A step in the right direction, when I got home and turned off the car I heard the water running into the container from the hopper.
Today the car worked almost like the other one, however I saw that I have a leak between the hopper and the unit, I also think I have a leak on the unit itself, although I didn’t see anything during the pressure test, half a lemon anyway.
14 Likes
if you fix the one, you can hope you accidentally fixed the other, or it becomes a lot more apparent where it is at.
6 Likes
Hi Jan, I am looking at your new gasifier hopper, does it have more wood in the hopper when it is full then the old one? If so try only filling it 1/2 way up. Maybe it is the extra weight of the wood in the hopper that is causing your problems. I say this because one time I wanted to get a few extra miles out of my hopper load and I filled it to the top tight when I closed the lid. That wood gas run was good but then went poor gas. The wood hung up and lost my charbed, hopper got hot but temperature on the gage said normal. Then the wood fell down in the hopper when I was driving and the gasifier produced very poor gases. I had to switch over to gasoilne fuel to get myself home. At home I opened my hopper and lots of dark, dark brown smoke came out. I do not fill my hopper full to the top over full and close the lid any more, learned that lesson. Better to have some place on top. To much wood weight pressing on top of the firetube opening might cause a hang up of wood chunks, this may be the problem you are having. The lighter wood load in the hopper is good so it can flow down into the firetube more easy. This made a big difference for me. For my gasifier about 30 miles down the road is my reloading time at highway speeds for my gasifier. Over fill the hopper with wood, I might get 40 miles but the wood might hang up in the hopper so I will have to pull over in 20 miles to fits it. When hopper temperature starts to go high it is empty. But when the power is lost and bad, and temperature looks normal, I have wood hunging up in the hopper. This is why I have left the hopper the same height that Wayne built it at. Just sayin.
Have you tried making some rocket fuel and add it into your hopper yet. Just mix in some big and small chunks of real charcoal with your wood. This might help if you are losing your charcoal bed on heavy pulls going down the road. Charcoal also will soak up extra moisture in the hopper then it release it in the hot zone in the firetube making extra hydrogen gases. Lots of different things when it comes to wood fuel. Sizes, types of wood.
12 Likes
Thanks for the tips Bobmac.
I think I’ve got this sorted now after the new hopper, I get a lot of water out and the wood is completely dry when I start, before the wood was damp the day after.
I’ll probably put in one of those weights that you suggested before, it worked great in the old car.
The problem I have now is getting a seal between the hopper and the unit, the hopper is uneven at the bottom and made of 3mm stainless steel, so difficult to smooth out.
10 Likes
This is what the wood looks like when I start in the morning, completely dry, I have some thoughts, now the car runs quite well, but I think it is a little weaker than the old one, I only have a 48mm pipe on this one, I wonder if it is too small?
The outlet from the unit is a regular exhaust clamp, I see a little smoke there when I push the air in when igniting, could that be a cause?
I also run a y-pipe to the radiator, one pipe to the engine and the other to the water tank, I wonder if it will be a restriction?
Should I try to fit a 60 pipe instead and maybe put the tank for the radiator under the car?
10 Likes
Jan, I can answer your question with a “relative” (depending on) answer… so as not to bother with formulas, I will ask AI the question:
Calculate the resistance in a pipe with a diameter of 48mm and a length of 2m, if gas with a temperature of 400°C flows through it. This gas is cooled to 30°C in the flow and mixed with air in a ratio of 1:1, the flow rate is determined by an engine with a working volume of 4.2 l, which rotates at 4000 rpm, the throttle is open at 100%.
I checked the calculation procedures, which are ok,… the result is 0.024 Bar, or 24 mm of water column.
If we also take into account the impurities that accumulate in the pipe, the resistance will be even greater.
Jan, if I had a vacuum gauge installed in the intake manifold, I could see what the vacuum is at full engine power. I have this measurement on my tractor. Well, with the previous gasifier, the value was 0.05 - 0.1 Bar, and now it’s 0.00 - 0.05 Bar.
7 Likes
Tone, I dont know about AI, but it missed a zero It is 240 mm. Quite a resistance, filter ads some… dont know just from my armchair. Sorry
8 Likes
Thanks, I thought so too, started buying things yesterday to fix this, hoping I can get a 60mm pipe through next to the engine.
7 Likes
Will an upward bend for the condensation water from the radiator be too bad?
I was thinking of putting a hose from the bottom of the bend to the tank.
5 Likes
We went out on the forest roads for the first time this year, the roads had dried up pretty well, the new car worked really well, it will be interesting to see tomorrow how the throttle is, if there is any tar in it when I idle for so long.
I tested how much water I got in the hopper, emptied the tank when we left and had 2 liters when we got home, had driven about 30km.
15 Likes
The car hasn’t wanted to start on gas for a couple of days so I’ve started on petrol first.
Now it stalled when I got home and wouldn’t start on gas, so I looked under the hood and thought it was the tennis ball that was malfunctioning, but I think I found the fault.
Do you have any suggestions on what I can use instead of an inner tube?
12 Likes
Is there a lot of vibration at that joint?
6 Likes
I’ve used this flex dryer hose for a lot of things Jan. It may need some kind of reducers to fit your system.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Deflecto-Semi-Rigid-Flexible-Aluminum-Duct-4-dia-x-8ft/5005422529?store=&cm_mmc=shp--c--prd--app--ggl-_-
Should have added to wrap the section you are using in a couple of layers of duct tape because it punctures pretty easily otherwise.
7 Likes
It appears to me like it ripped similar to how the synthesized rubber rips. See if you can go to a industrial/ag type of tire shop and ask if they have an old inner tube or piece of natural rubber.
7 Likes
Don, no vibrations I think, but it could be like Sean says it’s just plastic in the hose, have put an old hose in now let’s see if it holds.
Couldn’t open your link Tom.
7 Likes
Synthetic rubber has been around for decades so ‘old’ may not be natural. As a side note natural rubber can be melted and reformed. if you want to make a custom hose. 
The drier vent is just that thin aluminum foil with a piece of spring steel in it to give it rigidity. It connects the drier to the outside vent. Which also may work…
9 Likes
Those welds look OK to me!
6 Likes
You should see them up close, I’m going crazy before I get the flux welds tight, I think I’ll have to take my bottle of gas home again that my son took.
4 Likes
Went out to the forest again yesterday, and we think the car ran a little worse, the temperature out of the unit was up over 600 degrees c (1112f) a few times.
However, I’m not sure about the thermometer because it was at 600 and just after at 380c (716f)
Wondering if the exhaust clamp I have just outside the unit is loose, or if the thermometer is broken.
Felt the outgoing pipe from the filter, (should be like after the heat exchanger) and there it was maybe 60 degrees c.
6 Likes