I know we try and present in simplifications, but DerrickD you’ve asked a question that can only be answered in molecular precision.
So what is smoke? Visible water vapor droplets. All kinds of combinations of chains of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen molecules. Hundreds of them. Many of these also visible.
These are all able to be converted into some type of combustible woodgas.
IF you control the processes.
IF you can produce enough HEAT energy to convert them all.
IF you allow the time in zones, in the gasifier (residence time) for these conversions to take place.
IF you have the made available wood charcoal to do the converting. IT does get used up giving up carbon molecules doing this. You must self-generate and replenish the wood charcoal.
Everything done best practices and the only thing you are actually “scrubbing” from the system will be the stripped down to minerals “ash” in the cells walls that the trees up-took from the soils, growing.
Everything designed and best practices operated, and you will be in two places condensing out the excessive three sources of water moisture a system cannot use. The problem here is you will run out of heat energy to use up all of the made available water. WHY the advanced systems insulate, insulate, insulate to retain heat. Adding in heat energy into the inlet air. Adding in heat enrergy to the wood fuel (drying it externally). Adding heat energy into the gasifiers pyrolysis wood cooking zones. The added in heat energy can come from the produced woodgas cooling areas. The added heat energy can come from the IC engine being ran.
And you will also produce “scrub out” some thick heavy refined out wood tar.
And I run counter, thinking you should get-together what you have already, to learn.
Plenty of fellows who do not want to year, after year ride the better-gasifier horse and happy running their generator engines with some pretty non-ideal systems on wood they grow on their own properties. That is their prize. MY wood. MY energy. For me, and my family.
Regards
Steve Unruh.
Derrick, you are not the only one that is here on this DOW sight that has said this. My first atempted was a no go for a wood gasifier, and I remade it into a retort to make charcoal. Parts of another one of my charcoal gasifiers is being remade into another gasifier. This great, to reuse the parts. And now look how much you have learned already. You are on your way to building a great gasifier. Find the plans that fit what you want to do and follow the plans.
What Cody said is true the charcoal build is much easier to build to get your experiance in how gasification works. Once you competly understand gasification. The building becomes easier. Good job on your first atempt. Now on to the next build or modify and make this one work as a charcoal gasifier.
Bob
Quite possibly true. It was released in 1989, which is the end of the Reagan Regime.
Reagan killed any and all attempts for renewable energy.
Honestly the FEMA probably runs better more like a DriZzleR then an imbert.
I honestly don’t think you are far off.
For shits and giggles, try operating it like a drizzler. basically keep a thin layer of new material on top and on fire, and the gas and flames gets sucked through the charbed. you should see small flames on top. block all air input except through the top. However, be forewarned once suction is removed or blocked it can shoot up flames.
With the larger chunks of wood like WK uses, you might be able to have a hopper full since air can pass through without restriction, and suction is limiting the air to the thin layer.
It is just the opposite of what we are telling you, but after looking at the plans again and seeing the drizzler run. i am guessing it works. just not like an imbert. To be honest, I don’t think I would drive with it even if it does work for safety reasons and I don’t think it will be as efficient.
I may just try that Sean, but a further question to help me diagnose - if I try running it drizzled style, open top and still do not produce syngas, would this then positively indicate that I must have an oxygen leak to deal with somewhere in the gas collection zone past the choke point? I am assuming that would mean yes?
It would be a good indication yes. You should probably pressure test it anyway. Just playing the percentages of how many leaks in first time builds over the years, is pretty close to 100%, and usually 2+ attempts to correct them.
and it really needs more of a funnel shape angle on the sides, it is basically the kon-tiki of gasifiers. but eventually char will build up on the sides, and do that. Usually the issue with the Fema’s isnt that they don’t work, but they just make tar. The wood might be too wet as well. I don’t know.
It depends on what he has for a wood source and processing as well.
Looking at the drawing, I was thinking where will the water and tar condensation go if it is a woodgasifier? And the extra tar gooy mess that will drip down the sides of the hopper wall?
Maybe make the hopper taller and not insulated with cooling tubes like a WK hopper, and a gutter to catch the water and tar flowing down. Draining it into a tank.
Bob
Tone cast iron brake rotors were Mike LaRosa’s design. His no-welds. Used as face-to-face doubled up.
Other times used as a single forming the restriction, open upward as the entry. Or opening downward as the exit.
Some have worked forwards from his designs.
And we all have been saving back take off disc brake rotors as a some-day, maybe need.
So has been proven. Used. Works.
Regards
Steve Unruh
It is kind of like LaRosa’s but I think it is closer to what his next one was going to be after the one in the video. He sounds confused or like he is hiding something in the video, but it works more like he describes it but not exactly like you think. It is just a bit dangerous and that is what he was hiding. And I am guessing it probably worked well.
gas, flame and oxygen of course. IIRC Mike had a scare with it, and didn’t want 100s of people copying it especially if it went viral with ID10Ts like MrTeslonian.
The timeline is all mixed up for me. And there were patent trolls on the yahoo list. So any open discussion like ‘hey why don’t you try xxxx’ resulted in xxxx getting patented. Mike really didn’t like that.
This patent expired because of non-payment though:
BTW I was trying to say OMG that isn’t original or dissuade you from doing it.
The only criticism I would have is the bell coming down is going to be a heat magnet, and probably melt quickly.
One of the key aspects of the nozzles, and I don’t know if many do it or not, is you are trying to get even oxygen over the whole bed and reduce channeling in the bed, and other flow issues.
The only gasifier I can think of offhand with nozzle pointed down is the Kalle which is a charcoal gasifier and supposedly fairly popular. But that reused exhaust gas to limit oxygen.
Excellant reply SeanO.
Meaty. Lot to chew on there.
Some was the kind of guy MikeL was. He was not a throw ideas up on a wall and see what sticks. He only wanted to show his ideas after he had made and tried them. Wrung them out for advantages and disadvantages.
On the useing heavy mass drake drum rotors as your core one of the disadvantaged he pointed out to me was long from cold heating up times.
S.U.
That had to have been annoying. I wonder if there’s a GNU GPL style license agreement but for physical inventions. Free to download but don’t monetize it.
I have a thought , its only a thought mind you as i only speak about what i have personally attempted or built and i know 100%sure there are guys on here that could get clean gas from a baked bean tin for sure .
Derrick i am a charcoal user , i did just like you i started with a FEMA , we all have to start somewhere right anyway i built it i guess just as you did following the instructions posted on forums around the world , i did not add my bit too it as i did not have a clue what i was doing , anyway the out come was a burnable gas , yes amazingly it worked first time , and i am sure as sure can be the reason was because i am a crap welder i went over every welded point and pipe joint with silicon i made sure even the fan was sealed with no chance of a air leak , i even offered the gas up to a generator and blow me if it didn’t just start up and work , how lucky was i .
Before running again i stripped out my filter material of sawdust and found a horrible black/brown foul smelling sawdust pile from inside , so refilled with clean sawdust
and later i did the same routine of firing up the gasifier and again i got great burnable gas but now no way would the generator start up , i noticed that it was spinning over far too easily first thing i did was plug out ,was ok so then the rocker cover came off and yep the exhaust valve was stuck down tight , it had been a few days since the last run and so with a little gentle heat and some very large screw drivers and levers i got it free and back together and running again , but almost straight away after that second run i came across Garry Gilmores simple fire on YouTube and have not looked back since as it does all i need it too do with hands off run times ,i don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken , i guess what i am trying to say is before you change anything on that fema as i can tell your itching to have one more go before tearing it down , go back check you have every joint and weld and i do mean every pin hole sealed up and a good suction fan on the end and you will make burnable gas , and as soon as you have achieved that it will inspire you more than words to move onto a proven design gasifier be in wood or charcoal . there is not a week go’s by that i am not impressed with what the people on here build ,they are all artists of the highest order and my hats off to them all we all learn from everyone’s mistakes and achievement’s
All the best Dave
Dave,
You would make a great wood-gas motivational speaker. Very impressive. I had already gotten the memo on the FEMA’s shortcomings before building anything, so I started with the SimpleFire and, I too, am satisfied that it provides what I need. Thank you, Gary Gilmore.
