Hi Gary, I have you to blame for this black madness. Thanks so much for your interest and comments.
Yes, I will watch the gas temperature and run time under load to see if the cooler is worth the effort. (Keep it simple.) Your 6hp comment is appropriate. Matching the load to the geometry may be important for this gasifier. Having a wide load range is another reason that your classic Simple-Fire is so great.
Are you saying that the gas quality gets poorer (more CO2) as the gas temperature gets critical (melts sump pump hose)? I was under the impression that the gas quality was still good, but the amount of nonreactive insulating charcoal was letting some of the reduction zone heat escape. It makes sense that the rapid rise in temperature indicates an exposed, cooler and less effective reduction zone. We will see.
Blocking off the “dead” space around the SS liner is a good idea. I think this gasifier will go “critical” before the charcoal gets down to my chimney liner. The tallest effective liner will determine the amount of blocked off “dead” space and the corresponding ease of charcoal filling and clean out. Any opinion about whether the “dead” space should be filled with insulating material?
I too was under the impression tht the hose melting temp was why we needed to leave so much of th char unused. I considered either a cooler or just hard piping.
Now with regard to the oil filled heater as a cooler. I had grabbed one of those from the scrap yard for that purpose, but decided against it. I thought the small passages would plug too easily, and there is no way to open it up for cleaning.
Yes, Bruce, good point, “matching the load to the geometry”, however
in the building, one should match the geometry to the load. In the imbert charts
the starting point is the anticipated load (HP), then you read back across to
the build dimensions for that load.
I know that a lot of people kinda build without that consideration and wonder
why the overall performance of their setup isn’t what they expected.
Let me say it again, if you’re building an imbert use the chart, HP Load FIRST!
Proven numbers!
Pepe
Pepe, We are so fortunate to be a part of the DOW community where we have not only good calculations, but so much ‘hands on’ experience to allow us to build reactors that work with the loads we anticipate. It will be interesting to see if Gary’s 6HP maximum for this gasifier is correct. That limit would be a happy result of my efforts since there are so many machines that are powered by < 6HP engines. I also look forward to seeing what effect the use of modern materials, exchangeable tuyeres, cooler, EGR and water drip will have on loads and run times. Charcoal gasifiers seem to be a lot more forgiving and flexible than wood gasifiers.
Cutting tungsten carbide eats up a lot of diamond discs. I cut off about 1/2" so that I will have room to insert an inspection mirror inside of air inlet pipe and a shorter distance to charcoal for igniting.
I have a filter with removable sock to check the effectiveness of my internal fiberglass and mesh filters. I will use this on my first run before the gas gets too hot, just to make sure that I am not sending dust into the cooler.
