Jeff,
Thanks for the wall action reminder. What if we glue wool blanket, window screen or foam rubber or something else to the walls? Are there other simple solutions for this phenomenon?
Simple Filters for Simple Fire Systems
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Bruce, I think that would do the trick. Anything to break up the path along the wall. I remember reading something about that. The dirty filter media should tell the story.
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I was reading down through this old topic as I’m designing a new gasifier for Africa. This discussion went a little sideways about the difficulty starting up on previously run charcoal. Then I saw this screw in earth anchor at tractor supply.
I thought it might auger down to the nozzle in my MGB to lift old charcoal away and let fresh char fall into place.
After giving it a try, I made this modification:
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Great find on a off the self item. That is going to work great for reconditioning the char bed and fluff it up with new char.
Bob
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Clever use of materials. But the real question is,did it help ease the startup as hoped?
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This is a great example of having a thought and finding the right tool for it… :+100: = 
* 100
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Andrew,
Too many household projects to get the MGB out. When I get some time, I’m going to install an O2 sensor and A/F gauge. I’ll report on start up times when I get her back on the road.
Koen,
Thanks for the thumbs up. For my Africa rig, I’m keeping your maintenance advice in mind: full clean out of reactor and filter every day.
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For the Africa gasifier I will need to add something that gets occasional mention in the old literature, but has been largely overlooked by those of us who drive on paved roads. The dirt roads will require a filter on the primary nozzle inlet. It has been reported that the dust entering the gasifier can make its way into the gas stream and cause significant engine wear. Perhaps a safety filter at the engine will do, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. What are your thoughts on this filtering issue?
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I agree with your proverb but l think a gasifier produces a lot more dust thain the air holds. Til sugests chargas is as such wery rough on the engine if not cleaned properly (opposite to woodgas-the moisture participates out together with most ash). And l agree. I think a sack filter or a paper filter is a must with chargas. I was wery pleased with the arrangement on my Seat, first a towel filter then a air mixer, then the gas/air mix passed the original paper airfilter.
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Hi Bruce,
What engine you’r going to run in Africa, hence what’s the size of the gasifier ?
I also use ( sometimes) an original sportsfilter in line with the engine to filter out the unwanted particles. But mostly not needed if the foam filter is been maintained daily.
Thinking of: what about the oiled filters they use in motorcrossing ? clean the large hole’s sponge, then soak with sticky oil, squese out the residu ond of you go…
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Koen,
250cc engine. 10 inch diameter gasifier. Height is 30 inches of charcoal above nozzle. How long will this run under load before refill?
I too had oiled foam motocross filter in mind for gasifier air inlet. That is what I use for my mixing air filter on the MGB.
Kristijan,
I intend to use a cyclone followed by two vertical 4 inch X 30 inch PVC cylinders in series for the main gas filter. First one filled with stainless steel scouring pads and a piece of oiled open cell foam at the top exit. The second filled with polyester batting or wool sock. I may add a final safety filter just in case someone isn’t careful with these main filters.
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Hi Bruce,
I’m in accordance with Kristijan. I suggest a fabric filter for the gas (felt, fine woven filter cloth or similar) which is the best for dry charcoal gas but I think no filter is needed for the generator air inlet. The gas should be filteres anyway, so some road dust passing the generator is caught here.
Maybe extend the air inlet to a higher level where there is less dust (similar to a snorkel on some 4WDs).
Regards, Til
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Thanks, Til. Makes sense.
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So, it quickly became evident that my filter was too open and let char dust pass. I cut a couple discs of old towel to go between furnace filter material. I think that should catch the fine stuff.
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Looks good. How’s it so far?
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Have not run it sincee then.
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Stuff tends to follow the wall of the filter vessel and may slip by your discs. Many have followed Gary G. who uses a block of foam rubber that he cuts round, and slightly oversize, on a bandsaw.
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Of course the flow will follow the path of least resistance. My original course filter has no discernable resistance to flow, so the dust settled right in line with the center pipe and started to spread out from there. The towel discs are a bit oversized so im thinking the other disks will hold them tight to the wall.
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Due to a very hot and dry summer here in Australia , i have not had much need to run my charcoal generator that often the past few months , well that was up until a few weeks ago when i noticed the lack of sunshine on my panels due to the smoke from the bushfires and then 4 days ago clouds covering us for about 4 days , i live half way up a mountain and so we often have our heads in the clouds up here and its at least 4 degs cooler .
I have limited amount of charcoal left to see me through the fire ban period , so no burning off out side and far too hot to light my wood burning stove indoors , that’s where most my daily engine running charcoal comes from , and so the other day i ran my generator a lot longer than normal , well till the engine stopped if i am honest , and to show you what i found the next day when i went out to refill my system .
First i have to let you know that i have changed my typical 55 gal updraft Gasifer slightly i have a 30 gal barrel within the 55 gal drum while experimenting and not got round to changing it just yet ,and anyway this is what greeted me when opening up and cleaning my system .
notice the white ash covering everything !
this is the lid
from the outlet fitting on the lid the 1 inch pipe goes off to a cyclone with a condensation trap on the bottom ( forgot to take a photo of that as there was nothing showing in the jar at the bottom , so strange will open that up in a while and maybe the cyclone is gummed up with damp charcoal dust )
from the cyclone it feeds into a 8 inch x 32 inch tall thick walled tube that was once my small gasifier , this tube i fill with open cell foam and lambs wool , this tube i have now found out was once part of a sausage meat stuffing machine
this is the open cell foam and lambs wool
Again you can see that the white dust has managed to get past the filter material and carry on up stream towards the engine where i have the last line of defense , and that’s a inline water filter with a fine mesh basket , and i have wrapped a small piece of micro cleaning cloth around it this is what it looked like before and after i gave it a wash out out
So the next photo is the inlet barb into the gas/air mix valve
And as you can see no white dust what so ever managed to get past that micro cloth and into the engine .
Ok so now what do you think that white dust could be ? , i have always had a little on the outer walls of all my gasifers builds when i have run low , but never this amount before maybe its a mineral or something along those lines
I have decided to pull my finger out and do what i said i would do a year or so back and try building a simple downdraft charcoal gasifier i have 1 maybe 2 idea’s i want to try and wondered does anyone else have thoughts on what they they would try ? i know Kristijan’s multi nozzle downdraft looked real good and had plenty of gas .
Dave
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On another note Dave, how far are the fires from you? Seems if you went to where the fires were you could probably scrounge up a couple years worth of charcoal. 
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