I think your air humidity is pretty high in the PNW. But maybe if you used old engine coolant mixed water it could prevent freezing.
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Matt I mentioned freezing weather as a problem with water injection, do you have a solution for this that you have not talked about. Please let us in on this. I can only think of some kind of electric heater that would have to be plugged in when the unit is not in use. Or draining all the water out when not in use.
Bob
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Antifreeze is a big no, no up here in Washington State, rules and regulations on handling it and how to use it properly.
And to burn it, not going to happen up here, could cost you a big fine.
Bob
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Yes there are alternatives. You can use used motor oil or other oils in winter months. You can use ethanal, (E85) mix this with the water or use RV glycol there are ways to do it.
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If you want to make the ethanol here you go.
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Another suggestion is to make the water tank so it removes. You could use a quick connect hose couple like for an air compressor. They make smaller versions of those as well. You could make a couple of these tanks incase one was left out and it did freeze up. In operation the heat from the gasifier should keep it warm enough or you should factor that into the design.
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Matt,
I have my Toyota gasifier water bottle fastened in a fire extinguisher holder. That makes it easy to dump out all the water after a trip in the winter.
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I forgot about ethanol as an antifreeze. You can get the HEET bottles at parts stores, it readily mixes with water to help clean up a fuel tank that may have had some.
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Well fellows . . . not off topic as this is Charcoal vs. Wood gasification . . .
wood gasification we use raw woodfuel cells moisture to moderate with. Getting too char bed hot?
Put in some more fresh wood loading. Thatâll bring your overheating down. And pump back up your CH4 percentages.
Chalk up ONE for the wood gasification side.
Steve Unruh
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Raw wood is definitely more inherently stable.
I think itâs a big question of how much work are you willing to put in initially, or over time?
Takes a lot of hard careful work to build a wood to power system, let alone Wood to Shaft Power. Then you have the 70% that everyone regardless of fuel input has to learn. But with raw wood once you have that system in place including a chunker or saw youâre set. Not entirely set it and forget it but once youâve learned your systems quirks you can work around them.
Edit: as SteveU has said many times before, you can even use the radiant heat from the Gasifier to dry the next batch of wood. Canât do that with Charcoal systems in any practical way. Iâve thought about utilizing that in the eventual permanent Gasifier for the Mazda to have my exit pipe first go through a toolbox for storing wood, as a drying box.
Thatâs my outside looking in perspective.
Charcoal systems particularly updrafts are forgiving in design but not in fuel. It takes more dirty work to Feed The Beast as it were. Find the wood, cut it down a little, burn it to char, grind it down, sort it and classify it, make sure you didnât throw brands into the mix or God Help Your Intake Valves. Yes a downdraft char burner can blend some raw wood, but not entirely. A raw wood burner could use damp charcoal I bet, Kristijan has proven that by using his baby WK hearth for charcoal.
I have the weekend free time to make my charcoal, and the distance from my neighbors that I donât pollute their air, but not everybody has that kind of time or space and I think raw wood is better in the long run.
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Yes you can, you can use that dry the fuel down prior to the charcoaling process. That will increase your yield
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Iâm mostly talking about a mobile application but it still doesnât have the next immediate use batch ready to drop in the hopper.
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I think charcoalâs best application is in systems that need a guarantee of cleaner fuel, like my Sierra with itâs plastic upper intake and a genset.
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Its just in a different place of the process. Once you made the charcoal just as you have chips. Your charcoal does not need the drying its ready to run. You also dont need to wait for fuel to dry
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I see where youâre getting at, and it does really help. Can shave hours off of a batch run for charcoal.
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I can make thirty gallon of charcoal in a day right now and only spend about an hour of actual time doing it other than gathering up the wood which would have to be done for chunking anyway. Smoke is not an issue where I live but even that is a easily solved problem. When I get done my fuel is dry and ready to use. When I start using my greenhouse heater I will be making charcoal and using the waste heat to heat a lot of water so not a lot of unusable heat loss there. Black is beautiful.
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Iâm a âWhy not both?â Kind of guy. I think a really well built Gasifier with raw wood or Imbert Dry wood in mind and just feed it charcoal or damp charcoal, or charcoal and a water drip. Feed it charcoal most of the time but if youâre in a pinch or need to go long distance itâs not the end of your Bank Balance(gasoline)
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Iâm waiting for someone to design a gasifier that uses politicians for fuel. There has to be some value in gas bags and bull shit and as a side benefit you are cleaning up the environment.
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Well thats what Iâm hopping my units will be able to do is run both as we discussed further up. Really my machines are not much different than Joniâs gasifier they are very close in design dynamics from what I could see. The way my machines flow the fuel they create a natural restriction and reduction zone.
Edit; Plus with the revelation I had with the ammo box filter with blower set up running that crude updraft gasifier I was playing with Im not afraid if it makes tar. That proved I could stop it with that filter. If excessive tar is produced it will just clog up and stall the engine. No harm done just need to clean the filter and use a different fuel.
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I am just trying to swing back the conversation to this topic comparison versus making charcoal usage better.
Raw wood fuel woodgasing you have the ablty to travel widely and actually use found woods for fuels.
- that tour around the Australian continent that traveling Preacher guy. He bumper mounted buzz sawed road sides found woods.
- the Russian forestry systems used year around as cut raw woods. And their system were used on narrow gauge rail movers too. Drove-on-wood.
- Wayne Kâs coast to coast USA trip and then his participation in the Escape from Berkeley in any way Non-petroleum Race. Unlike Jacob he had the time, and carried the means to travel scrounge most of his wood fuels too. Generator woodgas fueled from his truck system and an electric portable table saw.
The information Goren put up shows that Sweden had the means to parallel develop both in the WWII embargo era. An unlike four militaryâs split up, occupied Germany, the means to analyze those parallel usages.
Shortened: charcoal for the city and dense urban areas. Raw wood in the rural, small town/villages. And Intra-cityâs transport.
The one expects to be served up their water, fuels and foods. Giving back Culture. High end entertainments. Giving back banking and finance.
The others are serve yourself. Making excesses to feed the Cities their real core needs.
Of course I over simplify and am very aware of a lot of current very rural guys charcoaling, and using, now, today.
Cutting to the bottom line Iâd rather be traveling and run out of on-board wood than on-board charcoal. Six months a year here burn ban, NO VISIBLY SMOKE raw wood will just be drying down, and can be closed system still used.
HERE, with our predominate conifer woods you runout of your pre-made charcoal and youâll be screwed until next wet season. Even then. Last night a neighbor made a night raining very big burning glow in the sky. That caught a lot of attention.
Really. You pick what side you want to have to fine-developed and operator baby sit, eh.
Of course just my opinions. Based on my experiences and observations.
Steve Unruh
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