You have a lot of fun ahead Marcus. It’s always like that - you solve one problem only to create the next.
Wood supply, chunking ability - check. Next up is drying and storing ability. Finally it’s about finding places to go
For most places I go that problem will require another gassifier build I don’t feel like towing my 14’ fiberglass boat with the Toyota, and I definitely can’t haul my full size camper with it. And mountains are where I love to be and that usually requires 4wd which the V10 has. Only issue is the wife doesn’t like being packed in the single cab with the kids. So I’m watching for a blown up or wrecked extended cab to swap all my drivetrain into. But in the mean time if I find the parts I can build the whole gassifier system on my standard cab and it will swap straight over to a extended cab chassis with how I have it designed in my head, and still be able to haul the camper and boat. Be funny going down the road with a boat loaded full of wood chunks I think
Careful with broad For-All techniques RindertW.
You are Colorado winter dry air. Ha! Even when it snows.
Same for WA East’sider (dry-sider) BobMac is dry air.
WA, wet-side; and I figure US southeast our airs are 95% of the year minimum 70% humidity to 90%+ humidity.
Your thick stack will interior mold and rot badly for us. Never interior dry at all for us.
Leave it loose; and air flows permeable; and in and out it on sunny breaks. Then use bag.
S.U.
Steve, Here in central Indiana we have the same summer 70 to 95 % humidity that Wayne and those to the south have. I know there is similar humidity range in St. Louis and it probably runs to the east coast. So a lot of the DOW guys fall into this range.
Even over here with dryer air we can get mold in the wood chunks if not dried to 18 % or lower. Have to be careful not to seal up bags to tight when stacking bags. Especially this time of the year and spring time. I have not been out to my stored wood in bags and wire bends for about two weeks now. Sigh, and the truck is still snow bound hopefully this week the weather will help melt the snow away and I can get it out to drive again.
Bob
How hard is it to get those 300 gallon heating oil tanks in your area Marcus? When they got more natural gas lines ran in this area they were plentiful and free for the hauling. I made a lot of stuff out of them. They are pretty much gone here now. Anyway, At least to me it makes more sense to fuel a gen set with charcoal. While making charcoal there is a lot of waste heat. It should be used for something. I would cut a hinged hatch in the top of one of those tanks and pump the waste heat from a charcoal kiln next to it through the wood tank. Dries the wood and if you have more tanks, a place to store it periodically giving it another short dry. I would also make a conveyor that would feed the wood directly from the chunker into the wood tank. None of it seems very difficult to me.
Looks like treasure chest
Steve,
You’re right. I forgot to add that I live in a very dry climate, and the things I do probably won’t work for everyone. Actually I put a HF tarp over that pile of chunks to keep the rain and snow off. You may have seen the ‘Marshal Fire’ on TV. That came within two miles of me. @!%%#
I’ve been making an ass of myself since 2009 trying to get them to mow the tall grass around here, like the old ranchers used to. And I’m not the only one. The main reason I ever even got involved in woodgas was to try and be a part of the solution to wild fires here in the west. 90 mile an hour wind blows down a power line, catches tall grass on fire, spreads to 600+ homes! Not feeling very good about things right now, but counting myself lucky I didn’t get burned out.
Rindert
Huh, who’da thunk that problem would be so simple to solve…
Just keep the pile of small debris swept out, and the chunking motion gives a very nice shaking to the wire that sifts it all out
Oh if it’s a little damp ( I sprayed the wood pile down with the hose) the chunker will walk through a pine 2x4x8 like nothing
How has the cutting edge held up?
Those shattered chunks are perfect for a high performance fuel.
The dry stuff is hard on the edge, it rolled over a little. Nothing a few quick strokes of the file won’t clean up. Little bit damp treats it way better!
I just kept grinding the rolled edge off until it stopped rolling over.
Made a more thicker edge still cuts good.
Bob
That’s exactly what I figured would happen once the softened face from the torch cut wears off it should work harden the steel and hold the edge
i welded a piece of hardened steel to the edge on the very end of the spiral it seems to hold up well.
How big? I would imagine pretty decent size so the weld didn’t soften it touch?
I used about 3 inches of a coil spring and then ground it down.
Perhaps a chainsaw blade would work well, otherwise it consists of three layers, so one could adapt to the shape of the cutting drum, but there are also electrodes with which to weld teeth and cutting surfaces for excavator buckets
Well I know the lumber market was hurting for a good while there, and it is showing by all my pallets at work are now pine instead of the locally sourced Douglas fir. Been running the wood burner on straight pine for a few weeks now and I’ve discovered it will plug up my truck in about 40 miles for some reason. So now at every light up it gets a good grate shaking to keep it freed up and breathing right. More learning and burning. The good news is the chunker walks through pine boards like butter wet or dry. Less wear and tear on the cutter head, though I will need to revisit the sliding motor mount. The material I used was only 1/8 and is stress cracking under the belt tension. Not a big deal it’s running good and making chunks while I gather parts to bulk it up for the stress of life as a chunker