Do we have a guesstimation of when it will be available?
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Hi Scott,
Thanks for starting this topic, I will use it to post updates on the book. Here’s the status quo.
Wayne is currently building his latest truck, the 1992 Dodge Dakota Sport. He’s aiming to get done with it in time for the meetup in Indiana, May 18-20. Once he gets back it’s haying season, long days on the field. That goes on throughout June.
As for myself, we are currently moving to a new house, I am working full time on this and other projects, and time is scarce for writing. However I know how valuable this book will be to many of you and it’s high on my list. Unfortunately right now other things are even higher on the list.
All that is to say, we are aiming for late summer but it will probably be later than that. I will be posting parts of the book as it gets written in the Premium section. Once we have the book written and edited down it won’t take long to get it printed and mailed out. I will be getting and confirming addresses from some of you at that time.
This is why we have focused for now on the videos and website information - I know several folks are building gasifiers and need that information ASAP. I will be posting videos regularly (not this week, I am on the road) and should have the entire process in video. We are about a third of the way already. Plus there are pictures of the whole process, and we are here to help with questions along the way. The answers will likely be part of the book, so feel free to ask - it helps in more ways than one.
Stay tuned!
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There is more than enough info on the videos and the 92 Dakota thread on the premium side to build a Keith style gasifier with all the components right now. Your biggest hurdle will be the skills and equipment to do the job. You will have to log on to the premium side to get to this info. but it is well worth it. You will also see a later model truck that is running a version of his gasifier on OBD2 and what is good with the truck and what is not. The gasifier took 250 hours to complete the whole system and it works flawlessly everyday. So if you have the skills to weld air tight seams and you have good mechanical ability and good fabrication skills I would say go for it. If you lack in any of those areas let me know, I may be able to work out a way to help you build one. We plan to start a DIY shop down here in the near future after the dry season.
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Just thought I would update this. Moved into the house, Wayne finished his truck, is getting his hay in, I’m getting ready for another round of videos next week. But you want to know that the book is coming, right? Well it is. I have spent the last couple of days pulling a bunch of Wayne’s most helpful replies and trying to organize them into sections. For example, here’s the raw data I have so far about blowers:
On the Dakota that I drove to Kansas I have four bilge blowers plumed in series in the wood gas line between the gasifier and filter. As I use the blowers to heat up the gasifier the gas is vented to the atmosphere. Once the gasifier is hot enough I close a valve and the gas is pulled to the motor. These four blowers are wired with reversing switches. I can also have the valve and fuel hopper open and reverse the motors and push air into the system and up through the grate and out the hopper. Also on the fresh air intake going to the nozzles of the gasifier I have two of the same blowers that I can switch on to force air to the nozzles.
What you saw in Kansas was me reversing the air flow of the gasifier, making it an updraft. When it was making gas I turned on the nozzles blowers pushing fresh air to mix with the gas from the updraft.
On the Dakota you saw, I have the four blowers wired so I can reverse all four. On some of the other trucks the v-10 and the one I am building now I have four blowers plumbed in series and a fifth blower that is turned in the opposite direction and has it own switch.
The one blower will force more air in the updraft mode as the four blowers running in reverse.
The last blowers I bought was the Seachoice in-line bilge blower model 41851 4 amp. They are less than twenty bucks. I couldn’t find the paper work but I think I bought about two dozen.
I use the 3 inch blowers because they are so easy to connect to 2 inch piping (steel or PVC). The 3 inch and the 4 inch blowers have the same motor.
The blowers are all at the back. On some of the Dakotas Wayne has an extra blower pushing in the intake to the gasifier.
Over the years I have tried small heater blower motors all the way up to roots system superchargers for starter blowers and have tried them in several location over the system. (Pain is a wonderful teacher)
The blowers are just for stating purposes and are vented to the atmosphere. Once the gasifier is started and heated up the blowers are turned off and caped of closed and the gas is routed to the motor…
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we appreciate the updates and understand “real life” comes first. one of the hopes i am entertaining is that when the book comes out, there will be drawings with “cut-aways” that will illustrate systems showing us color-coded pathways (ie: where the fresh-air comes in through the fans, then as it routes over to be pre-heated by exhaust, and onwards etc). my own real life is currently so full, i can only merely just attempt to keep up with reading at the site here, and hope for a break sometime in the near future to see if i can’t attempt my own gasifier.
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Hi Robin, It was nice meeting you, another surveyor, at the Indiana gathering. I can’t keep up with my paper work here and pray for 2 weeks of rainy weather to do so. Been dryer than a popcorn fart here. Wayne’s build is very unique but obviously works great. It has been fun following the progression all these years. I’m migrating back to smaller vehicles and hope to get this 97 cavalier plumbed up soon. I plan to run it on the same trailer I had in Indiana that runs my truck at a reasonable local pace. I expect to be able to do highway speeds with it. The truck goes 40 miles on a hopper but my guess is I’ll be able to do 60 or so with the cavalier. Eventually I’ll get to see a copy of this book. In the mean time we just had a new batch of deer ticks come out and I pulled one off of Sue this morning. I don’t know how she missed that one as it was right on her forearm. Be careful, Mike LaRosa
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thanks Mike, the pleasure was also mine. i’m still floating in the euphoria of seeing all the gasifiers and having met so many interesting make-it-happen people at Argos. i know what you mean about the ticks. this has been the worst season here in Maine since they first showed up in the early 1980s. i will be praying for rain for your state and i know how nice it can be to take a break from field work.
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Hi, any recent status updates on the book?
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received mine 2 days ago. got to read a fairly large portion of it yesterday. excellent! exceeds my fondest hopes. as the cherry on top, the genial and likeable personalities of both Wayne and Chris come through clear as a bell. i am still entangled in construction projects on the homestead, but this is really the turning point for me, to have something in my hands to pore over and prod me daily to get a start on this project.
THANK YOU both!
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How do we get it?
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Kevin, you’re paid but I need your mailing address. Please contact me. http://driveonwood.com/contact
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Thanks Chris,
This was probably covered someplace and I missed it.
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We are just about out of books here at DOW HQ! I’ve got more ordered, they’ll be here in a week. If you order in the next week, there will be a short wait while we reprint. I anticipate that we’ll resume shipping next Tuesday.
Second run doesn’t get signatures or thumbprints. If you want one of those, you’d better order fast!!
(We’ll sign and thumbprint them at Argos if you want to bring your copy.)
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Chris, We had to dump the left over char last year. We spread it in one of the drives and in a couple of other areas and smashed it down … Bio Char :o) … M
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Really good news!!
How many copies have been printed so far?
I dont think they will last long.
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Got to get me one of those books…Maybe this weekend, depends if I can spare 50 …Where do I send you guys money?
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Ron,
These are micro print runs. The first batch was 375, and I just took delivery of 125 more. These days, there’s no reason to print up 10,000 copies and hope that they sell (the old business model). We’ll just print them as needed. So far our short run printer is doing an excellent job.
Johnny, I’ve emailed you some info on ordering. Anyone else wondering, do what Johnny did - use the Contact Us button at the top of the page. I’ll get you some payment instructions ASAP. Thanks!
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Just sent the payment a short time ago. Looking forward to getting started. A friend of mine from Nebraska is encouraging me to get a unit up and running.
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Thanks Chris…Just sent my payment via paypal ,and am looking forward to receiving Waynes book…
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