I’m building a new hearth for the Cavalier. I have a 9" fire tube that I’m gonna use. Building it to bolt down to a cargo carrier hanging off the back.
9" tube, 20lb (12")propane tank air jacket and 100lb(16") propane tank bottom body, 19" car rim welded to that and a 20 gallon drum for the hopper. Recycling some stuff from other projects.
I’ll take lots of pictures. I’ve thought about taking some advice from a post Steve Unruh made about air gun chucks for nozzles. Really small sized so it’ll get the velocity up than an Imbert would want and replaceable, as well as the length to get the worst of the heat off of the burn tube walls.
I was going to use the Joni hearth I made for the Mazda, but I’m not so sure it’ll be up to snuff.
OK thanks, good luck with the design / much easyer it would be in a short box s10 2.2- I thought about puting a charco burner in the trunk area, then sealing the back area with metal , too keep exoust out of driver compartment. leave the windows down or louvered window screens.
Kevin if I ever did a trunk design I would punch louvers in the trunk lid itself to always pull air out of it. I’d also use a metal wall to separate and get some of that firewall foam sealant to make it airtight.
I really wanna get an older Ford Crown Victoria to do that with, their trunks look long enough to make it convenient.
Sounds good get the heat off the gasifier are too. Thanks chat later,hitting the shop,i got too finish my hopper door seal flange on my junk pile gasifier dakota build design test.
I think if i had a 2.2 car i would go with light weight charco unit, and put in trunk area, and see if i could hybrid drive up over 100 miles too gallon,lot less weight.Though i have not built a charco gasifier YET.
Is there a good design of a charco gasifier i can buy the plans for/ I am still out in left feild on how too build a 4 cylinder size charco set up. I got a pontiac vibe i could charco power. ITS been getting BS gas milege lately. THANKS
Kevin I don’t know anybody that sells plans. But I think Steve Bowman’s Toyota Corolla design is a good solid build for a little car he used a 30 gallon drum for the gasifier body and used Kristijans flute nozzle.
Gimme a second and I’ll link some posts in here for that.
Better yet I forgot Steve has a drawing.
Steve used a schedule 80 steam pipe 1.5" ID with holes drilled. In my 2 liter I bought some drop steel DOM tube 5/8" wall 1.9"ID and drilled 5 1/2" holes in it. If I did it another time I’d only drill 3 holes with them that big I had hot spots on the sides closest to the outer nozzle holes.
I made a very similar updraft for the Mazda and it got my truck going down the road pretty good. Made a sack filter using a tall ammo can, pipe welded through the lid as the gas exit with the bag hose clamped to the pipe. Dirty gas goes from a pipe welded into the side of the can, outside the bag and clean gas is inside the bag through to the pipe.
Dust shakes off the bag and settles to the bottom of the ammo can.
Thanks a lot for the info on charco gasifier design, thats an excellent Diagram of a charco gasifier. Do the exoust help keep the air nozel pipe much cooler, It almost seems the barrels would be too thin, or is most the heat right around the air pipe nozels.? THANKS
Steve says he doesn’t use the exhaust anymore just water drip. You don’t gain power with exhaust it’s just to keep the reaction cooler.
Updrafts the gas is pretty cool when it leaves the barrel, the reaction is just right at the nozzle. When your gas gets above 100 degrees it’s time to refill. Put a thermometer where the gas exits the barrel.
But yeah it’s only hot around the nozzles but that’s why I’d only use 3 1/2" holes based in the center, maybe 3 or 4 inches apart from each other, center hole lining up with the center of the barrel. For water drop I’d go maybe 1 drip per second to start out with. Bruce Southerland uses a pump and a aquarium stone to shoot a fine mist of water I haven’t tried that yet.
Thanks cody for the extra info/ i intend on righting this all down so it dont get lost, though its hear on your cavalier thread- I think i could start stacking up parts with the excellent info for charco gasifiers/ Ware can i get a 1/2 or 5/8" thick pipe for a air nozel. THANKS
The pipe doesn’t have to be that thick, it’s just what I had available. I think Sch80 is 3/32" thick wall maybe 1/4"
Here’s some 1/4" wall stuff but you’ll want to weld a cap on one end and a pipe nipple to the other so you can attach a Tee for the water drip and to cap it off for shutdown.
what that mean dom tube, is that harder steel than regular cold roll pipe, or just brand name, you think a pipe inside of a pipe too make a quarter inch thick would last very long. or how long you think the dom 1/4" pipe would last before time too replace.THANKS much again/ i check back in morning Good night friend.
DOM means Drawn on Mandrel, instead of it being a welded pipe with a seam. If you can find steam pipe that would work good too. I think McMaster or Grainger has it. Seam or no seam it isn’t important I just knew DOM would be easier to find thick walled stuff.
Steve hasn’t had to replace his nozzle yet and he’s driven a lot more than me, and his pipe was thinner walled than mine.
That just about covers all the things about charco gasifiers i can think of, i realy glad you took the time too help me out on the complete picture, i have copied the diagram and will take the rest of the notes morning all the details you posted , much abloshed-- Thanks again.And i hope you wood gas 4 banger gasifier burns nice and tar free clean.
Cody and Kevin,
Here is what I bought to use as a nozzle.
Since I don’t weld, I use threaded pipe and nipples. I screwed a cap on one end and used a coupler and short nipple on the other to center this 12 inch long nipple in the barrel. The 1/2 inch holes are spaced 2-1/2 inches center to center. I actually stepped down the hole size from 5/8 inch at the open end to 3/8 inch at the capped end, but I’m not sure there is any advantage to doing that. I think this left me with about 5 inches between the first and last hole and the barrel wall. I have driven the car probably an average of about 25 miles a month for the last 5 years and it has held up well for that level of use. As Cody noted, only the water drip is providing any cooling. I’ve changed my filter some and the cyclone dust collection set up a bit since I made that drawing, but the reactor is the same (minus the EGR).
Thanks steve, . That looks too easy of a fix?? I got some 1/2" thick plate, if i weld it too a 1-1/2" square too the length i need, that might work good welded with SS wire or cast iron stick welded? that is a great price brake with free shipping on orders over 50 buck. You might be able too find a buddy too help you learn welding, i really enjoy welding projects, I only welded about 14 years in welding production shops, but i got a bit of experiance from home welding exoust systems, race car street stock cages,ect. Though i like the bolt together stuff if needed. I welded in high school metal shop class/ then got welding job at 16 years old , for after metal shop class summer after school. That was hot heavy welding, but i stuck with welding quite a while. gess i got an early start too say the leiste. Though not that hard too learn, just keep an eye on the bubble and dont move too fast ahead of the bubble, they used too tell me any way,
Kevin,
As you see, I don’t give this car much of a workout. My nozzle has over 1000 miles on it. I don’t know what the correct term is, but I see an outer layer flaking off, like rust, which I assume is some deterioration from heat, but the holes look just like they did when they were drilled. I don’t know how long it would hold up with heavy use. Kristijan, who originated this “flute nozzle” design used thicker pipe and had great success. I suspect he has a lead foot and he didn’t mind long trips to give his gasifier a workout, so he put a lot of stress on his nozzle and updraft charcoal system.
I have a source for getting small amounts of welding done for little or no cost to me. So, I will probably go that route for anything which must be welded. I can tell that it is a great skill to have when building gasifiers. I’m sure it is a lot cheaper and easier building such things with scrap metal instead of buying pipe and fittings and bolting it all together like I have done.
You got it working as good as any welders gasifier set up, thats all that really maters to be able too salute the gas station oil companys when needed, And its easy too change parts if needed,not a bad way too build either.SWEM Thanks for the info about the flute nozel workings.
