Thanks Wayne,
do you “T” the pipes underneath at the back or bring it forward to a manifold?
I’m getting the woodgas fever and am looking forward to cutting steel really soon.Have to make a flatdeck to tie it all in.I can’t weld in my shop at home because it’s a fire trap so it looks like wool underware,a toque and snow are in the future.
No snakes to worry about ;>)
Hi Paul,
Could ya post the link to your shop… I had it but can’t find it.
Cooling Rack- Yup all three sides are active.
I have the tanks mounted above the bed in front of the Gasifer.
Hot Gas goes into the top half of the rack, (baffles keep the gas in upper tubes) it goes to the rear and down around another baffle that sends the gas forward to a 3" square tube that connects both sides and drains into the main condensate tank.
I built it this way So I could put sides a roof and a back door to close it in in winter.
When I finally get around to it… I’ll have a warm dry place for wood, Hay filter and it will keep the system thawed long enough to drain it. Will have to insulate the drains as well. Already had one freeze up.
On the next one I will likely put a valve between the heatx and cooling rack. That would enable me to kill the Gasifier and still leave the drains open till all condensing is done.
There ya have it.
TerryL
Hi Terry,
funny that you mention the hay filter freezing up,that has happened to me a couple times and I drove a broomstick down the side enough to make a few passages to get the system running.It was easier to put a pipe down when the hay was warm to make the next startup easier.I look forward to winter the same way as I do a dental appointment.
the link to the shop is www.enderbyrentals.ca
looking at the cooling rack wouldn’t it be easier to build them out of threaded pipe vice welded?
Good Morning John,
Thanks for bring the question up, it should be considered .
Vice welding would be easier than position welding the cooler. I think there would be negatives and positives going either route.
Pipes that can be threaded are usually thicker material vs tubing. the thicker the material the less heat transfer.
If the components are vice welded they would have to be place very accurate or they wouldn’t thread up during assembly .
The cost of material would set me back quite a bit. For each pipe one would also need a union.
There are a couple of places in the gasifier where I do have to use some threaded two inch pipe. I almost faint when the guy at the hardware store rings up the cash register.
good point how ever if you look at the cost of the welder verses the learning curve for some maybe screw pipe would be a better alternative. We have the welders and the knowledge so when we build we will zap. A lot of folks up here in the UP Michigan are watching this idea like hawks gas and fuel is trucked in and wood is every where
that’s a 4600 pound maple log that we cut
just a small portion of what we have cut this last two months
Hi Dave,
I thought this would interest you although you are already into your cooling rack build.
It appears to me that the top tube is sloped to drain into the round down tube into the next tube that is sloped in the opposite direction and drains into the next small round tube and so on. I can’t figure out where the condensate is drained from yet, maybe the small straight tubes on the trailer bed on the left? Only one of the ends of the large tubes has a cleanout cover. Kinda neat.
I think the square frame is just that, a frame to hold the rest of the tubes, etc.
Pepe
I meant to add that this linear arrangement seems to address the question as to where the gas will or can go.
