I am a “friend” to Don Mannes on FaceBook and yesterday I think his daughter posted and interview he did at Argos this year on his charcoal gasifier. I think Kris did the video work but I just went back through 50 posts on this thread and found nothing. I think it is a very informative video about the “dark side” which many of us have minimal knowledge. Could someone please post it under this thread.
Also it brought up many questions that I would like to ask. I believe some of them have been answered up in the construction area of this thread, but many times we have ideas before construction and things change as we get to the actual build.TomC
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Here you go Tom
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Thank you Don. I see by the “likes” that you have already received, others are as interested as I am/was.
Now 20 questions; Today you said you got a buy on some “air filters”. I believe you are running double cyclones. Are they the same size and hooked up in parallel or series? Have you ever thought about adding a “thein” (?) filter? On YouTube one person says that a cyclone plus a “thein” filter works better than two cyclone. (I just built a new cyclone and am trying to get info on this thein thing.
That slug or as I would call it “hockey puck” that is in the opening to the bottom of the charcoal chamber; you said it was going to spin from air passing it. Sounds like it is working well. With out a positive drive I thought the ash/char would stop the spin.
With out a horizontal pipe being used to feed air to the chamber, how are you feeding your water drip? Earlier I though you said something about feeding it to the ring around the air opening. Wouldn’t that be so hot it would be steam? ( not that steam wouldn’t do the same as water, I guess)
Is that a 55 gal plastic hay filter. I’m on the lookout for something smaller.
I see a drawer under the gasifier. I suppose that is to catch and ash falling past the hockey puck You said you used the vacuum cleaner to get down to the air valve/inlet for inspection. Can you clean the ash and slag out through the air hole so you don’t have to empty the full 30 gal of charcoal?
Do you know anything about the Isuzu Amego? There is a good by on one here. I think they are one of those valve and piston interferance engines, because he said he just put a new head/valves/timing chain in it. TomC
They are the same size in parallel. Small cyclones spins gas faster so are more efficient I’ve been told but to get the volume of gas needed I put another in parallel
I never heard of it.
You asked about this before but somehow I must have given the impression that the hockey puck (I like that name better than slug) spins. It doesn’t spin by itself but I have a lever on the side of the ammo box to rotate the puck a little to let ash through the space around it. The combustion air enters through that space and cools the puck.
Yes that is correct, the steam enters the air stream through 3 openings spaced around the air inlet from the steam chamber below the brake rotor. As the steam contacts the white hot char above it does two things. first it reacts with the char to form H2 and 2 COs and second being that reaction is endothermic - it cools the reaction and prevents overheating.
It is actually a 30 gallon plastic barrel with a removable clamp lid.
I put that 4 inch clean out later on the side for cleaning without emptying.
That is what the Tracker has and that is one of the reasons why I switched it to charcoal and why I am building the S-10 non interference engine for wood chunks now. (Don’t ask for a progress report - it ain’t going fast. Too much in the way like granddaughters fast pitch softball games and mowing lawns)
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Don Here is one YouTube on the Thein separator. There are several others here but this appear to be the better of them TomC
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Thanks Tom but it looks like another cyclone only bigger diameter. Good for sawdust - not sure about soot.
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Hi Don Mannes:
I have being following this topic of yours. Very impressive!!
Here I am submitting to you a couple of info/drawing as I think your system works.
Please feel free to check it, correct it, delete or add any info you think may be usefull.
Truly yours.
Eddy
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Wow Eddy, you must have been sneaking around in my garage taking measurements and stuff. You got it down pretty accurate! I think if I gave you a lighting torch and the keys, you could jump in and go without any further instructions.
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Ha ha ha Thank’s for the compliments. Actually I am too far, in Argentina, South America to be near your garage. But please notice that there are several measurements with a question mark that need to be verify by you.
Truly yours.
Eddy
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It looks like all the dimensions are correct except the ceramic is 2 inches thick and the water heater tank is 16 inches diameter.
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Hi Don.
Thank you very much Don. I really appreciate your answer. I misunderstood your post 52, were you said: “I have 2 thermocouples installed. One is 4 or 5 inches above the nozzle and it penetrates the reactor shell about 2-1/4 inches with 8 inches being dead center, so assumed that the water heater tank was 20” diammeter. With a photo I took on your video, I based all my inner dimension on that diammeter. So I will adjust it accordingly, and post a corrected Reactor drawing.
Thank’s again.
Truly yours.
Eddy
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Eddy; Fantastic report on Don’s charcoal gasifier. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. In this case your pictures are worth 281 posts. I am a visual person, so I have tried on several occasions to put what I think people have said into a picture— none was ever as well done and explicit as yours. I know this charcoal gasifier has some particular interest for you, but I would ask that anytime someone verbally describes something that you find a little hard to understand, if you made a sketch of it like this is would help the rest of us a lot. Good job. TomC
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Hi Tom:
Thank’s for your kind words. I am also a visual person and I like to contribute to this forum that is why I did it. This is my 1 cent contribution.
Eddy
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I also have to agree with what Tom said about a picture worth a 1000 words , its so good to be able to sum up a plan or an idea in a blink of the eye allowing your imagination to work over time before even taking it all in , now i can sit back and relax and take in the splendid work that you have provided us all with Eddy .
Thanks Don and Eddy
Dave
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Thank’s Dave & Brian for your words.
As I explained on my post 281, I missundersood the water-heater inner diameter so I based some dimensions of my first drawing on a 20 1/2" water-heater diameter. When Don Mannes reviewed the drawings he stated that the real inner diameter of his water-heater was 16". So here I am posting a reviwed drawing base on this new data. I hope this will help anybody when building this type of gasifier.
Eddy.
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Excellent suggestion Tom. I’ve been thinking the same for some time. Standard industrial practice is to work from drawings or blueprints, because it is the universal technical language. I have felt DOW has been scant on this aspect. It’s one thing to describe a build, and then the learning process and modifications, but a definitive construction plan is elemental. Just as in scientific publication, detailed documentation of process is required to allow replication of results.
I would like to see a concise summary of each thread, and detailed cross sectional drawings like that presented above for each thread, that wiĺl be the major step to advancing and spreading the sucesses described on this site.
Regards,
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The drawings don’t have to be as detailed as this one of Don’s by Ramose; I have posted several drawings especially of Max’s ideas, because I truly think every piece of information he posts is important. Unfortunately, I have to study such posting for some time and sketch as I study. TomC
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Not being snarky, Just have to say presenting a drawing may be worth the time spent, but that time must be accounted for. Also, I or someone else may not want to give out hard-won knowledge to just anyone skimming the site and mining data to post as their own work. This has to be an individual decision, when and where to post detailed drawings. Not everyone on the internet has unselfish motives. I would love to share most of my knowledge with 95% of members here. That includes all the regulars! 
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Can I like this more than once ? 
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For me it is time well spent. It is the difference between making the idea or theory understood or not. If you don’t care if people understand what you are posting, why waste time writing a post? TomC
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