I hauled in some chunker food.
That should put some miles down!!
Peter, nice score.
I’ve been burning board cutoff’s lately and have had some bridging problems. I plan to mix it with chunkier wood to see if it helps.
FYI
Nathan, I am hoping chunker cut vs saw cut may make a little difference with the bridging. Are you saw cutting? I think Chris Ky saw cuts boards with no bridging problems. I believe someone posted that they cut their wood on a slight angle rather than square.
I’ve used saw cut boards with no issues, however with real thin stuff like plywood I like to mix in some blockier fuels like branch sections. A diet of pure 3/4" squares may lead to some bridging. The tar can glue together flat surfaces easier than round or irregular ones.
I will mix the thin chunked cedar with my already chunked round fuel.
Peter,
I’ve been band saw cutting 1x6 and1x8 air dried pine, most of it rough sawn.
I rip them in half and cross cut into roughly squares.
The bridging problem occurs when you shut down and let it sit. Yesterday I filled the hopper and drove about 6 miles and then shut down for about an hour. To start back up I turned on the vacume blowers and it looked like I was making good gas but I couldn’t make enough to do anything other than idle.
When I looked in the hopper it seemed like I had 2/3’s of a hopper full, when I poked it all the wood fell down in,with the wood level now at the funnel.
Now when I shut down for any amount of time I plan to check for bridging, at least until I’m more familiar with the fuel.
Thanks Nathan, good to know information. What gauges are you running?
Nathan: Maybe just assume you are going to have bridging in those situations and give the hopper a few solid thumps before trying to open it up? Or you could use dino fuel and drive over a speedbump/curb on purpose.
It sounds to me like your core is still burning fully when it sits, which consumes a lot of your wood into the hopper. If I have read things correctly, one closes the air intake valve at shut-down to put the core “fire” into a standby/smouldering state. Could it be that your intake valve is either being left open or isn’t shutting correctly? Is my understanding sound?
Hi Nathan, My fuel is 100% squarish, lumber type too, and once in a while I bridge too. I watch the hopper TC to tell my when things are not right, ( then since I’ve replaced the hopper lid handle with this 1-1/2 " pipe nipple, I can just uncap and polk around to knock down bridges, and give me wood level, without the smoke and face burn danger. Only takes a minute or two.
Peter, I have the same setup as Wayne. Two temp gauges, two vacuum gauges and a air/fuel ratio gauge.
Brian, I think your right on. I can’t remember but I probably left the intake air open.
Carl, Thanks for the tips. I never thought to look at my hopper temp as I knew there was plenty of wood. Nice setup with that handle/port.
Finally got my grate. Unfortunately it did not fit past the firetube when installing through the door. Am redesigning & cutting another grate. This one will be for sale at cost.
Very patriotic Peter. How much are you asking?
Haven’t received the bill yet ------ should know tomorrow
Welcome to the club Peter
I have an extra gas exit port on my drop box.
Dave
Walk around of my S10
Thanks Peter ,
Truly a work of art.
Thanks Wayne,
I think last weeks learning some of the 75% before completing my build will be beneficial. Detail detail …
Looking good Peter , I like your Flames you made .I’m looking forward to seeing you fire that thing up
Very nice looking and well thought out. Great fun ahead!