the water drain.
This is the kind of wisdom that comes with a lifetime of “hands on” experience and Steve Unruh had a lot of it!!!
May God bless you Steve because you have blessed all of us!!! Thanks, Herb
I was hoping it was not Steves health. Sorry to hear that it is. If we can’t have him back, I thought he should be recognized for his contribution. By acknowledging him in this post satisfies me. THANK YOU STEVE for all your help and advise. I will greatly miss reading your replies. Take it easy and enjoy being with your wife, she sounds like a good woman from what you have said. Dan C.
Hi All on another topic thread there has so far been an unasked question,
“What DO you do about hopper moisture removal Steve Unruh?” Short answer is Nothing.
I did not want to clutter up that topic or any other’s with my way of doing things. Not exactly unique. Very Rural, direct, and always as Practical as possible.
Ha! Then I remebered that this topic got scattered with a few “What would SteveU do”.
I always use systems integrated approaches that are ruthlessly single goal orientated in most everything that I do. Sadly for me, this confuses most.
My personal gasifier system has an SS single wall Tall hopper with no condensate collecting ability at all. See in my photo album.
Shocking, eh? Fit well into my integrations approach.
MY WOODGASING GOAL has always been just turn MY wood now into shaft power to make electricity for greenhouse lighting, chicken house lighting, food freezers electricity and such. Period.
So My trees now as fuel into useable electricity in the most labors and investment conserving ways possible. Period.
50 years I KNOW I can make space heating with wood fuel. That’s always been a known. Even improved the existing unexpected now incorporating in a percentage as woodgasifing in-place.
Just as long been using my trees as building materials. Easy-pleasie. Very well known.
Chemicals I will buy as few as needed. Could make with the inevitable plastics pakaging refine IF really needed.
So for My SOLARwood into electrical useable power after re-resurching the fields of possibilitie (for the third time in my life) it still comes back to reduction gasify convert the solid wood and fuel/run an IC piston engine/generator.
70 years use proven you want the wood fuel to optimally arrive in the oxidization zone at no more than a 10% apparent moisture. Arrive hot and crispy just short of out-gassing.
So that is how I put fuel dump loads into my hopper. Dryed, hot and crispy. No need for any excessive moisture removal then.
Since I already conceded the need for an IC piston engine to generate with I use ALL of that engine’s normally blown off “wasted” heats to just-in-time pre-dry and warm-up my can be up to 60% by weight miosture wood for those gasifier hopper system re-loads.
Short. Simple. And as direct as possible.
An extremely labor and equipment investments conservative system.
Very heat and fuel efficient putting all of these “systems” BTU’s to working now. A woodstovers/enginemans solution.
Not a new approce for me either.
Can be read in all of my posts ListerEngineGroup, GEKOwnwrs, MicroCoGen, VictoryCommunity and new the DOW.
Look for me crying out to surround the engine/gen set in hanged on screened baskets of new wood fuel load. Swap around from hottest to least hot positions as they dry and warm-up.
Ask Jim Mason. Ask Ben Perterson. And I am the most bothersome pest about DOING something rational with the “over there” engine and gen heads heats. BenP finally DID this fuel wood just-in -time conditioning on the VictoryGrid system!!
As my old very wise father-in-law used to say, “Everything does not have to be a such a big deal.”
Short timing now SteveU says, “First you do have to take your head out of your ideaistic, one step at a time, ass and SEE/USE all of your available tools to get the Job done!” Then move onto the next alligator.
BenP now saying this much more nicely in his “20 mistakes to avoid” in #6 of his 201 series.
So Pick your favored by your sensibilities.
Treat the gasifier a just another life TOOL to get the needed jobs done and you will get to your life goals acomplished.