Tom Collins' Gasifier

I agree completely, I got a happy laugh in the morning, thanks Tom

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That’s what we want, isn’t it? - Fully manual control.

@TomC , I’m reporting having the gasifier submerged to above nozzles, throttle plates and rags getting sucked into the engine, computer failure and hopper lid blowing off mid air. And you call that LUCK?
I admit I’m lucky being blessed with plenty of wood. I try to make the most of it.
Oh, and no fish ever jump into my boat.

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Hi Al; You say you have a lid seal that does not leak under vacuum. Could you explain what you have? You can see it leaking when you shut down but you say it is not leaking under a vacuum. It makes sense that the vacuum would help seal it, but how do you really know it isn’t leaking under a vacuum? TomC

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Hi Tom, I will try to explain, If I turn the blowers on with the system closed, the vacuum gauges read between 5+10in. No leaks! My lid does not leak at shut down either. I would post pictures, but this new site says my phone pics. are too big.

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Hi Al,
Check out your phone literature or web site to see if
there is a choose resolution option. Choosing a lower
resolution should help. Check them out one at a time.
Pepe

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Checked that, as far as I can find no way to change on an Iphone.

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Al, why don’t you go wild and crazy and make a video? :wink: To add a youtube-link works the same as before.

For pics I use this. No settings needed. Just browse for your pic, press continue and “save on disc”. The new pic named “rez” can now be uploaded.
To me it looks exactly like the original, but a lot less Mb.

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I have never made a video in my life, camera shy :fearful:

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I know I am repeating myself, but transfer pictures to your computer. View the picture on screen, press the (shift)? + “print screen”, open “MS Paint” in any MS Windows computer. Paint will be there, you might have to look for it. Then use “paste” command in Paint, and your screen should be in the Paint work area. Then you can use the “crop” command to only use the parts of the image you want to show. Then “Save As” a JPEG or Email file. that file will look quite good and be a small enough file to upload with no trouble. :blush:
This process sounds complicated but once you try it, you will use it all the time. I do!

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This file was 5 megabytes on my phone, now is 220 kilobytes. Uploaded in 5 sec :grin:

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I send pics to someone through my messaging app on my phone. Then click on the image and “save” it, and there you have a lower res pic that works fine on here.

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Hi Al, I had to go into my picture setting and change it to a lower pixel setting so it would work. I like to take the higher resolution pictures but on this site now we can’t.
Bob

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HOW TO FLARE
Under ‘‘FMEA GAS GENENERATOR’’ I did a long dissertation on the first firing of a gasifier. I don’t, but many new comers use a flare to see if they have good gas. Correct me if I am wrong, but the gas needs a mix of air to burn. If you try to flare at the end of a strait pipe you ‘‘may’’ not get a flare even with good gas – no air added. One correction is, wiring a tin can, with both ends removed at the end of the pipe. The gas flows through the center of the can and pulls air through the bottom and mixing with the gas as it leaves the end of the can. Just a suggestion for new comers who are unable to get a flare. TomC

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Hello Mr Tom

I read on one of the other threads you were sitting in the house while it rain, I on the other hand have come in the house and set down for a little while because we are have some heat breaking records down here and it is really putting a strain on this old man!!!

Very dry , no rain in the month of September .

I agree on the tin can for making the gas easier to flare but if the gas is potent it should light from a spark and burn just as soon as it reaches oxygen .

Don’t want to hijack your thread but here is a very short video .

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Mr. Wayne; I have seen all of you fellows flare many times down at Argos. I have flared the basic gasifier on a couple of builds while they are sitting on the shop floor, without cooling, filters or anything except a 20 ft pipe and a Kirby. When I mount them with all to other goes intos they don’t just flare off like yours. I rely on flashing in the hopper. Other than that if it starts and runs I say a prayer for no tar.
I mention the tincan trick for those that don’t get a flare on their first few tries, don’t throw the gasifer out. This tincan might help them.
I also posted that long post about starting up a gasifier to maybe help the new guys. I know and have seen that you don’t take that much time on start up, but they will need to do the few extra steps to get a char bed and make sure the wood is ready for pyrolysis. I think that everyone who pick up a piece of wood has a different opinion of how much water it contains. I think, blowing back through the hopper until most of the white smoke is gone and a large percent is brown, that you know the wood is “dry”.
Thanks for the video. Always learn from them. TomC

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Yes , you are right on there Mr. Tom . That will really bring the gasifier to life !

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JO; You probably bring up “loose or tight charbeds” more than anyone on here. How do you ditermine the state of the charbed? By the difference in the vacuum reading of the hopper and the ash pit or cooling rail. I just mad a new hopper and put the thermo and vacuum orfice near the top of the hopper. My hopper has been running about 2 in. H2O. My ash pit runs about 5 in. ( fair ratio, but both very low.) When I get on it, the ash pit goes up to 10+ in. but the hopper remains about 2 in.
I was running the kind of, sort of, WK gasifier with no grate and it is about 3 inches from the restriction to the bottom of the ash pit. (pic’s at 1124) TomC

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Correct. Also, you can get a hint from what the poker feels like at lightup.

Personally I feel the state of the charbed is the most important information when DOW. Tells you what the gasifier is expecting from you as a driver at the moment. If you should hybride a little or if you can afford to step on it. If you should leave the truck idling or not. It tells you what airmixing setting to expect and what rail temp to expect.

Think of when you’re just about to wander off to the shop and your wife suddenly tells you it’s time for lawn mowing. You have to be able to read your wife’s state to determine what action to take :smile:

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Well I manage to create “tar” again. Been several years since I have done that. I was going to move my truck, on gasoline, and I found the throttle sticking. I loosened it up, but the engine would not start. I checked it out, and I have spark and gas to the TBI but nothing spraying onto the throttle butter flies. I tested the injector solenoids with a 9 volt battery and they just clicked once. I guess some how they got gummed up.
It is always so hard to take my gasifier apart, that when I do, I don’t just change ONE thing. I make all of the changes that I have thought of or seen others do. I guess this time it didn’t work doing all a once. First, I chunked some wood and the way it fractured, I “thought” it was dry. Then the big change was I went from 5 nozzles to 10. The Imbert tables don’t go any higher than 7. I had a figure for the recommended velocity through the nozzles. I spend a lot of time trying to convert the engine size, rpm, and other variables into nozzle velocity. I kept stumbling because I was working with Imperial AND metric numbers. I have no confidence in the nozzle diameters I used. I have seen others do things with nozzles that led me to believe it isn’t all that important. ( I’m sure Pepe is going to step in and say the Imbert tables are gospel. ) Then there was the reduction zone. I have never used an inverted “V” and this time I did. And finally, I went without a grate. ( Hmmm! Another thing I’ve seen done and I did it because I got lazy).
So, now where would you say I created tar??? :thinking:
If I get the Chev straightened out, I guess this winter will mean an all new build. Probably, another totally off the wall build.:roll_eyes: TomC
When I worked in racing, there was a saying, “You can’t win by always following others.”’

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Good Morning TomC.
The newest DOW format had me locked out for a while there.

I think that maybe I can help you think-through this situation.
First going grate-less should have not given you a tars-to-the engine problem. Grate-less have later flow-volume problems usually from ash building up in the char zone. Although “some” using high velocity move-all grate-less sweeping systems can, and have cleared out their very needful char beds.

Next important to realize ALL raw wood fuel gasifiers DO make upper systems pyrolisis tars.
The lighter molecular fractions of these are then OXIDIZED converted opposite the air jets zone.
The heavier fractions in the best gasifier designs are upper systems held, recycled in the rising midsystem heat and refined out further contributing MORE oxidizable hot gaseous oxidization-zone fuels.
With finally the un-reducable asphalt-like tar sludge mid-sytem (above the oxidization zone) collected and removed from the hearth system.
The evolved full WK system!! And a few others.

It is the fully oxidized then super-HOT mid system gases (and super heated steam) that get delivered to the Hot char zone for molecular REDUCTION to un-oxidized engine potential fuel gases.
I really, really, hate the references/belief of hot char zone as “cracking” tars. Wrong.
The air nozzle oxidization zone is where the pyrolisis upper system made gasses-tars-steam is long-chains to shorter chains “cracked” down.

Inverted V hearths and the true WK take a long time to properly build-up and form their internal gasses directing slopes. Unlike a char bed hand carefully layered you really cannot hand form these char-ash slopes.
Slope-shape not formed and then easy bypassing mid-system channels will rush still-to-be oxidized pyrolisis gases thought he oxidization zone too quickly. Then tars-to-the engine.
A purpose metal walls Imbert and others do not need this time-burning-in flow shaping time. (nope. they just have in-use HOT char directly to internal metals failures within a few hundreds of hours!)

The number of jets. Protrusion of jets ends can make for pyrolosis-tars by-passing channels. Then tars-to-the engine.
You went with many jets flush to the hearth tube walls. Be no between the jets bypassing. However the slow fan out flow from these must combine blend. Takes height to do this. Jets too low to he choker/restriction plate? Char/ash slope not formed guiding these streams to blend and go through the center restriction hole?
Easy, easy then to have a non-oxidizing center flow through area. Then again un-oxidized upper system pyrolosis tars going unconverted to the engine.

Your maybe too wet wood . . .
Given enough system true loading; and then internal heat generating that will not internally heat quench you down below zones effectiveness.
You will convert the excessive fuel moiture to super heated steam and march it trough to the down stream condensers/coolers.
A heavily loaded gasifier system the excessive fuel moisture will result in poorer wood fuels IN to usable gases out economy.
NOT work/heat loaded down; or still system materials into heating up then you will get pyrolosis tars go through to the engine.

These have been my experiences.
Steve unruh

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