Twenty gallons should be plenty to see if this change helps.
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If it was a simple fire set up i would say you are running low on fuel or the size of your fuel is too large and you are getting rat runs between your fuel so its not cooling down enough , it could also be a cause for weak gas as to why your generator struggles at 2kw maybe anyway its a case of changing 1 thing at a time and seeing what works , also the water drip ,i have run most of the years i have played with charcoal without any water drip at all , if you have a way of regulating the water drip down to maybe 1 drip a sec then fine other wise leave it out and that’s one less thing to worry about being a cause .
Dave
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Hi Carl,
I have not been fallowing along. The design I use for HF clone 212cc has a 2 inch diameter hole at the bottom. Just below this refractory hole is any type of grate. Search for "air carbon fuel cell.’ Been using this for 5 or eight years. Been reliable and consistent for me. Only three ports in the design, air inlet through grates, gas outlet and a top lid. The grate also dual functions as the clean-out. Less chance for air leaks. Have used it to fuel an IHC C-60. A bit too small for that engine but it fueled it.
Edit: Oh, thanks for the poke.
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Hi Tom, Based on the size of engine you are running and the diameter of your gasifier, you should have at least 18" of engine grade charcoal above your nozzle. Much less than that and the chargas may leave the bed too hot or may leave as carbon dioxide instead of carbon monoxide.
Regarding the drop in power when plugging in the vacuum, is the chargas hose to the carb at least 1" in diameter? Is the choke on? How open is the air mixing valve? There is the possibility of a small air leak that is diluting the chargas. There may also be a hose that takes crankcase gasses into the carb. I take those off and plug the hole in the carb as this is a type of air leak. I also recall my experimenting with a small generac generator and ended up giving it to my daughter. I could not get that thing to work well on chargas. Predator engines /generators work great but that generac gave me fits.
Keep plugging away.
Gary in PA
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Thanks Gary. I’m glad for the advise on depth of charcoal above nozzle. I’d like to have to removed and refill the least amount possible while I work out the bugs. I am running an inch out of the blower and into inch and a half pvc to a point just above the carb and then dropping the six inches or so from there with 3/4. I’ll have to check and see if I reconnected the line from the propane regulator. I could be sucking extra air in from that. If the problem persists I’ll make a new carb adapter plate at one inch. As far as that generac goes, I think it would make a good boat anchor. Hard to start since it was new. Actually takes less pulls on wood gas than gasoline. Thanks for the input.
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TomH you say this was always hard to start? Was that on bottle propane? LPG is is whole other game for small engines versus gasoline.
I’ve walked up to new acquired big six cylinder propane generators being bitched about cranking starting up hard to start and being starters gobblers…
Reached under and lifted up the propane regulator cold start enrichment pin lifter. Crank up and away.
And on small engine systems had to hot water dunk the propane bottle to get enough vapor flow going.
Cold climate you, needs to go back a review what cold climate Canadian David Baillie had written about his home propane generators.
Tough, tough to get your cold starting fuel enrichment on propane. Super easy in really cold weather to run lean from not enough bottle vaporization.
Not directly said by diesel-head new member BruceJ. is just how freeing it was going to then a gasoline Honda inverter generator was versus his cranky cold diesels.
More time with the new wife. With his teenage boys. His gasoline snowmobiles were just fine in the cold frozen down. Has to get a generator to match.
So . . .
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This generator is ten years old and has got maybe 10 hours of run time. It was only for power outages and since I put the propane carb adapter on it they reworked all our power lines and we haven’t had more than about a four hour outage. So I have ran it on propane to make sure it would and that was pretty much it. On gasoline, if it’s been sitting idle for any time it will take at least a dozen pulls to start. My log splitter can sit all winter and summer and still fire up on a couple pulls in the fall and that’s just to get gas in the float bowl. After that it starts first pull. Probably a chinese clone engine as well. It’s a Champion. After I figure out what you guys are talking about with the alternator set ups I’ll get another engine for that and it will have an starter on it. I have the 420 cc Harbor Freight engine on my saw mill and it also sits for probably 11 months out of 12 and also never fails.
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Yep. Yep.
My log splitter with a B&S vertical has sat unused since last May.
Top up with fresh gasoline.
Five pulls to get started running again yesterday.
Now as you say it will only take a single pull.
7 plus years old. Probably 3-4 hundred hours total. And at least 12-1400 from cold starts.
2nd spark plug. I strongly suggest E-3’s on these single cylinder engines.
Full synthetic 5W-40 oil after break in.
Gotta’ love no-points electronic ignitions. The better ones will ramp up the ignition timing from cranking speed to full running RPM.
Gotta’ love cast iron cylinder bores.
Gotta’ love push rod overhead valves.
Oh. I should add that woodgasing taught me well that the soots into the oil thickens it. Not a wear problem. The thickening cold will hang up the compression release mechanisns that slightly exhaust vavles lift for cranking pulling ease. Hurts to pull through without this!! I separated a coller bone grunting past this problem. Never been as strong since.
Figure on more frequent oil changes.
For your group just use the alt types they have on their driving vehicles. Screw idealizing. Be: have’it, practical.
Ha! Ha! Heavy wooden board mount the engine. Belt drive the vehicles alternators. V-belt are ideal. But I have system for the serpentine/poly-groove too. Fab up an alternator hinge mounting base. Different engine. Different alt, just board base redrill. Redrill the mounting by hand if wooden base. See. Practical.
Most vehicle alternator shafts are 17mm. The pulleys nut clamp mount. No keys anymore.
S.U.
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Mounting an engine and alternator. No problem. It’s understanding battery management, and inverters and what not that makes me the dumbass. I can read voltage with a multi-meter. Beyond that I’m lost in the fog.
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Yes, I am a simple man with simple needs. 12 V will work fine for me. I have wired a half dozen houses top to bottom and a number of pre computer controlled cars. If I don’t croak soon I expect to be living without an accessible grid. Perhaps a delusion, perhaps not. If so I want lights, music and a way to run welders and power tools. Not a problem. However I also want to be able to run a good sized array of grow lights and a nutrient pump and the pump will have to run 24/7. That means batteries, charge controllers, BMS’s and other things I probably can’t pronounce. I am all about self sufficiency. In most cases I figure that if I can’t build it, I can live without it. I understand lead acid. I have taken those batteries apart to see what they looked like inside. I have a book that says I can rebuild them or even melt the plates down and cast bigger, better ones. Right in my wheel house. I figure if I pay attention to you guys here I will probably learn something about all the secret language stuff you discuss with each other.
I bought a 12 V project book from this site. I have bought all kinds of books from them, blacksmithing, gunsmithing, metal working, old manuals that have been reprinted. I have been collecting old out of print Audels manuals for many years. Your right. Sometimes you need a book.
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That is a new publisher outlet to me. I like it.
I saw three electrical books under the Do-It-Yourself category.
Metals welding stymie me for years to do flexible well no-grid. To do from a battery bank is near impossible. Need a huge bank, and still be a bank sucker.
The answer was easy. Supplied by Mobile Bob, the originator/Admin on the
www.microcogen.info
Get a Miller or Lincoln engine driven welder-generator.
The older ones with the opposed cylinder flathead engine can be had out here in West Coast jacked-up priceland for $1000. and under.
Woodgas fuel it.
Weld and bulk generate once fired up.
Power tools as you know many go cordless. Recharge.
I’ll still keep my corded of course. Use when gasifier engine generator running.
And I still love my air-tools. Air pump and store when in bulk generator running.
It’s your grow lights, and hydroponics pump that are the bugger-do. You just have to pony up for the big bucks newer low draw units.
S.U.
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Tom,
Wow!
I have been off-grid for ten straight years here. Power lines are a good mile away…
Buy a Kill-a-Watt meter. Get a note book and go around and measure your appliances.
Get a voltmeter and put it in parallel with your appliances. Record the voltage drop when they start up.
The Kill-a-Watt will tell you how much energy your appliances use. I am being literal. Energy is a quantity of electricity like watt•hours. The volt meter will tell you which appliances will need big flywheel generators to muscle past that initial surge.
Batteries? Not for refrigerators, or grow lights. You will need serious horsepower for that.
I would start researching and building good muffler systems…some of those old quadrunner mufflers are amazing. Look for four pole generators…1800rpm is soooo much nicer then those 3600rpm screamers.
I have found that large emergency generators are cheaper watts/dollar then the little ones. So I have different size generators for different jobs.
20% is all you can cycle a battery. So if it’s a C&D technologies TEL12 75 amp•hour battery, you can only take it down by 15 amp•hours. That’s as deep as you dare cycle it. So how much energy is that? 12v is as low as I let my batteries go. So let’s say for estimation, 12v times 15amps…that equals 180 watt•hours. Now start stacking that number against the numbers that your Kill-a-Watt meter gives you for your appliances and you will be able to judge how many batteries you will need.
That’s a rough idea, because there are other factors…like surge voltage, and whether the appliances are on at the same time.
It helps to have an exact notion of what you want to do off grid.
It will be less for homemade batteries.
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Lets say you are not delusional, and that you do not croak in the big (insert disaster here) that wipes out the grid and sets civilization back to the stone age.
I am not sure lead acid batteries are going to be the best bet. Yes, they are ubiquitous, and yes you could probably rebuild them out of old scrapped batteries (I hope you stocked up on rubber gloves and goggles). But they are really not very good batteries. It would be instructive to actually try this experiment: with the tools you have on hand at this instant, try and dismantle and rebuild a lead battery. You will then see how much capacity remains, and also figure out what you should have stockpiled to not have it be such a pain.
If you really do believe you will be in this mess soon, then your money will not be good for much longer, anyway, and you might as well spend as much of it as you can on longer lasting batteries. 
Really, nobody else’s money will be worth anything either, so why not take out a bunch of loans? Then you could invest in some Nickel-Iron batteries maybe? At about 1000$/useable kwh they are not cheap, but they should easily last for 30 years of hard usage.
I hope you dont take offense, I am taunting you a bit I think all the projects you are working on sound fun, though, so I dont want to discourage you from pursuing them!
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I have only recently been introduced lifepo4 cells as a change from junkyard ex telecommunication battery’s and so far i gotta say i think they are the way forward for me , still early days but they are so much lighter and easier to move around and unless i can find more forklift battery packs i shall be buying more . i have also got a 16volt Maxwell supercap pack that i use to help start ups of heavy loads on my 12 volt inverter .
Dave
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Well, several posts here and I understood all the words. That’s what I’m talking about. I do have a Miller engine driven welder and by some miracle it was not in the shop when I burned everything else. Hasn’t been run for years and I can’t even remember why but it wasn’t serious. Something shorted out and I needed to take it somewhere to find out why. It’s just a Bluestar, so only a 10,000 watt gen but it is four pole and puts out power at 1800 rpm. Only kicks up for welding. I’ve been using this inverter welder lately.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMICO-POWER-Amico-160-Amp-Stick-arc-DC-Inverter-Welder-IGBT-115-Volt-and-230-Volt-Dual-Voltage-Welding-Machine-New-ARC-160D/304254520
It is dual voltage, much cheaper than the HF titanium unit. It has a decent electrode holder and ground clamp. It’s not great but I got my State of Michigan License that allowed me to weld railroad bridges when I was 19 so I can get around some of the issues. It runs 1/8 7018 on 120v just fine. I haven’t tried it with my 2000 watt inverter/generator but it should work. That means I could pretty easily tote the gen and welder in two hands.
I do have a Kill-a-watt meter. If the grid goes down I don’t plan on trying to run the electrical equipment I have now. We are mostly all electric right now. I had a plan that has been altered since I have been on this site because I now have access to people who actually know what they are talking about and build stuff. Very happy about that. I do know people that are completely off-grid like you are Bruce, but they have professionally installed PV systems with auto generator back-up and big battery banks. Not what I’m looking for and wouldn’t work for me. I live in the woods, hiding from the summer sun.
No offense taken Carl. I poke fun at myself and people like me all the time. Hell, I even think it’s funny when black comedians make fun of white people. I do crazy because I enjoy it. I look at twenty something people and marvel. When you live your life with your face in a phone and prefer to communicate by text rather that just pressing a different set of buttons and actually talk, then you have no actual life skills. I never long for the good old days. A lot of mine weren’t that great, but I did grow up in a time when you were expected to have a few basic skills. I guess it was the blessing of growing up with depression era parents and grandparents who were forced to provide for themselves. When I was old enough to walk good I was out pulling weeds from the garden with my grandmother. I got a visible V-8 plastic see through engine when I was 10 and must have taken it apart and put it back together a couple hundred times. We got erector sets and lincoln logs and I would have loved Lego’s. Before we were old enough to drive we were trying to fix up old beaters and usually ended up with a few parts still laying on the garage floor. Within a few years we were actually building running cars and taking them to the drag strip.
Maybe the real shit will never hit the fan. It would be a true miracle if somehow society could reverse the course it is going down right now but miracles happen. Maybe there won’t be an unusual amount of geological or volcanic activity and the air won’t be filled with sulfur dioxide and the acid rain won’t pollute the water supplies and kill off the crops. I’ll still be probably futilely trying to grow all my own food, build my own vehicles, cut fire wood and mill my own lumber and stay as far away from sheeple as I can.
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- Turn fire into electricity! CampStove 2 generates 3 watts of usable electricity, stores it in it’s internal 2600 mAh battery and works as a powerbank for USB charging of LED lights, mobile phones, and other devices even without a live fire.
- USB charge output with 50% more power than our previous CampStove 1, with updated thermoelectrics creating even more electricity from fire, and Smart LED Dashboard gives you real time feedback on fire strength, power output and fan speed settings
- Internal jets have 4 fan speed settings to circulate air for improved combustion and efficiency to boil 1 liter of water in 4.5 minutes
- Lightweight aluminum legs fold up for nested portability and durability for camping, backpacking or power outages
- The FlexLight is a portable, pliable USB gooseneck for quick, controlled light
I have 12 volt solar panels I have never taken out of box .
had some connected to battery connected to inverter for back up power . When I finally needed it the battery had dried out .
Have diesel generator for backup power
Yesterday I figured out how to unlock the programming for outback inverter but could not find setting I wanted to make change to .
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Talk more about this please. I too use telecom AGM sealed Batts.
Are you building packs of 18650s? What is working for you?
Super cap…is it integrated along with your bank feeding your inverter?
How do you charge the lithium? I mean when it’s cold
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Bruce the latest set of batteries i use are these lifepo4 used 100ah batteries tested to 95ah capacity still in them so still more power in them that 120ah agm .
The Supercap pack sits in parallel between the batteries and the inverter , that will take the mad inrush needed by high demand motors ect , they are amazing items with a life span of over a million cycles , if you have some spare time come onto a facebook page all about them and the batteries .
a full 48 volt pack he sells for $300 au thats a lot cheaper for u in the states ,he strips down those packs and makes up 16 volt packs for the 12 and 24 volt users .
Dave
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Bruce sorry i forgot to mention the cold , where i live it never goes below 1deg c outside and we rarely ever have a frost
so not a problem , the charge controllers are solar vicron 100/50 they are designed for lifepo4 batteries as well as standard lead acid and are wireless as well so can monitor from the house also the cells have a BMS so i can use a standard agm charger to bulk charge them plugged into the generator running off charcoal .
Dave
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