Charcoal gasifier for my van. A couple yrs. ago my neighbor found an old acetelene
Tank out for garbage. The local scrap yard wouldn’t take it. So I talked him into goving it to me. Now O know what I can use it for. I finnally was able to remove the valve today now to fill it with water so I can start drilling holes in it. I don’t know how far a hundred pound gas tank of charcoal will tke me but I’ like to find out
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I am probably wrong but seems like act tanks have some sort of porous filling in them.might want to run a rod down it to make sure. Your mileage may vary
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Don’ know about the linnig thing. was going to fill with water drill a good sized hole it and burn it out to get rid of the acetelene residue.then go from there.
Really I’m doing two projects at once.
First most important is gasifier and generator for home but since I’m going to the barrel place next week. I migjt as well just get 3 30gl. barrels. Two for filters and one for a charcoal generator for here at home. Walmart has deep cycle batteries for 100$s buy one a month for 6-8 mths. HF has cheap 6.5hp engines. High out put car alt 68$ - 135$s. Invertors can be a bit pricey depending on what you buy. The way I look at it. In a yr. or less I can be powering my own home (some at first) then more and more as time progresses.
The reason I want to gasifie my vam soon is so I can have a chace to visit my oldest daughter.(haven’ t seen her in 2yrs.). I live in Croswell,she lives in Perry, Mi. over by Lansing, and Okemos. The distance would not be an issue if I was able to work. But for now I’m living off the fica that I paid in to the gov.my whole life.
That’s not enough!!!
Freedom through woodgas !
That’s my mission in life. For me and for my family.
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Yes Tom is right act tanks have some type of sponge inside to absorb the gas. I have never cut one open and probably never will. If at all possible I would skip the act tank and use a 100 lb propane tank if you can get your hands on one. You will be glad to have the larger diameter and capacity. I have a couple smaller ones 7 and 12 gallon. One on a antique motor cycle and one for a riding mower. For a generator or a vehicle you may want a larger unit.
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The acetylene tanks also have acetone in there absorbed into the porous stuff. It stabilizes the acetylene, but is very volatile itself. Please be careful with that.
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Thanks guys, I need all the help I can get.
Well at least I got the valve off. I can salvage that. Nice valve too,a bit stiff but still works. Now the local scrappers will take the tank. I’ll set it out on the curb Fri.
nite. It will be gone in about 20 min.
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I second all the above about the act tank . I planed on using one several years back and discovered it was full of the porous material .
I have cut open and used many propane tanks but will NOT burn on them without being full of water .
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Hi Jess ,
What your planning on doing for your home gasifier , is what I have been doing here for the past few years so if I may just give you a heads up that may or may not help .
Please before you start buying new batteries work out what it is that you want to power up at home , and add them up on a daily usage as to how much power you will need , that way you will know what size engine you will need to run what size generator/alternator , you always need to size the amount of power you will drain from the batteries as undercharging them is as bad as over charging .
I would also wait and buy the batteries all at the same time , get hold of a few second hand batteries just to start with while you save up and buy a new set all at once , that way you will have a perfectly balanced new set , while you have tested running on old ones
How often and for how long do you plan to run your charcoal generator ?
Dave
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Dave, I’ll have to look at my elec.bill for the usage numbers. As for buying used batteries, the local scrap yrd. won’t resell anything. Period. They buy scrap to recycle, not resell. The owners words .
With our finances being what they are. And the stupid crap that seems to always happen when I’m saving for something that now I find that if I buy pieces and parts along the way as I can afford them then then projects get completed
I paid my favorite auto repair guy 100$s a month for 4 months so he could fix my van. ( catastrofic ignition failure) its what I called it we replaced just about the whole system . I walked and hitch hiked for four months. 53 at the time.
Right now I have about 100$s each mth. to devote to projects
But you are right. I need to build the gasifier and gen the right size according to my needs/usage
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Mr. Wayne,
Thanks for the highly valued input.
I am just a wood butcher(haha) my grand dad taught me to always fill a fuel tank with an inert material before cutting drilling or welding. Don’t know much abput act tanks but figured that I’ d fill it
with water and deal with the mess.But after reading yours and Daves comment
I agree scrap the act tank.
Moving Forward
Jesse
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Jess ,
That’s a shame about your scrap yard guy ,my partner in crime Brian owns a scrap yard and you would weep at what people bring in , last month 8 x120amp hour batteries all showing a float voltage of 13.1 apart from 2 that were well below 11.9 , that was the reason the whole pack was thrown out ! and there was no way they were going to be scrapped by us till I had a chance to wear them out in another few years time ,back home and wired in they are working a treat !
As for power usage I don’t run my electric oven or air con on battery power , everything else though is fair game , and I understand about paying for things as you go along , I live off the smell of an oily rag and so all my toys I buy for these projects all come from savings I make along the way .
Dave
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I don’t know much about charcoal gasifiers but I have seen a lot of people burning up nozzles. I’m just wondering if it’s the same on the bigger gasifiers, if so, all those miles in one trip, how does one change a nozzle that’s hot when on the road?
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Well since I don’t weld(yet but am going to learn in the near fiture) and I don’t have alot of money.(who does) the charcoal gasifier seems the way to go. If I can at least use it to buffer the cost of fuel. It will be worth the investment. As for changing the hot nozzle? I’ ll cross that bridge when I get there. After all I have been known to cook a three course meal with head and shoulders inside a wood coal furnace. Including a cake! ( power outage back in 84 my first wifes bday)
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I love woodgas I even dream about it
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Hi Jesse, if you are going the weld free route for something as big as a van you should think in terms of 50 gallon barrels and pipe flange fittings. I would probably build 2 of them and alternate running and cooling to give you more range and less complex radiator setup, probably limit yourself to hardwood charcoal for range extension as well as dust reduction. I tried it I had nozzle problems. To do it again I would go up through the bottom like my tractor…
Something to get started with.
Best regards David Baillie
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Hi Dave, I was thinking about that I hadn’t decided whether to go in from the side or the bottom. if you go in from the bottom wouldn’t you want to put a shallow inverted cone in the bottm of the barrel for fuel flow to the nozzle. sorta like funnel right side up with the nozzle at the choke. or would you just want it to stick up inside the barrel a couple inches. I’ll have to study those pictures and drawings
on the Gohan Poulanc site some more. I know you have to have some ash under the nozzle to help insulate it from catastrofic oxidation.
I do plan on getting a cheap welder and learning how to weld. being able to weld is a must in this business either that or pay some one to do it for you. I’m an old dog but I can learn new tricks.
I know all about pipe flange fittings. I used and reused them back in the days that I was making pure grain alcohol( shine ), for a friend of mine to run in his race car. had a real nice stainless still. problem was we had to keep tearing it apart and storing the pieces sepperatly to keep from getting caught! fun fun fun! methanol was over 20$s a gal. back in the 80s shine won’t kill you if you get it on you methanol can and will. its why the Indy crews all wear fire suits. its not just the invisible flames you have to worry about
back to the subject : I have watched Gary Gilmore and his simple fire vids several times, will watch them many more times also. Gary casts clay around his nozzles. I need to talk to Gary about his setup nozzle size height etc.what he uses to mold the clay around his nozzles. Does it last very long? etc., etc…
Well I’m a home shool Dad learning coach. my guys are getting stuff ready for me already this morning.
gotta go
Jesse
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The setup I described would probably involve a 3 inch nipple up from the bottom and a firebrick with a hole in it to act as the nozzle until the cinder cone develops. No clean out just use for hours x remove dump clean inspect refill… just some thoughts…
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Hi Bill,
To exchange i use an outer welded in ring with inner thread.
If needed i just bolt the nipple out and replace it with a new one.
Also works with my ceramic inserts
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Hey Bill,Koen,
Thanks for the thoughts and input. I am excited
So much to do and I have to wait till pay day
Jesse
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Hey guys been thinking about this van gasifier
Thats a big dream. I’d like to see come true some day.
But you know I’m having alot of fun with the micro. I can see a lot of posinilities there. So I think I’ ll put this project on a way back burner, and learn as much as I can for a couple more years.
Thanks
Jesse
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