David, I was re-reading your post and am having a hard time understanding what you are trying to say here. If the tractor stopped after the charcoal level dropped below the exit pipe 1/3rd down and then you add the “snorkel” so the exit is near the top, how would that give more range? Or did I read that wrong?
Don
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Hey Don,
The salvaged propane tank has a factory 1" bung installed at the 2/3rds mark up the side. My thinking at the time was I was not getting enough dwell time in the unreacted charcoal above the air intake due to the low side exit. The snorkel refers to a pipe extension I installed to force the gas all the way to the top of the tank before it exits. Before the snorkel the engine would shut down when about 1/3rd of the charcoal was consumed. With the snorkel I can burn half the tank before shut down. I also changed my sieving so that probably helped…
Best regards David Baillie
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Hi David.
On your tractor, yellow pipe that brings gas from the gasifier ESC, it is of fabric-covered copper platic?
What is its section?
You regarded that it is a good choice?
Thierry
Hi Thierry the exhaust injection line you see is a natural gas supply line like you would see on a stove in a house. That one is stainless with an enamel paint on it I think. Some have a plastic covering some none. It’s a very common item at any hardware store that has water heaters and plumbing supplies.
Best regards David Baillie
Thank you for the answer David
The local hardware store will supply that 3/8 section, this is big enough?
My wet coal seems.
Is there a way to dry?
Thierry
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Depends on the size of the engine Thierry. There is a lot of experimenting involved. Call a propane supply place or installer, they will have 1/2 inch. For drying propably a big tarp lay it out on a nice sunny day…
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Finally got the tractor re assembledwith it’s new ring gear and starter. It sounds like a hot rod! 6 volt new starter running on 12 volts. I added a few things as well; Some silver manifold paint and a welded in plumbing t on the exhaust with a union for taking it apart. Now to reinstall the gasifier
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So I shop vacced out the gasifier to reateach it. What I found was after 20 ish hours of run time I had about 2 gallons of slag and ash. The refractive is intact and as suspected the slag volcano seems to have built up and protected it.
Pic one slag volcano
Pic two close up of slag… hard to get
Pic 3 cleaned out with no damage to refractive
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Looks good David. Approximately what angle is your nozzle from vertical? Do you think that angle helps now that you have some run time experience?
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Hey Don, it’s at about a 30 degree angle from vertical. I think from the deposit pattern that it does hill up “downwind” so to speak. Maybe that makes it easier to break through the slag the next time? Not sure. Next time I’m adding a clean port underneath for sure! That was a pain in the neck.
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Yes I am thinking the same thing. My arms are just not long enough.
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I rigged my shop vac to draw through a 50 gallon barrel with a second hose setup just like for sawdust. It only took 10 minutes but it was dirty and prone to clogging. The slag chunks I had to lift out with a hoe.
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I use a sauce pan with an 8 inch handle to scoop out all but the last few inches and then shop va the rest. My slag sets in a circle around the nozzle and I pulverize it with a rod and then suck it out. Not clean but not bad.
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boy oh boy… over 2 years! I’ve been away from this for far too long. Dusted everything off, rejigged everything filled it up and did some cultivating today. Sure was nice to get her running on charcoal again.
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What are you planting this time of year? It looks like your tractor did a pretty nice job.
Not planting just tearing it up. The garden suffered severe neglect this year so lots of overgrown weeds. By tearing everything out I expose fresh soil, knock them all back kill a lot of roots and start fresh in the spring. The weed seed should sprout early so I’ll till it again in spring… plus it’s fun!
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Part of my garden suffered the same fate. I tilled it down a while ago and planted a cover crop to avoid erosion. I thought maybe you were trying to do a late planting of potatoes, turnips or wheat or something.
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I think from his pictures that DavidB get to be one of the snow-carpeted winter gardeners.
S.U.
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I’ve decided to try some blogging this winter. Here is the kick off post. Its all well worn material here but it seems almost unknown in the larger world. Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks, David
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DavidB, I’m thinking that Ford is a flat head? If so, how well does it run on charcoal? I’m planning in the spring to try one of my flat heads on charcoal.