Hi all,
I am getting my brain around the gasifier choices, and I have a few questions.
First, I have paid for Keith’s plans and I am considering building verses buying a completed package.
What is the difference between Keith’s design and the Vulcan? Is there a name like downdraft for each style?
Does anyone make Keith’s design commercially?
Hello Mart,
I think your gasifier chose should be determined by its intended purpose. I have tried to specialize in a gasifier for vehicle use that will take the vehicle down the road at highway speed and blend in the traffic and not be noticed. The design has a wide range or turn down ratio that will let it idle for long periods or travel at fast speeds and make clean gas on both occasions. This is a must for a vehicle application
I see no reason our design couldn’t be scaled down for small stationary use. I have built and run several small stationary units but I want to keep my area of expertise ( I don’t like to use that word ) with the mobile units and more precise mounted on certain models and brands that I have driven hundreds of thousand miles and daily use .
My gasifiers are down drafts but there are not imberts.
There are several companies that sell small gasifiers several are in our classified section of this site.
I know of no commercial building of the Keith gasifier.
Thanks
Wayne
Hello MartH.
In addition to what WayneK has said about your intended usage, your fuel source, quanity, type and your willingness and ability to process it will be a primary gasifier sysem choice factor.
Ha! Ha! On gasifier talking You can almost date and know a fellows reading/experince/personality/learning style with his systems types discriptions. Early was with either with system designers name or a simple clear worded discription. Early Geek was longer “more precisly worded” systems discriptions. Later Geek is “you have to be in the know, to know” " secret squirrel three and four letter Acromyms of these.
Here’s how I sort them out in my mind:
Small internal volume/High speed gases flow types. Can be “Imberts” variations with side jets and a flow constiction area to other types like Kalle, Brandt, LucG’s, StephenA’s ect. These all like open grain, chunked wood fuels sized smallish. Can also be made to work with processed densified fuels like pellets if low ash type. S-O-M-E screened chipped fuel ability.
Next; larger internal volumn “char bucket” types with a much slower perculating internal gases flow like WaynesK’s, IISc’s, some of GregM’s and IISc works. Always zone fixing jetted but these can be side jets, center jets or even up from the bottom jetting. Can have or not have, restictions and grating. Much more fuel types and sizing flexible, but still best with chunked wood fuels with other fuel types as % additive to this. Junk mail, plastics, nut shells and fruit pits, lighter density screened chipped wood fuels.
Then the “Big Pot” difficult fuels high ash AG, municipal waste, and fossil coal and peat fuel gasifers. BIG fuel/burning/reduction volumn areas with slow, slow perculating gasses flow speeds. Have no zone fixing jets. Conversion zones are either created around each individual fuel particle or whole system batch charged floating zones. VERY poor dirty gas in simple small system configurations. These are the majorty of the E-bay types being offered down for the high profit factor. Can be made to work in LARGE, automated dedicated operator industrial community applications. These were the old Urban/City gas plants of the past. Needs to be large systems to be able to afford the extensive downstream gas cleaning, washing, filtering systems and responsible disposal (or not) of the collected, un-completly converted and crap fuels derived toxic wastes.
So . . . for a more precise answer you need to define your intended fuel type and ability to process it and your intended produced gas useage. This IS THE gasifier user triad decision balancing act.
Regards
Steve Unruh
Thanks / Keith, Steve,
I guess my first task is to define what kind of wood I will be burning in the system, and what engine I will be running to define what gasifier I may need to pursue as you stated Steve. I was considering old skids chopped up into blocks to feed the beast as one option, Another is to attempt to get tree mulch delivered, the problem with that would be the high moisture content.
I want to charge up a Forklift battery, then use that battery to power my home.
But Steve is right, I need to get my ducks in a row, first verify my wood source, then I can build around that.
Keith, sorry to hear others are not commercially building your design 
I sure know it works!
Mart
Mr Kieth,
Feel free to contact me if you would be interested in letting us take a swing at building a production version of the WK Machine. Id be happy to give it shot. 
We could possibly have one ready to test later this spring. We could build it and send out for testing, approval and other conditions.
Anyone who wants a WK gasifier built or any parts done contact me and I’ll price it out for you and size it to your application. 386-569-5734 It won’t be cheap but it will be reasonable and strong. Lifetime warranty on the core and hearth. {mine not yours, when I die the deal is off]
Morning Woody,
I can relate to the life time warranties.
When I offer that warranty most folks option for a two year instead.
I think Peter Coronis still has his for sale ??? I don’t know if he built the heat exchangers yet or not. It is untested. Wayne’s design is pretty cool (HOT) which is why he has to add all the cooling fins. That bowl shaped oxidation zone works great. I’m still into the planar thing which was working great on my cavalier till the transmission went out. It will be too cold to mess with that for a couple of months. It was 5 this morning, supposed to go below zero New Years Eve. I have some flex Hi temp hose that I want to work into my truck’s system. The well driller neighbor dropped the stuff off the other day. I will bring a length into the trailer later today to warm it up so I can see how it bends and fits my elbows etc etc … There are many ways to skin a cat … Mike
Hey MattR and Woody nice offers. I hope some take you up on these.
MartH you now have a beginnings to work with. House power on a floaded lead acid battery bank. Fork lift types are great and will give you the best Amp/Hour bang for your buck. These will vary from ~800 to 4000 pounds in 12, 24, 48 and now 72? volts. FLA batts want to be three or four stage charged for the best life and capacitiy untilization. First a high amp BULK recharge - gasifier power good for this. Then a much longer time, lower amp ABSOPTION charge. Same gasifier system power will be very poor at this not loaded down to get hot enough and having to “idle” much too long. This Is were a solar, micro hydro, some wind ( or Grid) systems do a much better job. And well, man, you are in Solar Florida, eh? Consider doing his part of a system fiest if you haven’t already.
Third charging mode is an infrequntly needed also low amperage, high voltage EQUALIZATION charge to stir up the statifified separated water and acid in the tall narrow cell cavities. You CAN do this with a gasifier powered system with the right charger controller in the system. These are spendy too.
Figure on a ~75 to 130 amp in the right system volage BULK charging capabilty needed for the 2-4 hours minimum for your bank. THIS will give you an approximate wood fuel usage at a ~20 pounds woodfuel per US gallon of propane, gasoline or diesel if done with these fuels. My shop power system pencils out at needing 25 pounds of prepped dryed fuel wood for every generator system running hour.
These needed non gasifier/fuel/engine systems will eat up the bulk of a total usable sysem buget and system $'s pretty quickly.
The PITA with “free” delivered arborist waste isn’t the mosture ( you can system waste heats dry for this) it is the green leaf/needle fines mixed in with all of varied sized shredded twig and limb chunks and strands. For a small gasifier you would have to sort screen out all the tons of this for only a 10-15% of directly usable fuel chunks. OR; regrind the whole mess, partially dry it, and then very power intensive pelletize or briquett densify it into something fuel usable. And these will be aclogging high ash fuel. These dofferent aligators will soon eat up your whole power to the house project.
Pallet shipping wood you can break down, saw chunk up with an electric chainsaw and a table/chop saw in your driveway.
So see how long it takes you to generate multiples of 20 pounds of already dryed chunked up pallet wood and decide if you want to do this each and every day for your house wood fuel power.
Just for my house heat up here for 200+ days a year it takes an average of 180 pounds of wood a day. BIG pile and lots of work jammed into an annual 20-30 days in the hottest, dryest time of the year!
Regards
Steve Unruh
Steve,
Thank you for your post yes, I can tell you have been doing this for some time.
I have been slowly moving into solar for the past 3 years. I have a 3 KW solar setup now which I installed, and I am familiar with bulk and equalize charging. I prefer not to equalize but rather use desulfator to get the plates clean inside the batteries ( Battery Life Savor ). I take old used golf cart batteries and recondition them for a backup power setup at present. They are used to run my aquaponics system now, and have done me very well except for the time my inverter went down and I lost some fish But, this system has taught me what these batteries can do and what their limits are.
The main plan with wood gas for me would be for the cloudy days my solar does not work, a fill in the gap measure, and a time that I could run the major loads in the home. So my plan is to have wood gas as a backup. I have another 6 KW of solar that is just waiting to be installed, so looking ahead I am trying to scale the size of forklift and or golf cart battery needed for such a venture. Not there yet, but good to plan ahead for when deals come my way I am ready. It seemed a good use of my extra solar to chop up wood with my chop saw for a cloudy day, via electric chain saw, and then have a backup power source.
Worst case, I was thinking of going to TSC buying the pellets for $5.00 a 40lb bag then running the system with that. I guess it would be nice if the wood gas system could be changed out for either type of fuel of chunks or pellets.
Sounds like you have done your math.
Mike,
Yes, my gasser is for sale. Yes, the heat exchanger is done. Whereas this unit was not built by the PBG, no scrap, duct tape or inferior methods were utilized during construction. Rather new materials, exact tolerances & proper welding procedures were used. NO TESTING REQUIRED.
"I think Peter Coronis still has his for sale ??? I don’t know if he built the heat exchangers yet or not. It is untested. "
Are you saying this unit is deficient? What does untested mean? Have you seen this unit first hand? Why should I believe you? Please be specific so I know whether I should continue to consider buying Peter’s gasifier.