Are you planning on closing off a wall behind the front seats, with a little extra space too lean the seat back, that was my other thought,if need more space. 36" from the roof , I will be getting ideas as your build gets built, if i can find time after hauling fire wood from sawmill for heat and truck fuel wood, its been slow on the dakota though,once i finish making the ash and cleanout door flanges on heat exchanger and bottom hopper, i can start building my custom fit hay filters ,one on each side ,i can fit all in one row in rear truck bed space.Get some hay in it and maybe some wool felt on top of hay filters, hook up the plummigs.
1 Like
I have the Sedan version, none of the gasifier stuff is going in the interior of the car it’s all gonna be outside.
Also instead of felt you can also use the real loose open cell mattress foam. Make a disc of it that fits on top of the hay.
1 Like
Ok thanks cody,i will have too experiment on open cell type mattris foam materiel, too find foam open enough for wood gas. I remember max gas man said he used that on top of his hay filter.
2 Likes
I’d say to find a fabric store or a Hobby Lobby and ask for the open cell foam, and go with maybe 1-3" thick stuff. I think if you can see light through it with a flashlight applied it would be loose enough. You’re just looking for something tighter than the hay.
2 Likes
I have a regular 4" mattress that I split in half about 2", had 4" from the beginning, but these become difficult to wash,
3 Likes
that’s what I was wondering is how easy the foam would be to clean out of accumulated soot, specially in the toyota there is a lot of moisture in the hay filter so it almost like a soot mud
3 Likes
I have a 1/4 oil drum with water, put in the mattress and stomp with the boots, change the water 4-5 times.
4 Likes
so a farely time consuming clean out not easily done by garden hose rinse out?
3 Likes
It takes about 5 minutes to clean a piece, and it usually lasts about 4 weeks for me
4 Likes
I take a garden hose and then lay the foam on a sloped grassy spot and then squeeze it by stomping on it with rubber boots. When it stomps out clean water it is ready to go. I learned that from Max Gasman.
10 Likes
Thanks for the info on foam cleaning times,expectations, sounds like last quit some miles before foam needs cleaning.
1 Like
Hi Jan A, how many miles you figure you put on wood gas a week THANKS.
1 Like
Kevin and Cody—This is the foam rubber I bought to use in my Toyota filter:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/FUTURE-FOAM-3-in-Thick-Multi-Purpose-Foam-10030BULK3/203837114#overlay
It seems to work fine, except for a couple of times when the filter got very hot. When I removed it to clean it, the center turned to dust. I have been using the piece which is in it now for about two years. Most of the charcoal dust is removed before the gas ever gets to the foam rubber.
5 Likes
Kevin another thing you can do is copy what Jan-Ola did and make a wool blanket pillow full of hay. It worked even for a smaller bucket as a filter body.
1 Like
Thanks STEVE Bowman, it appears too be 100 percent open cell foam from the description, and made out of more durable material than most matrise type foam, I will try that foam asap. Can you see light through it held up too a light source, THANKS.
Yes that would help remove the hay easyer too, Bob Mac uses some sort of burlap or wool bag too, good point thanks, i think Marcus built his hay filter with large bottom door for easy clean out the hay when replacing , Though my hay filters will sort of match the shape of the box at the botton ,and the shape topper at the top of hay filter. should be about the same as one big barrel filter, between the two half size filters.Have to try some foam and or wool materiel ,see what working best i gess, thanks Cody.
1 Like
Kevin, When placed over a bright light it is translucent, but you can’t actually see the light shining through holes in it, if that makes sense.
I also use this material in a tin can as an air filter attached to the air mixture valve for small engines. None of my engine applications are in dirty environments so it only needs to provide minimal protection for that purpose. I have not tried soaking motor oil into it to see if it cleans the air or gas better, but that is another possible option.
1 Like
HI Steve again, just curios if you tried any wool type top of hay filter, filtering test, And are you getting many miles before that foam plugs up and needs cleaning, or is this hard too clean fully open,THANKS
1 Like
I usually drive over 120 miles in a week.
But I have a cyclone that takes quite a lot, gets about 1 gallon a week there.
I also have clay balls under my mattress filter about 8" high.
Here’s a picture of a mattress I tried, it didn’t work well though, it’s glued together from 2 different layers, so it got tight pretty quickly, but that’s the thickness I have today.
4 Likes
Like SteveB, I am only dealing with some dust from an updraft charcoal unit and only use a 5 gallon pail for a filter housing, but these sponges work very well as a final filter above the dog hair that I use as the first stage material. I used them in a previous gasifier as the main filter and they picked up all the dust and could be cleaned with a bucket of water and a couple of squeezes. Cheap and pretty durable.
https://www.menards.com/main/flooring-rugs/tile-stone/tile-installation-maintenance/tile-installation-tools/c-6599.htm?Spec_ProductType_facet=Grout+Sponges