Gary Gilmore, My start to building a charcoal gasifier

mart85 · November 28, 2015, 9:00pm

I like that the vac can also be used as a blower. It seems that this could be a wood gas kit in a box The more I look at it the more I like it. I guess I could drop down to a big box store and see how close the top motor is to where the charcoal would be.

Jeff · November 28, 2015, 10:36pm

A nozzle comes with it and a filter. But if this is the gasifier container the plastic top cover/ blower might melt…

drost2you2 · November 29, 2015, 1:57am

Hey Mart, if you really can’t find a 30 gallon on the used market, this is a sure deal. http://www.skolnik.com/spec-sheet/CQ3014Q.PDF

glgilmore · November 29, 2015, 3:56am

Hi Mart, If you are thinking of using the Stanley shop vac for a charcoal gasifier and using the blower in the top, get ready for a literal melt down, I have even gotten away from using plastic hose comming out of the gasifier due to the increasing amount of heat that occurs toward the end of the run and melting the hose,
I like to use salvage drums as they are a little thicker than standard steel drums, They also come with a good rubber seal. One company that carries them is Cary, Here is a link, look down to the bottom of this page to find the salvage drums (they are yellow) I paid about $80 for the 15 gallon size,
http://www.thecarycompany.com/containers/steel_drums.html

Gary in PA

mart85 · November 29, 2015, 11:22am

Thanks Gary for the sound advice. I finally found the deal I was looking for on a 30 gal.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331716444337

about $50.00 delivered. I just ordered it.

Mart

Jeff · November 29, 2015, 5:45pm

Mart, is that a plastic barrel…? If so you might be able to cancel the order.

BrianHWA · November 29, 2015, 6:49pm

Yup…
“Black 30 gallon plastic storage/shipping barrel”

k_vanlooken · November 29, 2015, 8:34pm

that storage tank might be worth to try …

or better go for the 30 gallon gas tank… same as i used on my little tuktuk…

Uploading…

k_vanlooken · November 29, 2015, 8:42pm

mart85 · November 29, 2015, 9:47pm

Thanks for that, I requested to cancel. RE: plastic.

d100f · November 30, 2015, 5:06am

Hi Mart , if they wont cancel your order all is not lost as that would make a good large size filter , also as Gary mentioned don’t bother with a shop vac at all , but if you need something for sucking or blowing you can buy 12volt auto vac’s , or mattress pumps on ebay cheap and that’s what I use to start my gasifier .

mart85 · December 1, 2015, 2:31pm

Thanks, I can get them locally to me for 20$. I can get 55 gal plastic for $10.00 each. They sent my $ back for the plastic barrel whew glad they did. I will continue to scan craigslist for deals. In the mean time I think I will upload pictures of my carb, and start working on the filter.

mart85 · January 12, 2016, 6:42pm

Well I have collected a few things for this project, I now have 2 5 gal buckets full of charcoal, a metal bucket I got from roofing tar, Foam mattress for making filters. After opening up the the air filter to look at the carb, I can see that the inlet is all plastic, not a good thing if I plan on putting in hot gasses from the wood gas.

So next need to gather materials for making like a bulkhead fitting into the bucket, for the pipes to fit in. Will need hoses I think.

BrianHWA · January 12, 2016, 8:51pm

Any woodgas/chargas should be well cooled before it reaches the intake. That said, carbon/soot build-up can catch fire; or a backfire could crack the plastic intakes.

d100f · January 13, 2016, 4:19am

Hi Mart ,
Good to see that your continuing your charcoal project , if I can suggest a few things it may help you , take off the plastic filter housing ,as you wont need that .
Get a piece of 2 or 3 mm mild steel sheet and cut to shape with 2 holes for fastening and one 25mm hole in the centre and weld a tube or pipe nipple to it , you can then slide or screw on the gas pipe or mixer valve to that .
The other thing I would do ,if that isn’t an electric start engine would be to take off the pull starter and use a drill with a socket on it to spin the engine over .
If you want a few pictures of what I did with old pipe and scrap fittings onto the engine let me know and I will go out and snap a few for you .
All the best
Dave

alextaylor62 · January 13, 2016, 2:43pm

Another option is to get a pre-fabricated carburetor adapter from @sabbadess .

mart85 · January 13, 2016, 3:38pm

Thanks d100f!,

I will take the plastic filter off and look at it again. I have used the drill method on my lawn mower there I used a dremel and cut a hole so that the socket would fit over the nut, the compression was great so will use a bigger drill next time. But yes a good way to start these is essential, my favorite is starting fluid.

Mart

mart85 · January 13, 2016, 3:39pm

That looks simple enough seems like I could find a part like that I could grind down to get that design. If not I have a friend that has a welder.

d100f · January 13, 2016, 10:02pm

Hi Mart ,
One other thing I forgot to mention is the crankcase breather tube , a few of my engines if not used on a daily basis would be hard to start and I found that the dry gas had seized up the butterfly’s on the choke and throttle , so I drilled a hole in the pipe nipple and squeezed the breather pipe into that making sure its airtight , the small amount of oil thrown up from the crankcase seemed to have cured the sticking butterfly’s .
With the drill spinning the engine there isn’t really a need for starter fluid if all is airtight and the engine has good compression .
Have you decided what you will use for the nozzle yet ?
Dave

don_mannes · January 13, 2016, 10:45pm

You know Mart that charcoal gas is already a vapor, unlike gasoline, and you will be amazed how easy starting it is - almost better than starting fluid in my experience as long as the air mixture is right.