Hey all, I have had the chance to look at Bens book as well. If I were new and wanted plans I would for sure pay the money to acquire his book. Im, not getting royalties are any benefits from it once so ever. We have in fact linked his site along with the DOW site on our home to help promote the DIY plans.
My take on the book is it is very well laid out, with easy to follow step by step instructions. The build uses ceramic insulation placed in the right areas and the heat recirculation systems are there. The tanks are hot water heaters and can be salvaged for free along with many of the other parts. Some parts would be best if purchased such as control systems like the 02 mixer control for instance. Like many others I have followed Ben through the years and now I am in his shoes. Any ways he has done great work and in my opinion the book is well worth the money for a proven system.
As for longevity its mild steel, the more you use the machine the longer it will last. Letting a gasifier sit is the worst possible thing you can do to it. If you clean when you know it is going to sit it could last you five to ten years. That does not mean the whole machine, this is just parts replacements. So it could last much longer that this.
As for the Hydrogen statement I cant answer that, but as a manufacturer we are mostly interested in the H2 production. Our goal is to get the machines well into the 20% range of H2 production. So this may be why he is making those statements. the CO is there, but this is not our focus. Many can build a gasifier, but producing engine quality gas, with high H2 yields is not easily done. So will it produce as advertised? At this time that remains to be seen yet. However, I would assume this will be the case considering what Ben has to bring to the table.
OK TomC I did edit hopefully for more clarity. Sometimes my brain meds muddle.
No I do not get a commission on Ben’s books.
Quite the opposite. I have fair-trade paid for every copy that I’ve gotten and sent out to true solar and off-grid friends and relatives. 9 books sent out so far. I have more to go.
These folks could care less about the H’s, C’s and O’s and the maths of it.
They all have Rural properties. Grow their own trees.
Harvest those trees for fuels and building materials and heat in bulk wood stoves. Know the value of wood-work-sweating.
They just want something that they can build up; or have built up that will works for them on their back-up gen-sets, with their own wood fuels.
None of them wants to be hobbyists, researchers, world saviors, or name makers. For most their extra time and energy goes into their chosen churches and local community.
They just want to keep the lights on; refrigeration on, washing machines washing, and well pumps pumping.
Simple enough is you just use WOOD as a fuel. Hard, Hard with other “bio-masses”
http://www.victorygrid.com/update-2014/
Some of the Ben Peterson personal designs developments will only work in a stainless steel fabricated system. These will not be in this carbon steel system book. Clear?
Even APL now patent protecting their newest SS systems. Wanna really see now? Have to buy a pre-made up system…
BenP says he will no longer manufacturer supply.
BensGift is MY name for this carbon steel plans set. Appropriate because this is a good-by, moving-on release out from him. Clear enough?
Steve U, I just caught your note about the “tar fence” today as I watch my exhaled vapor crystalize and fall in my lap … I’m glad he added those pages … Catch up later … I need to head to the main house and WARM up … Been splittin wood the last couple of hours … These folks can shove global warming up their behinds … I’d say we are headed into another ice age of sorts. SWEM, Mike
Hey Back MikeL
BenP would roil; you calling that drop-in performance improver sleeve a tar fence.
He considers this piece to be a combustion chamber shaper.
Also holds up the performance improving added in inner alumina silica insulation. So an insulation retainer sleeve also. On the production units this sleeve will have a top edge cone to keep the insulation from crudding up. You are a Premium member here on the DOW so look in my photo album here and see the very first use of this sleeve. HAD lower bolt down tabs - eliminated - unnessary. Shows later modified with the added on top cone/slope. He was tring to make this carbon steel DIY book “BensGift” system with NO cones.
This sleeve is considered a drop-in and pull-out consumable like his restictions plates.
Regards
Steve Unruh
I recently purchased Ben Peterson Wood Gas Mastery Course that contains print and electronic copies of his two books, the CAD drawings, arduino code, and construction videos. I believe that they are an excellent value.
Ben has recently changed his mailing address, and requested that I include $8 shipping with my personal check paid order:
Ben Peterson
16625 Redmond Way, suite M #316
Redmond, Wa. 98052
I have been communicating with a fellow that has built and run Ben’s gasifier and he reports that it works well. He had a bunch of 8 inch diameter 3/8 SS grates made and still has about 50 left for sale for $20 each plus shipping. Dan’s email for serious inquiries about grate purchases: [email protected]
Hi Tim,
I built a monorator hopper and it works well, but I had to experiment with fuel size to minimize bridging. I have a hopper vibrator mounted on my unit. I run it 5-10 sec every 15-20 min and have no bridging now. My hopper was based on a design I saw, the hopper grate was an exercise in artistry, lol. THEN, I saw Ben’s design, a much simpler build. If your interested in my unit’s fuel flow and water removing properties check out these vids. For Ben’s monorator hopper build check out comment 328 in My first small engine run in the Small engine section.
Pepe
drains at 1m
If you stop this vid at 58 sec(do it quick, it’s only 1 1/2 secs) you will see that the cooler condensate drain took over when the monorator hopper plugged. An original, it’s now a good backup.
drains at 6m27s
When the monorator runs well there is very little moisture for the cooler to remove. See at 7m14s.
Proof positive of the value of the monorator hopper.
I noticed at 6:45 on the video a glug glug glug sound as you were draining the condensate . This usually indicates a clogged drain line above the reservoir .
Thank you for the videos. Your monorator hopper is a work of art as you say! I have seen the BenP monorator build videos and am on the lookout for a 60 gallon air compressor tank.I have enjoyed reading your small engine thread here on DOW.
Tim
Thanks for the comments, Guys and a Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Wayne, there was some wood bark debris partially blocking the moat drain hole. I have 3 small bolt on inspection plates around the bottom of the hopper that I can remove to clean the moat during refueling. My little battery impact driver makes it an easy job. I’ll start running my fuel over a 3/8" screen to clean off loose sawdust, bark etc.,
Tim, My hopper was a 24" diam well water pressure tank from my neighbor, so it’s a bit large, but free. It’s good for a 2 1/2 to 3 hr run. I think it’s important, so I do a lot of “how I did it” pictures. It took me quite a while to figure out just what the heck was going on where and why. I was always looking for the “how to” myself, so I figured I’d document my trip and share it.
Guys, watch the second video again and listen for the unit blowing off a back fire, it’s at 1m43s. Did you miss it the first time? I didn’t, I almost snapped my neck. lol.
Pepe
Down to the cooler, great. I like the in line (linear) design myself for max even gas exposure to surface area of cooling tubes. Feeding hot gas into a manifold does not mean the same volume of gas flows into each “cooling arm”. They work, but imho are not as efficient as inline coolers. The challenge I had was " 180 degree elbows". I had to use metal because I recorded temps exiting my cyclone (headed into the cooler) at over 400*F. That would leave plastic out for me. Granted my cooler was more complicated to build, but it works great. You can check it out in the Small Engines section, “My first small engine run”, starting at comment 80 just to see how challenging it was. 2" diam metal 180’s would make it a lot easier and costlier and I couldn’t find any. I also could have fabricated the 180’s like in comment 211, but that seemed like a lot of work, lol.
I presume you have a cyclone built. Check comment 49 in above section for example from specs listed on this site. Mine works great, captures mega particulate material and from my overall unit design I have never had a hint of moisture in my cyclone. Worth the effort, for sure. Wish I’d have known all this stuff 3 years ago! So, some food for thought.
Pepe
Ben just release his newsletter. In it he talks about a new the hearth designed to force wood and water vapor into the center of the hearth. He is using even number of jets though. Something in the library said that odd jets didn’t interfere with each other and not to use even jets.
Interesting, in a typical Imbert design you need the void in between and behind the jet ring. The fuels that flow through this void is where a good portion of the fuel that gets processed in the pyrolysis process not the fuel in the center. This is exactly why you want an uneven number of jets. As the air velocity goes through the oxygen is consumed with fuel and is converted into combustion stage processed gases and heat. This is then carried over into those voids to create the pyrolysis processes. Keep this in mind when considering jet ring diameters and openings.
Now then again this is Ben, so he may have some other concepts going on here. So we will be looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.
Ha! Ha! Damn you Ben Peterson.
JayMc I haven’t yet read his newest newsletter.
The picture you put up IS showing one of his so-far not been released unique patent level developments.
Those between the air jets thingamabobs.
Preventors. For tars and any pulled down remaining un-oxidized pyrolosis gases from sneakiing down un-reacted between the jets.
Tar-cookers. Tars dripping down onto the hot upper slopes get vaporized for recycling.
Char-Guides. Pushes can then be reactive char chunks out into the center for reactive versus unreactive/insulative use.
Exchange Gasses Guides.
Reduction Bed Flow Turbulators.
I built one of these, after a standard tube fema and a GEK, from bought plans.
I do have a few issues though, not from any info gotten from Ben but from the fan, I can’t source a decent priced one (to Bens spec) here in South Africa, so I have been trying various ones. I have a thermo couple just above the jet ring, this gives me an idea as to what’s happening inside. I light it through a port in line with a jet (as per spec), it gets to 980 deg C in under 3 minutes from ice cold. This using a 240v electrolux vacuum motor in a housing. Its on a dimmer, at its lowest setting. I run a 1400 Nissan LDV motor off it, (still in ‘play’ mode). with the motor only connected, the temp drops down to 700 deg C.
I have made the hearth modes as per the photo in a post above, oh, and the machine is mild steel, no ss anywhere. I have made several runs using various fuels, the motor runs by far the best on wood chunks, (meranti, pine, syringe, oak, stinkwood and elm so far). I have not had any sticky tar in the filter or condenser under the cooling worm,
nor have I had any liquid in the condenser either, the only muck is formed when you shut it down, in the fuel area. Makes the lid and sides stinky sticky creosote black, not liquid in the trap ring of the fuel area either. The ash is quite fine too, very little char.
The grate is run by a motor (kindly supplied by Ben). Had one flashback much like Pepe’s experience in the vid above, this was me being stupid an lighting it above the jet line with a small fuel load. Quite scary, I forget we’re playing with explosive gas.
Compared to the GEK, the GEK can run all the above fuels and pellets and wood chips, its perfect for small motors (1 - 2 cylinders). Bens jobby is for larger, longer run applications. Quite a remarkable machine, Thanks Ben, and Steve U.
As many here (especially @SteveUnruh) will tell you, an unloaded engine won’t be a very good test for anything. Even at high rpms, the fuel need (and thus the draw on the gasifier) to spin a light-/no-load engine is very low comparatively. Low draw on the gasifier= cooler hearth= more likely to make tar.
Hi David, congratulations on your successful build… I’m a big fan of Ben’s gasifier designs and hope to follow in your footsteps at some stage. I’d love to see some pictures of your build whenever you have a chance to share some. Today I was looking on youtube at some recent gasifier related uploads & came across a company in India that seems to be offering gasifiers based on the same Peterson design, although they don’t acknowledge it, so I thought you may like to take a look: search “Indian Gasifier” and it should come up. Cheers, James https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNnE-aB7TWM
Good Morning ALL
BenP had announced in an e-mail blast-out last month that he was revising his site.
I’ve had a chance now to look it over.
Some important changes.
For his simplified carbon steel “book-plan” system he is now saying use wood chunks only.
Do NOT use pellets, ag-wastes, Municipal Solid Wastes.
Do not convert diesel engines. Do easier spark ignition engines.
This mirrors what Doug Williams said about his Fluidyne Systems years ago.
All you system designers/builders for others should take note of these changes in presentation.
Both of these fellows CAN, and Have built/designed for these other more difficult fuels bases. System then becomes very specialized able to only operate with a narrow of input fuel stock range.
The biggest endeavor black-hole deception on the Net about “gasification” is the all biomass stocks can be gasified. Theoretically true. Practically it cannot be done and make an engine grade of fuel gasses. No one has ever been able to make a system able to handle the extremes from high-silica Ag-wastes glassifacation clogging’s, to MSW’s high percent of non-ferrous metallic’s and chlorine plastics.Then the nails in construction/de-construction woods and shipping pallets. The mud, rocks, wire and such in storm-damage debris.
But folk will Net read the all-biomass spinnings. Dream-on. Build your systems. Then bitch mightily that your system fails to deliver.
Ben is now explaining that his book system needs internal made charcoal to operate properly. And that wood chunks make the best charcoal.
Just what blacksmiths been saying for a few hundred years. WayneK and a few others for the last decade.
You will see BenP simplified explaining that his gasifier system needs the wood charcoal to act like a catalyst, like palladium in a car exhaust catalyst converter.
Yeah. Yeah. Technically this is not true. A true catalyst is not consumed or chemically changed in the reaction that it potentializes. Contaminated deactivated, maybe. Heat melted formed shaped deactivated, maybe. But not consumed up.
Wood/charcoal gasifier the charcoal IS consumed to give up the extra carbon molecules needed to form the extra C needed for CO making. Give the extra C’s needed to make the CH4 gas component.
I see BenP’s oversimplification explain as no different than many other’s that I have read; even here.
Better half-full glasses of DOing then empty glasses of just-talk-talk not-doings. Endless perfecting/idealizing arguing’s just certain they can fill all glasses to the brim without spilling any to waste.
Oh. Ignore the thumb-nail video of the talking-head-man in the lower right hand corner on his site’s front page now.
That guy talks far too much. Is an over-opinionated ass at times. Not compleatly full of shit. Only half full.
