Yes BruceJ. you speak the truth there about real events that did happen.
And this created the first wave of Ben Peterson haters.
I was one of those early GEKkers. I’d commissioned buying a GEK II weld-up parts kit; BUT only if it could be supplied with all of the flat flanged and tube cuts in either 304 or 316 stainless. I fed in ideas to improve/fix the GEK I and II faults.
It took them over a year to fulfill that order. In the mean time I sought out and met two regional fellow with GEK’s in carbon steel welded up and assembled. Asked to visit and help them learn to operate them. A real up-from-from-just-reading-about-it, to on-hands self-training about gasifier char-beds, weak blowers, too wet of wood fuels, etc.
And then one Yahoo forum correspondent regional to me had to go out of country and wanted me to take his place at a Ben Peterson BBQ gasifier show at a county park.
Me. The known GEKker. Ben and his wife, and their families were very accommodating to us all, regardless.
And me, helping to on-spot sort out, always, live-presentation difficulties led to him asking me to come up and work with him. As his electrician, motors and engine man. I was O.K. But turns out I was better as a trouble shooting Operator. Later, on his own Social Network; I daily contributed and light moderated.
I did finally get my GEK II kit in SS. They were already onto improved GEKIII’s. My lasting GEK influence was forcing upped into the 21 Century with their mostly SS units then. Woodgas: as has well proven historically, and now again, will from the insides out kill carbon steels in hundreds, to a low thousands of hours with it’s upper system produced strong acids. And the lower system side produced a strong base Ph bias. No. SS was never for thermal erosions “better”. In place forming, ash slope do the very best affordably for that.
And then it was I (and a few others) pulling BenP. up from carbon steel into 21st century, SS too.
Two-three reasons there for me to collect my own following of Haters.
Me. The SHTF; true rural living, kinnda’ guy. Irritant to numbering/calculating geeks; Eco’s, and Futurists.
Later there were other attracted and asked to help out in BenP’s two different Victory GasWorks shops.
Eco-biased John-John. Was the modern electronics guy, machinist. And all around optimistic cheerful fellow. Counter balancing my short-hair, dry, graveyard humors.
A couple of three different guys who did welding and assembling. Roustabout work at presentations.
Later on a warehouse working fellow was supping the majority of the cut woods chunks from shipping pallets. Ben and I doing the raw woods fuels working up.
And a been quiet now; DOW member Chris Seymour. Historian. Promoter. Charcoal-tier. And BIG bio-mass systems advocate. He’d done his own small systems trialing works previously.
Later set up his own company for BIG systems. 50kW, 100kW and I think even 200kW all SS systems. For big stationary Cat? gaseous engines.
None of us ever stole or passed on VictoryGas works proprietary. That was income for BenP and his family. We others all had day-jobs.
We moved on; and it was understood if we build; it had to be out of our own designs.
Within months of Ben’s later published out book; intended for propane and air tanks carbon steel DIY building and using . . . a DOW member here found and posted up here a direct copy-cat book system being made up and sold on the internet out of India.
And now offgrid48 with his self-promoted V-3 named changes made to BenP’s book system. To be serial manufactured. Appropriating the book’s copywriting protections.
One other element BenP might disclose (or not) to this story that was the final straw that finally put him over the edge with this guy.
Steve unruh
