I think what gets overlooked in the whole charcoal versus wood debate is where you live. I use wood to heat as I must if I don’t want to freeze. If you need the heat why not capture everything you can at home instead of cooling on.the road. As in all issues like this the trick is to stay small. Make only what you can use with minimal waste.
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I guess where I was going is making the unit more efficiant with both units into one. The Vulcans do make some good char and rather than dump it why not create a small char gasifier in the unit under the grate and have 0 waste making the gasifier more efficiant. Longer run times. I think this is a very interesting concept but unfortunatly my plate is over flowing. But later I would really like to experiment with something like this.
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Hi Matt, Maybe got a little long winded in my reply but will stick to what you are contemplating. My thought is “Don’t throw the charcoal away (or give it to the cattle or chickens) but put it back into the wood hopper.” There is no reason it cannot be mixed in with the wood chunks and burned. Have you tried this yet? In my mind, charcoal is too precious to just toss to the critters 
Gary in PA
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Yes I do recycle my char, but as of late a lot my freinds have taken it for there gardens. Still want to play with this concept though. Maybe soon!! I have lots going on in the back ground. My boss from my old employer came out and has offered a large shop with equipment to me for free to take things to a higher level. We have had quite a few investors interested in investing into us as well. So I have had to get with the accountant and we are now putting together an investment plan for those interested in investing with us. I am with out a doupt that this is going to be a viable company now. Its grown so much since its conception and that was just 6 months ago.!!! Its getting to the point where I need some one to just man the Email and phones. Not sure what happend today but I spent most of the day answering the phone and emails.
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Here’s another charcoal gasifier running a weed wacker engine
Hi Gary and others. I am new to the site but have been following your and Chris Seymour’s charcoal projects. I put together a smaller version of your easy charcoal gasifier, Gary. The main changes are that it is sized even smaller. Tuyere is 1/2" and the reactor is a cheap 9 quart stockpot from Walmart. I use a battery powered air mattress blower to get a flare. It runs a 4 cycle weedwacker engine. I’m hoping that’s a record for this site.
I’ve got a video up at youtube at http://youtu.be/1gmg_Uuz5Ps
And here’s a picture of the flare
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Must be the smallest engine running on wood gas on this site. To beat this, one would have to gasifiy a four-stroke model airplane engine? Really cool! I posted some questions under the video on YouTube, basically asking for more details. Thanks for posting.
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Hi Ray,
I also posted on youtube but the comments always seem to get jumbled there. I’ve only run it for half hour stretches but it will probably go as long as an hour depending on how much work is asked of it. It would be easy enough to stack another stockpot directly on top with some larger pipe fittings and floor flanges to make a hopper. If you put a side port on the top pot and drew your gas from there it would already be very cool and dry going through all of that charcoal. You might get away with only a foam filter then. This setup was originally intended for a charcoal powered bike, but I haven’t quite gotten to the rest of it yet (that’s why it’s sized so small). I was getting a fair amount of condensation in the filter. At first I only had foam in it. So I decided to add charcoal to help prefilter, absorb water vapor and cool things down a bit more. Works great. This system doesn’t have much of a cooler–again that’s keeping weight in mind for a bicycle gasifier. I built a cooler and a cyclone like Dutch John has on his mini woodgassers but decided I didn’t need them.
For the startup I use a battery powered air mattress blower. I attach it to the air intake for the engine and suck air through the system. Good thing about a side tuyere is that you can stick a propane torch in the tuyere port to light it very easily. Takes a few seconds to light then 2-3 minutes to get a flare. I shut down the blower, take it off the air intake, choke the air intake a bit and she usually starts on the second or third pull. Depends more on whether I’ve set the air right.
When the exhaust is added after starting I get a real power boost. I don’t use too much. In the Kalle gasifier they determined 17% exhaust was ideal, but it’s tough to judge when the gases are all at different temps. I follow Gary’s advice and keep the charcoal bed cherry red, maybe a bit brighter.
I’ll put up some pics of the setup in a couple of days.
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The stainless steel stock pot idea is interesting. Martin Payne, (35 mi. N. of me) brought a shiny new one over and his two teenage boys used it to construct an Anderson TLUD cookstove. He also brought grassfed beef steakburgers which we cooked on the stove when it was finished. Even though I already had ten stoves, I bought a stockpot and made a copy, using a stainless steel bain marie for the burn pot. Lately, when I screen/sort my charcoal, I pick out my “half baked” charcoal for use in the stoves, and since they are TLUD, I end up with finished charcoal. Meanwhile, I’ve been burning out grates like mad, so I now have some hunks of rebar ready to weld into a sturdier grate. The charcoal burns hotter/longer and can destroy grates. My Tom Reed Woodgas Campstove XL took about two years to burn out (about a third of the way up from the bottom), even though it was thin stainless, so I use an old chimney pipe liner inside my stainless bain marie to protect the stainless with an expendable part. This might work for you also. I have also severely distorted the pot lid, so now I just “clamp it down” harder. Regarding the bicycle, have you seen the two person motocross sidehack bikes? (There are pedal versions, and powered versions.) My current idea is to build a utility sidecar for a Honda CB250 wreck I found at the junkyard (destroyed front end), and place the gasifier on the sidecar. My usual grocery run is 25 miles round trip, just about perfect for a small charcoal unit. I could “top it off” before heading home. So, I have the sidecar wheel, the frame layout, and a donor front end (with alternate plan for some Earles Leading Link forks). The cooler could be part of the utility sidecar frame. I’m planning on using a cyclone and the Gilmore Filter (grease barrel size), but need a smaller reactor. (Recycled Propane tank?) Lately I’ve been “obsessed” with making/sorting/sifting charcoal and have done 72 fifty-five gallon sessions.
Have you considered an electric bike with the charger/generator on a small bicycle trailer? I’ll be looking for your pics. Thanks.
The sidecar project sounds great and a charcoal powered model airplane sounds really awesome! Someone has to try that one. Too little time, too much to do I think a propane tank may work well. I think the charcoal gasifiers can be very forgiving compared to woodgasifiers and much more flexible in terms of sizing.
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I like the idea of a sacrificial liner. I wanted to give the stainless a try to see how it would hold up. It gets pretty hot all over. No idea how hot, but it doesn’t seem to be warping (yet) or oxidizing. I extended the tuyere only about 1/3 in so there really isn’t much of a hot spot at all on the opposite side. I also was worried there might be a hot spot back against the tuyere side due to leaks in the nozzle so I put some clay to seal the cracks between the black pipe and the stainless nozzle extension. That seems to work, surprisingly.
You have a ton of charcoal. I’m jealous. Electric bike would be cool too with a power unit. Truth be told, the next project is getting this engine to run on biogas and building a little biogas trailer with unpressurized gas for short commutes. So this might be a flex fuel bike.
This is really a great concept! Sizing is unlimited for whatever size engine you want to run! A no weld build for a unit like this would be to use any metal air tight container, and then use thin conduit nuts to secure the air pipe to the reactor. Do you think using hi-temp silicone would work to seal the air pipe, or does it get too hot? Another option for sealing the air pipe might be chimney fire stop.
I would really like to see a night time flare!
Great job!
Here’s a link to the Yahoo Group’s Charcoal Gasifier Page:
Hi John, Glad to see someone has taken to building the Simple-Fire. Hope you will have as much fun with it as I am. Contrary to rumor, I have not been deported to Abascastian, but have been working on bugs in the Simple-Fire. Mounted a unit on my Gravely Walk behind tractor and it really works well, at least for 30 minutes. When I refill it, the second batch gets me 15 minutes before the sump pump hose melts. I’m looking at radiator hose instead. Just tonight I was splitting wood usind the Simpe-Fire to run the engine. The only hitch was when the gas hose laid along side the reactor and melted!. Cut out the melted section and continued on. Another development is using motor oil to cut down on the charcoal dust and to enhance the fuel value of the charcoal. Pelliminary experiments are very positive. I used about 2 quarts of used motor oil in a 55 gallon drum full of charcoal. Really cut the dust down and the engine seems to have more power. This needs looked into more.
Use high temp RTV silicone to seal your nozzle and gas in/outlets. Works really well.
I hope to be making an update soon to the Simple-Fire portion of this forum. I’ve been waiting on doing a little more testing, and refinement of components. Then there will be a video.and a document with instructions and drawings. It is all comming together and I am glad you picked up on it and made a unit. I’ll also post this message on the charcoal gasifier usergroup to let them know what is going on.
Until later,
Gary in PA
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Forgot I took some pictures the other day. Here is the Gravely with the Simpe-Fire mounted above the battery box. The silver hose it the exhaust return line. The small can on top is the dust filter. The second photo shows how the air/gas butterfly valve is adjusted to get the correct stoicometric (sp?) mixture. Note the use of plastic fittings to reduce the amount of weight bolted to the carburetor.
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Hi Gary,
Yes it has been fun. Now I have plenty more tinkering to do to get this on a bicycle. I am busy making some alterations so I can use the original throttle.
William, thanks for the encouragement. And just to be clear, I did braze the air intake pipe to a piece of mild steel that I bent to fit the curve of the pot. I sealed this with high temp rtv and bolts. I used some clay just to plug up the small gaps in the rolled stainless extension where it connected to the intake pipe inside the reactor. I thought the temperatures there might be too hot for rtv. I’ve never used chimney fire stop, but that might be my next try if I find that those internal leaks there are a problem. Thanks for the input. So far it doesn’t look like it makes much difference. And I will add a night flare to the still pics when I get a chance.
I’m looking forward to more details and developments, Gary. That tractor makes me think of my brother’s old planet junior he farmed with years and years ago. Many thanks for the fun project!
Here are some still photos of my charcoal project. It is smaller than Gary’s simple-fire. Since it will be motorizing a bicycle, weight is a concern, and it is at the bottom of HP requirements. Nozzle is 1/2" black pipe with the end wrapped in stainless, engine is a 4 cycle 26 cc weed eater. Reactor is 8"X9". Filtered with charcoal and open cell foam. The assembled filter has two layers of aluminum window screen a couple inch layer of charcoal, a cotton rag, and open cell foam. The blower is a battery-powered air mattress pump connected with garden hose.
As you can see there’s some discoloration at the bottom of the reactor. The nozzle is maybe a little too close to the bottom. For size considerations and cooling of the gas I placed it only 2 1/2" up from the base. Next design will be higher and I’ll add a hopper for more gas cooling before it leaves the reactor.
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Very nice! I was worried about a hot spot on the side, but it looks like the bottom is the area that may need a sacrificial liner. Perhaps a thin disc of mild steel to protect the bottom? Here is a photo of what happened to my Tom Reed designed Wood Gas Campstove XL which was a very pretty stainless at the beginning, but glowed red with each use. At the right is my attempt to replace the stainless burn pot with “found” material, but it is not working too well. Might be too much mass.
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Hi All and William and Ray in particular,
For William, here’s the night-time flare and a link to a short video of it. You asked for it, you got it. About the no weld design. I completely forgot the project was sized so large. It’s weird how I saw your pictures as being a 1" set up. I think the pedestal does make sense given the weight.
Ray, I think I actually lucked out that the hot spot is on the bottom. I was figuring it would be on the opposite side too. That looks like a very well used stove. My solution for now will be to put a 1/4" layer of ash down and on top of that lay a sheet of stainless. I just happen to have some scrap otherwise i’d use mild steel. I’m a little concerned this might spread the heat through conduction and that may affect the oxidation ball ( zone? I don’t know what to call it). What do you think? Is it better to use something like clay as a shield? I’m pretty sure clay was packed into kent gasifiers for shielding.
John
The video is here http://youtu.be/tCyoUk7dtQU
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Hi all, If your bottom is getting red hot I see two choices. Move the air nozzle up an inch or so, or put some insulation on the bottom. If you move the nozzle up, your run time will decrease because there will be less charcol to burn. This leaves insulating or protecting the bottom. Using a disk of thin steel, ash or clay will all work. Of the three, I’d go with a steel plate raised maybe a 1/4" off the bottom of the reactor. The ash and clay will give you problems when you dump out the charcoal to clean out ash. Just more stuff to sift out.
I am calling the oxidation zone around the nozzle a “lobe” as opposed to a “ball”. The term “ball” implies a sherical shape and that is not what the oxidation zone is. As air velocity increases and decreases, this zone will develop more of a tear drop shape and hence I use the term “zone” or “lobe”. In thinking about this more, the term “zone” describes an area, while the term “lobe” describes the shape. Hummm. My two cents worth. I do like to use correct teminology and sometimes it bothers others, (wife). Anyhow, what do you readers think about these terms?
Back to the subject at hand, What a beautiful flare!
Gary in Pa
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John, What a sweet setup! Looks so neat, easy and Simple. Seriously, I am anxious to see if others find this Simple-Fire design as effective as I have and your pictures give me encouragement. Looks like you are finding it working and hopefully working well enough to recommend it to others. As we start using this design, we will be adding to the knowledge base and creating options for how wood can be used as a power source. This is great. Thanks for sharing.
Gary
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Nice SS failure picture RayM.
SS is not magic metal down in the thermal/chemical reducing area - real good for the other areas though. The reduction action pulls the oxygen out of the protecting chromium oxide surfaces converting it to brittle chromium carbides and leaving the ferrous metal componets unprotected. Heat erosion metal thinning then takes place. Cooled down; unoxide protected, they suck moisture and oxygen out of the air and rust thin further until perforation. SS here needs to be protected itself with a fired glazed ceramic like Hot Rod exhaust coatings.
Great looking system you have set up JohnR.
I can see what both you and Gary are doing different than me back in my charcoal pot burn out days days IS not directly across from the nozzle pulling out the produced gases like I did. But pulling the heat lobe over over and up though a longer L shaped path. AND you are both incorporating engine exhaust from the get go for nozzle cooling. Great job guys.
Gary I think heat lobe is a fine descriptive word.
I had my new assortment of new ceramic TIG nozzles in hand the other day.
Anybody ever try these screw-in’s as gasifer air nozzles??
Regards
Steve Unruh
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John, the stainless does not conduct heat very well, but a piece of top of a thin layer of ash ought to protect the bottom of the pot. I use flattened pieces of discarded stove pipe or even large tin can lids as sacrificial items. Also, once the reactor pot is mounted on your bicycle, it will have better cooling, compared to sitting on a hunk of concrete. Yesterday, I decided to build a simple-fire.
Attached is a photo of the reactor to be made from
a recycled 20# propane bottle and a four inch diameter Bain Marie. I
should be able to reach in through that 4" hole and screw in the
nozzle. The only seal to worry about will be the spring-loaded cover on
the Bain Marie. It will also act as a small hopper, to give a bit of
reserve charcoal, so the amount of charcoal between the inlet nozzle
and the outlet on top does not change as much (at first, at least). I
plan to weld some small pieces of re-bar on the outside bottom of the
propane tank, in a star pattern, so heat at the center will be
conducted outward. I plan to place the inlet nozzle 3 inches above the bottom of the tank.
Got any ideas on how to best seal that stainless bain marie? Maybe a
collar around the outside holding some tabs for springs?
I plan to TIG weld the stainless steeel pot into the propane tank using stainless steel
rod. It is really thin material, so that should be fun!
I can visualize this reactor +cyclone + filter + cooler on a utility
sidecar attached to a 15 hp Honda! (My grocery store “run” is 25 miles RT.)
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