I calculated 2kg/mil before we left home but ended up burning 1,7kg/mil ( 1mil=10km ). By coincidence that equals the number of miles one pound of wood took us.
The little VW burned only 1,3kg/mil (2mpp) on longer trips.
Very hard to tell without first hand experience.
To be honest and straight forward I still suspect a coarse charbed and maybe moist wood to be your main problems.
A thermometer on the cyclone outlet would give you valuable information. Expect 150-300C.
Pressure diff across the charbed would be even more valuable information. The proper guages are hard to find on ebay and such, but Instrumentmakarna in Leksand will make you a couple if you’re willing to pay ~700kr.
Oh, you mentioned you were able to run 100km/h at one point. Was that before or after you put the grate in?
Thanks JO.
Should try to fix a temp meter to the cyclone.
If you send an address to them in Leksand, and preferably what I should have, I can ask my wife for money.
It was before i put in the ring on the grate the car drove in 100kmh.
Jan; Haven’t heard how any of the suggestion I made to you worked out.
A couple of manometers would work for this and they are easy to make. You need some clear plastic tubing a glass jar and a board. There are two types that will work. One uses a glass jar and you get the reading directly off the board. The other only uses the plastic tube and you have to add the two readings together
The last picture of course is one of the addition type mounted in the drivers compartment. I suggest using one jar and run two tubes into it to allow you two readings at a time.(don’t for get to put an extra hole in the lid for atmospheric pressure.) TomC
I took the Toyota Corolla CharCar for a 27.5 mile ride this morning on mostly country roads. I didn’t used to have this problem, but now I have to pretty much close the air valve when stopping at a stop sign or stop light otherwise it will cut off. That is the case now whenever it idles. I keep an eye on the water drip to be sure it is going. Since it is controlled from the outside, if I stop, the first thing I do is turn off the water. I tried something new this time. I cut the exhaust valve off for the second half of the trip and kept the water at about 3 drips a second. It wasn’t any hotter than usual at the end of the trip, which surprised me. It seemed I had slightly more power, especially on take off. The timing is still advanced as far as the manufactured adjustment will allow. I tried backing off a little, but then it was definitely weaker. It was a good trip overall. I wish I had cleaned my windshield before starting. I was going to do this several weeks ago and my camera bit the dust. Then, the brakes were weak and needed attention, then I left the dome light on and killed the battery. So, today was the day. This is my first solo drive and video effort. Let me know if you have problems with buffering and I’ll reprocess the video. Thanks for watching:
Do you have a way of determining how tight your charbed is? Or maybe air is leaking in somewhere else.
Another thing that could mess with the idle capability is if condensation accumulates in any low spot, creating a bubbler and restricting the gas flow at low demand.
Just guessing here.
Mine is a SimpleFire charcoal gasifier, so practically no condensation, except a slight amount in winter, and or course my “char bed” is pretty tight. Ha! Ha!
I have considered that a leak may have developed perhaps several months ago when I first had to start cutting back the air every time I went to an idle condition. I have checked the system for leaks, except around the barrel lid. I did install a new lid gasket, thinking that was the problem, but nothing changed. It’s not so easy to test the lid for leaks, since it is designed to leak under pressure. Maybe if I pile some weights on it and test under pressure, I could tell if it is leaking. What about putting smoke around the edge of the lid while the gasifier is in operation with the engine running creating a vacuum? Would I be able to see the smoke being sucked toward the lid if there was a leak?
Steve, I’m aware you’re running a charcoal gasifier. I was just throwing out a bunch of suggestions without thinking. Things I would have looked for if I had the same sympthomes.
Good idea. The smoke from a lit cigarette should be able to detect a leak that way.
JO, Sorry, your comments sounded like they were describing wood gasifier problems. However, “tight charbed” and gasifier which needs to be cleaned out might be the same thing. My last cleanout was in November, but that was only about 225 miles ago. Before that cleanout, I had been cleaning out in the spring and in the fall. Since it has been running well, except for the idle problem, I hadn’t considered a cleanout. Also, since the idle issue appeared to have happened between two consecutive runs and not gradually, that seems to suggest a leak. I remember now that when I checked for leaks, I did overlook the cyclone cleanout port. Monday, I’ll do some troubleshooting. When the weather cools off a bit, I’ll clean out the gasifier, hopefully before I run out of air adjustment entirely.
Hi Steve nice ride and Thanks taking us along , I have come across many times over the years where i seem to have to almost shut off my air inlet valve to get a decent air fuel mix , and for me its always one thing … time for a new nozzle !
If you can check your nozzle , from memory i think you are using the Kristijans thick walled tube , just make sure there is no excess wear if so replace if not then maybe by removing it and replacing it back in you will have some fresh char in front of the holes , see if that has made any difference to the air /gas mix .
Dave
Dave & Brian, in previous nozzle inspections, there has been no deterioration, but you never know what I might find this time. I am imagining a lot of packed dust, fine clinker and the like all around the nozzle pipe area restricting the flow. If I don’t find leaks tomorrow, a cleanout with nozzle inspection is the only other option I can think of. I can’t imagine a leak at a barrel seam. The lid gasket is still a suspect. We’ll see. Thanks for all suggestions. I’ll check them out. It does still work well—but for how long. Stay tuned. . . .
Brief followup: I checked gas line for water and then checked cyclone port, filter, and reactor lids for leaks–all good. Started gasifier–same problem. Next–reactor cleanout and nozzle inspection.
Thanks for the tar free design proff , that WK design really does the work load, and for sure the v10 on wood worked out very well as a wood gas vehicle as well.Are you going too load hey, good luck beating the next huricane.
It seems we all have the same situation 
