Woodgas for a short commute

Hi Max, My wood is all kiln dry and I only put in enough to get me one way there.

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Agreed BruceS,
It is Chris and family having the farm-place now that makes systems integration the actual must-do.
Not at all about a did-it; one-system accomplishment, shout-out.
Make each and every by-product a part of the whole working system.
Why I’ve learned well to hide any hard to make out of DF wood charcoal from my BBQing wife.
She will seduce me with wood charcoal bbq’ed marinated asparagus spears.
S.U.

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I had my wife read this one, Steve :star_struck:

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Hi, Chris!
21.5.2019

How about a small pickup + the almost ready plank? If it is not scrapped?

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Yes what Max said. Hi Max, it great to hear from you again.
Bob

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I love that idea, charging the leaf with a gasifier generator set, using the battery for backup at night home or whenever needed…
Short distance is almost impossible to do otherwise ( efficient way i mean ), or, you build a 10 miles charcoal cartridge gasifier, switch the cartridge on your way home again…

Inventing same time as typing… why not make 2 small barrels, 25 gallon type, gilmore styled gasifiers, but only one driving set filters… just switch the barrels…

quality Charcoal does not need a long startup… the old leftover charcoal can be reused next day…

We started using this principle in school now, for the farmers and for shows… we just switch the entire gasifier pipe from the frame…

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I like that idea Koen of two separate gasifiers! My commute is a bit longer, but i need to stay clean. So, preload the night before, and just light and away!

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Koen I have given a lot of thought to the short trip problem since moving back to the farm and electic with a wood powered generator is the best solution I have come up with. The biggest issue here for me is a lot of my driving is less then 1 mile and then the truck sits in the field while I load or unload at the barn with my tractor. Or all winter I move hay from one barn to another to feed my cows. So for me a short range system on electric makes since. I have even though about a small generator with charcoal in the bed so I could make longer trips if needed.

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7 posts were split to a new topic: Electric trucks

Hi, Carl!
24.5.2019
If your silo never gets dry on those short worktrips, and continue rusting the lid and frame,
there is only one radical solution:

Make the lid and its frame, or whole the silo from Marine quality or accid proof
stainless steel.

After paying that, the accid problem is solved…

In the meantime, avoid oak and other “sour” accid-containing woods.

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Another trick is to try to burn the hopper down to less than 6” above the nozzles. Then there is not a lot of wood for the cool down heat to send out steam
I know it is hard to predict how much wood to load but I have found that the lower wood is always “torrified “

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Small vehicle donors of that era are near impossible to get here. Personally if I’m working I’m driving the work truck money is coming in so I burn the expensive dino juice. I think the underloaded wood gasifier or the charcoal cartridge gasifier is the way I would roll if I wanted to drive on wood. What is your gasifier status Chris? What do you have that could be put in service? I do not know anymore. How much wood do you have available in a year? Do you have other uses for it like heating? What is you wood heating requirements? You know where I’m going here; charcoal byproduct. I can make a gallon equivalent a day during heating season. …

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What I have done is just keep driving. If you get close to home, and you now have let say 10 more miles left in the hopper, it’s time for a SWEM Joy Ride. I call it a SWEMJR
( pronounce, SWEM Junior). When I see the temp start to climb in the hopper, I will switch it to dino fuel, and head home to dump the hopper juice. This seems to work good for me. The next time I use the gasifier and pock with the rod in the char bed, it is a lot easier and lighting it up. If you burn it down to close to the nozzles, I top it off with some courses charcoal and with some brands mixed in from making charcoal. This is a good way to use up your charcoal brands. I have bag in the back of the truck ready to use if needed.
@mggibb, @KristijanL, others , and myself have been doing this for Quick start ups and short diving trips. Pay close attention to the videos of @Wayne putting wood into his gasifier. At times he mentioned he is making a short trip and he will only put a bag or small amount of just wood into his hopper. This is more of the “Other 75 percent” of knowledge on running your gasifier system. With practice you will know how much wood added vs. Distance for traveling.
Bob

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SssWhEM-JeR-r-r-r on man.
Pure gold in this advice BobMac.
S.U.

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Bob the problem with your solution to the short trip is that Chris only has a 7 mile trip to begin with so your 10 miles of joy riding will more then double the milage Chris has to put on his truck everyday. That doesn’t seem like a practical solution for his work commute.

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On the other hand, pretty quickly it would be known what amount of wood that fixed trip would require…

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Hi Dan, with practice you can put just the right amount of wood into the hopper to get to the your job and then after work relight the gasifier and reload your hopper for the drive home. Chris is a experience wood gas driver. His has made many short trips like Wayne has and others. I am retired now so I go on a lot of joy rides and I am not on any time clock.
Life Is Good When You Drive On Wood.
Bob

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“Life Is Good When You Drive On Wood” Now that sounds like a t shirt.

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I like that one! I may just have to make some buttons with that slogan.

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A shirt is even better idea! Maybe next years argos shirt. Never too early to start planning.

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