Hi Guys,
Jan-Ola, Yes, I understood the design you were suggesting. Similar to the inverted V shown in the first pic below. I tried a variation of that on my fluidyne build. You can find info on it in the early pages here. It worked well, but I had one of those internal leaks where I left part of the tube unwelded. Good flare buuuut something wasn’t just quite right. I have a video of this posted on early pages also. On tear down I found the missing weld. Problem solved, lesson learned! Add it to the 75% operator’s manual. lol. I do not subscribe to or recommend the “dust will seal it” tack. Just think about this for a moment, thermal expansion(movement), cooling(more movement), shaking the grate or running the vibrator(more movement). Now consider the strength of the powder bond. Now consider poor performance and having to disassemble to fix it. I have been there, done that and will never go back. My hourglass hearth is gasketed and bolted in. The smoke cannot go anywhere but all through the reduction zone, exactly what you want for optimum gas production.
Another thing I learned was that the 1/2" nozzle holes were too big. SU suggested starting at 1/4" and adjusting up if necessary. I did and they have stayed at 1/4" for my “numbers” Line C and now line D.
Actually, Arvid, your hand drawings are quite good. I did consider that collar like that way back, but with cutouts in the top cone to fit up under the nozzles. I nixed for the easier one. However, I had just bent a cone for my cyclone so I decided to be artistic and do the hour glass hearth. I love how it works. I will however, widen the cone at the top so it’s farther under the nozzles away from the blast. I want to try a fire tube the same diameter as the nozzle ring so there is no thing protruding into the fuel flow. Probably put a few ideas on paper and start mulling it over, lol.
I wouldn’t run my nozzles flush to the hearth tube… i think you’ll end up having the hearth tube getting too hot. I have not problems with gas bypassing on my hot plate that isn’t bolted down.
Hi Arvid,
I’m glad for your success with the method. You know this is just one of my pet peeves. I’ve been rethinking the hearth tube idea with flush nozzles, though. It’s not like I have any time to build another gasifier right off anyway, lol.
I finally sat down and drew out a plan of attack for my ideal location of my cooling tubes. My head says diametrically opposed would promote rather than interrupt the internal flow pattern. Hopefully I can locate them like this without any interference from the add on components. I’ll lay it all out tomorrow and start taking the unit apart for inspection.
Hi Pepe
This little Wall around the Grate,i made the Same Mistake, try to remove it an make the Grate Circle bigger
Then the Ash can fall down and all can Flow
Regards Ignaz switzerland
Hi Ignaz,
Thanks for commenting. Also a good catch and suggestion. That picture is 2 yrs old and the only pic I had of the gasket and bolted plate. Since then I have a much bigger grate and much better quality gas. Also note that I changed from square holes to elongated slots for better flow. I will be tearing down shortly and we’ll see how well the new grate has held up to the heat. Check out this grate shaker demo-44 sec only.
Regards, Pepe
Also check out the rest of my posts if you want to.
Hi Ignaz,
I’ll embarrass myself and show you my blunder, lol. I had the best of intentions on day one, even had it installed! Since I was using a straight tube hearth I misguidedly re-made my grate just an inch bigger than the tube??? I don’t know! That’s how I got to the pictures posted above. Good for a smile, I’m sure. On the plus side this is when the chemistry and architecture began to make sense to me. I’ve got it right now.
Pepe
Hi Pepe
I did this Grate shaker Type many times, but over the Time it works not well, i combined the imbert Type
Gasifier with the Wayne shaker,perfekt !
Regards Ignaz
Hey Guys;
This may have been posted by someone already, but I think it deserves your attention if your interested in building a monorator hopper much simpler than mine. Also check out his 20 mistakes we make and the Q and A in parts 6 and 7. Watch the whole series, there’s a bunch of really good info you can garner there. Yeah, there’s a little sales pitch. I found it an interesting watch.
Pepe
Couldn’t add this to intended post 01-28-2015 @2140 hrs above. Its the final clean up of the base. Very uniform charcoal.
Seems to keep the blue haze when enlarged.???
Hello gasifier enthusiasts,
I continue with the dismantle. Hopefully this will give some of our newer members a clearer picture of how
my gasifier goes together. I removed the lid. Then I removed the monorator hopper clean outs and the gaskets look OK, I’ll reuse them. Some debris in the moat is shown. It’s relatively easy to reach for cleaning when necessary. Then I wiggled the gasifier over and centered the hopper exactly under the trolley. Next I’ll run my chains up to a lifting ring under the trolley, rig the pulleys, pull it apart and roll it over and set it on the work table. The work table is a comfortable height for welding on the cooling tubes.
Can’t wait to get started on them.
Pepe
Hi Everyone,
I finished hooking up the trolley stuff and started my teardown today. I thought I had all the bolts removed from the burner shell. Alas, I forgot to remove the through the shell lighting port so I lifted the weight of the 2 sections. It was too much for the swag light chain, as you can see. I man handled it and it felt good, too.
Removed the lighting port and separated the hopper with burner unit from the hopper shell and char cleanout base. I’m not impressed with the condition of the gaskets, but it explains some of the gas result deficiencies I experienced toward the end of the run season. I think I will weld a 1" high or so heat shield on the inside of the 2 mating parts like was suggested for my burner exhaust connection that failed. May be a pita, but I think it will work. Have to take care so the units still mate up with minimum interference.
Then I looked at the char left in the grate and gently removed it so you could see how the slots don’t get clogged by small pieces as the space around them allows the heat to eat them away. Also note the amount of fines present. It is sort of packed around the edges against the side of the grate and OK, Arvid, it seals the edges of the slots, lol… How’s that for a grate? This is why you need a vibrator or grate shaker. If this gets clogged too bad, gas quality goes way down. Is this happening to you after a couple of hours of good running? The grate looks in good shape.
I originally was going to remove the hopper nuts from inside the cleanout covers, but the cone can be tilted up for access through the lid. I got the impact tool and bits at Lowe’s. 12 screws on hopper plates, 30 secs per cover to remove. Remember the bent tool I made for manual removal @ 12 minutes per nut, lol! Zippo with the Hitachi 7/16" long shank socket!
PS Don’t forget when you add pulleys the distance the load moves per foot of pull on the standing line lessens. Might want to measure your unit,etc first. Unlike I won’t mention the name of anyone who missed the table by 4", Pepe.
How long did that rope seal last that close too the burn tube, did you coat any glue around seal, how do you keep the seam from leaking, hope your chains dont snap they look light in the pictures.Your gasifier may be lighter than mine, i think mine will weigh about 650 lbs at least with all but the hay filter and cooling rails.I wont need any sand bags for winter next year.Thanks for posting, I get new ideas checking builders designs.
None of my gaskets last more than a season as you can see here. I don’t use the glue because it gets rock hard and I don’t think it would help. I tightly butt the ends of the rope type and cut the flat stuff at a 45 degree angle. There has to be a better way/ product. I’m still looking. I’m going to revise with welded on heat shield channels that I can lay the gasket in. I will post as I go so folks can follow. My chains pulled apart and luckily I didn’t drop the unit. My unit is in the 300 pound range as far as I can calculate.
Don M was talking about he crumbled some of that rock wool insulation onto silicone for a gasket. Maybe he can chime in here on how well it worked out.
This is the gasket between the hopper and the single port air inlet. It held its shape but fell apart easily by hand. More heat shields in order, maybe even channels. etc to contain the seals. I’ll keep you posted. I would say that gasket leaks are as bad or worse than weld leaks.
Thanks for the info on the gaskets, my gasket area will be about 3" PLUS from burn tube,after incoming air sleeves, helps keep some of the heat down, dont have a chanel for the rope either.Those barrow seal chanels seem too work good, I am looking for barrows with removable lids next gasifier for my small s10, YOUR ALL SET FOR POWER OUTAGE TIMES NOW. BBB.
Yes Andrew, so far my gasket method seems to be working really well.
I put rock wool pieces in a 5 gallon pail and whip it into small pieces with a bent rod in my high speed electric drill. Rock wool can withstand 2300 F. temperatures. Then I squeeze high temp silicone (675 deg. F) on both mating surfaces and place the loose rock wool layer about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick between and then bolt the flanges together. The silicone squeezes into and through the rock wool layer to form a 1/16 to 1/18 inch thick gasket. I have not had to disassemble this method yet so I can’t tell you how hard that will be but it seems to work really good.
Yes Pepe the chanel idea works. I also used the flame Buster expanding silicone recommended by Tom C. It worked very well in my app. It also was very easy to remove upon disassembly. I just pealed it right off. In very high temp locations it may not be that easy but on my fire tube top plate I was impressed
