Hard Wood …
PS: I should mention that, in previous tests, the volume of charcoal has been reduced very little (maybe a couple of inches). I am expecting the same this time, but haven’t looked yet.
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So it ran good for 45 minutes and only used two inches… Did you try shaking it. Maybe a void is developing and the fire rises up to the top of the void.
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Hi Kyle, a one hour run from a grease drum is about right. I need to get my compter back from the shop to check the figures though. Is the charcoal about one quarter consumed at the end of the run? Also try using smaller char pieces.
Gary in PA
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Kyle can you still run gasoline? I ask because running a known quantity of gasoline through it with the same load will give you a good baseline. I think we had calculated 12ish pounds of charcoal per gallon of gasoline. Gary has a more accurate number I’m sure. Maybe find a good consistent draw and run it dry on gas duplicate with charcoal? Just some musings…
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I think 45mins / 1 hour would be a good run time on a drum that size pulling around 2.5 KW with about 23 inches of charcoal .
If you could get all the charcoal well under 1/2 inch I bet you would get even longer running .
Dave
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Jeff - I did try shaking it. Didn’t seem to make any difference.
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Oh.
Can’t remember now how I came up with that 2 hour number. It has just been in my head that I should get 2 hours out of it. I guess that wasn’t right.
Will check charcoal consumption tomorrow.
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David - Yes. I can still run on gasoline. Will try that.
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Sounds to me like if you fill it all the way up you will get the run time you are looking for or am I missing something here?
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Jim - That’s a good question.
I have run it with several inches less charcoal than this, and gotten about the same run-time. So, I am wondering if the run time is more a function of time than the amount of charcoal in the reactor.
Clearly, having a “full tank” would tend to slow the diffusion of heat somewhat. But if a metal drum is 500 degrees at the bottom and 90 degrees at the top, I am thinking it is just a matter of time before the whole thing is hot.
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So what determines the end of your run time? Is it poor gas and the engine just won’t run or exit temps to hot melting hoses? I used mine mostly on a 11hp mower. Neither of them are as big as your but it seemed at just under or about an hour I noticed less power. It would just get lazier I suspected the gas was getting hotter and less dense. I cant say for sure that old mower was one I got in the scrap. Ran well while I used charcoal never any gasoline for one whole summer. The next spring I started using gasoline and it only ran about an hour and started sucking oil out of crankcase and running very weak as well. I just pushed it off in the woods. I have another just like it, maybe I will mow with char again this year.
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Exit temps.
I have a little more wiggle room than Gary’s original design, but I shut it down when the top of the barrel hits 150 F, before I start melting the sump pump hose.
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I would try filling it up. If that don’t help I kinda like Don’s little heaters for a simple cooler. Easy to convert and light weight.
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Hi Kyle
you say
I have run it with several inches less charcoal than this, and gotten about the same run-time. So, I am wondering if the run time is more a function of time than the amount of charcoal in the reactor.
I would be very curious to know the opinion of Koen or Gary Gilmore on this point
Thierry
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I tend to get similar things goeing on with my Seat. The litle gasifier only gets me about 40km of range and then there is just to much heat acumulated in that small and isolated gasifier that the gas gets to about 60*c, no matter the charcoal level.
I also want to mention one thing that l havent seen many people do. Since my nozzle alows me to experiment alot l tryed to close the exhaust injection valve and some one day and something interasting happend. The performance of the gasifier got a lot better! The range stayd the same, fuel consumption too, no problems with long idles and the thing has an amazing fast startup time. I literaly start the engine, fire the gasifier, sit behing the stearingwheal and after about 200m of driveing on gasoline shut down the fuelpump. I drive without any coolant everyday until then.
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Kristijan I think I remember you mentioning that you use a very large piece of steel with a 25 mm hole through it and at least a 100mm wall thickness is that correct ? I tried looking for the post but couldn’t remember where it was in .
Did you put up any pictures of your system / nozzle ?
Dave
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Its a bit less masive:) I will most likely open the generator today for a monthly ash cleaning and will take some pictures.
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Kristijan - I am having a little trouble understanding what you did that improved your performance. Are you saying that performance improves when you do not use any exhaust return to cool the reaction?
How did the performance improve?
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Hi Kyle and Kristijan
There is in this pdf “http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAAV703.pdf” of comments to your questions (especially pages 70 to 75)
I guess understand. But do not speak English so difficult for me to explain
sorry ,good luck
Thierry
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