Gary Gilmore, My start to building a charcoal gasifier

General Discussion
#143

Soup cans work good but they are a little flimsy. I have been cutting slits in my flare pipe and spreading the center part out to create air entry/mixing slots. When I got home from Argos I pinched it together a little so the flame would not go as much horizontal because it was too close to the top of my Tracker and the paint was getting hot :worried:

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#144

I cut the voltage in half on my air mattress inflator and the producer now starts faster or maybe I should say the engine starts faster

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#145

Is that a battery inflator Jeff? I have one that has 4 D cells but that is pretty weak at 6 volts. Yours works on three volts?

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#146

Ahh, letā€™s see Don. Four rechargeable D cell but two pairs in parallel and each pair is two cells. So 1.2 + 1.2 = 2.4Vdc. Rechargeable cells have a lower voltage.

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#147

PWM works really well and is connected directly to 12 volts.

Economic ebay +/- $ 15 Canadian

Thierry

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#148

Yes Don, believe it or not, I saw the flare tube you used at Argos in one of the pictures. That is a good idea. I told Mart to look at others flaring to get an idea. I have a tin can, as I said, but it is flimsy and junky looking.
I hope you didnā€™t burn the paint too bad on the Tracker. I missed a deal on one this week. '99 with 123,000 miles for $1300. Iā€™m kind of thinking my next vehicle will be a Chev S10 pickup with a 4.3 V6. I think it would give the Dakotas a run for their money. TomC

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#149

Thanks guys for your input. Today I tried my router speed control on kirby did not lower the speed low enough for me. But I did use the kirby to get the flame lit for 1 1/2 min. I tried air matress air pump at 3 volts pipe got very hot but seems to fast to light a flame. I will give it a rest and try making the air vent modification as suggested.

Thanks gang!

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#150

I hold a 3" pipe up to the outlet of the pump on about a 45 degree angle. The pipe is about 5 or 6" long or shorter. Gets hot to hold so only flare a second or two. This is a small engine setup.

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#151

A ceiling light dimmer switch will only cost a couple of bucks and that allows me to take my Kirby right down to turned off. Tomc

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#152

Good idea, I have an extra one.

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#153

Yeap, thatĀ“s the way I do it for my dihidration ovens. A simple dimmer does the work.
Abner

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#154

Start with a light dimmer sure but if you go to buy one buy one rated for a ceiling fan. Light dimmers are best suited to resistive loadsā€¦ my two centsā€¦

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#155

This is a short clip with an air matrass blower/pwm and a stainles sink tubeā€¦

Donā€™t forget the air passing thru the blowers engine compartimentā€¦

Have quite a few little clips on youtubeā€¦

My observations: little air holes do the trick, not to muchā€¦
Rule of thumb: keep your airspeed in balance with the flame speed ( more airspeed then flame speed of course :wink: )

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#156

Nice video Koen. Interesting, my air mattress pump does not have air going through the motor. When starting an engine my only interest is how the gas ignites, not really the flare.

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#157

Koen

Am I right?

If the pipe stays cool (= good speed air and no air leaks)

if the heater hose (= too much air or too little)

Thierry

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#158

Hi Jeff,

Yes, i agree. The only reason i mentioned this is to share some might be relevant information, especially if someone is struggling with finding good results.

Observations and learningā€¦ never a dull momentā€¦

In this video you can see what happens if my hand seals the back of the engine compartiment.

More even, if the gas speed is to high, mixed with to much air, it will not ignite as easy, but still you would have good gas, only a bad mixture m an unexpected airleakā€¦

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#159

Hi Thierry,

The place where i hold my hand is cooled with the oncoming gas.
The thin wall pipe will not heat up as fast as it will be cooled.

when i start mixing gas with more or less airā€¦

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#160

Koen, nice videos. All your information and videos are good stuffā€¦! :+1:

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#161

Sharing my observations with those who enlightnent me :wink:

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#162

Koen , the feed stock for your charcoal is it always bamboo ? Have you made charcoal from say pallet wood or hardwood/soft wood seasoned wood .
In all the time I have been running my engines on charcoal from pallet wood ect , I have never ever had such a pure blue looking flare like yours , wish we had bamboo here in Victoria so I could give it a try .
On your air mattress fan are you running the gas through it or using an ejector ?

Dave

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