I will update with final totals as the project progresses, but here’s where I am tracking.
I am mixing sources for materials as I have found no one size fits all;
New - steel (firetube, heat sinks, cooling fins, angle iron, 5 gallon drums with leverlock lids)
Scrounged / Scrapyard - (1/4" plate, condensate tank, 2"EMT for cooling rails, 3" tubing for uprights, sheetmetal for hopper condensate tank)
Craigslist wanted ads I posted - (2 NG Water Heaters, air compressor tank, well tanks)
Craigslist ads I responded to - (Three 55 Gallon Drums)
Home Depot - all sorts of fittings and accessories as per parts list.
Web Stores (Amazon, Boat Store USA, eBay, DiscountSteel, Omega, and others) for blowers, odd sizes of pipe, instrumentation, post caps, etc
I had to purchase my welder and plasma cutter, I would have eventually bought these anyway, but this project dictated they be bought now. I was delayed most of the summer re-wiring the house (this needed to be done when we bought it, but the 60A main service wasn’t tenable, especially given my need to run the welder, plasma cutter, and air compressor). I had to locate and purchase a truck as I did not have one. All of these challenges added time and cost to the equation.
$3,000.00 - Gasifier Construction Materials and parts (this may reach $3500 when I’m finished
$2,010.00 - Running Gear - Welder, Plasma Cutter, Cart, Cord, helmet, apron, slag hammer, etc
$3,890.00 - Truck and parts required to bring it back to stock and to reliable condition (not finished)
$6,200.00 - Labor (I’ll use Dave Bloom’s figure as I haven’t got an hour total yet, but he’s close)
Then there are the unseen costs - electricity (probably $300 or so), shielding gas, welding wire, etc and in my case (now) heating the garage (snowing today). Also, non-essential bell and whistle items I already had - PLC, touchscreen monitor, Box PC, automation software & other “toys”.
Not trying to frighten those wanteing to get started, at this stage of the build I feel that an individual who;
1 - Already has a vehicle suitable for conversion
2 - Already owns the required metalworking tools
3 - Is building the typical WK gasifier
4 - Is providing their own labor
Should expect to spend $3K-$4K, unless they already have a LOT of the required materials already in hand. This may sound like a LOT to invest, but given that fuel is (right now at least) hovering around the $3.50/gal range assuming you have a newer car that gets around 34 MPG that’ll only get you about 34K miles of driving (assuming a $3500 build cost). I’ve been known to drive this in 2 years…and the independence is priceless.