Giorgio, Eddy has adapted the system to his environment, separately produces charcoal from waste and uses a gasifier in the upward mode, well, if I understand you correctly, do you have an idea of a construction with a middle nozzle with adding water and discharging gas to the side? Let me say that this is also my way, what happens below in my gasifier, the steam that evaporates from the charcoal rises under the hood, but if the gasifier was insulated, the steam would overheat and press down into the hot area, where it would conversion has taken place, the physical construction itself must ensure that steam and other gases cannot pass through without passing through the hot coal atmosphere. Well, if we think carefully about the WK system or the Imbert system, we can find that the lower constriction or restriction opening squeezes all the gases tightly together, and below it there is a small glowing coal on the grate, which converts the remaining steam and bad gases into clean gas. I believe that here most of the gases pass to the side and not down through the grate, where there is charcoal mixed with ash, here I also see a small drawback of this construction, I think that one of the improvements would be if the restriction opening were extended downwards towards the grate, so the flow of gases remained close together for a little longer, and at the same time, this pipe is filled with coal from the outside by itself, and thus a barrier (siphon) is created, which prevents the passage of gases without meeting the coal.
thanks, tone…i have found some 50 liter beer barrels…so the thoughts play a bit …maybee once a gasifier for a bigger engine like your new tractor…so i am thinking about to avoid some disadvantages of updraft as example the gas outlet not on top, but very near to the reduction area, and this in height variable, depends on engine size…coal quality would not be a problem- mine is very good i think- what belongs to be tar free, but the moisture during wet season becomes higher…so my thought with the water gutter on top…
I think a water gutter at the top would be beneficial. You could maybe even connect the gutter to the water drip tank, ensuring water goes to the best zone.
Giorgio, the difference between the upward method and the downward method is that in the former, all the water vapor rises during the generated gas and travels towards the engine, the charcoal dries completely and it is necessary to add water, well, in the downward process, a moist atmosphere is created above, which presses down through the hot zone, the steam is well superheated above and the conversion process is guaranteed. Maybe the condensation chute would be really useful to collect excess water, which can evaporate again in further operation when the fuel is consumed, I think I would do it a little lower, or like I have on the tractor, where the chute heats the resulting gas and in case of high temperature, this water starts to evaporate again and cools the process, this is a kind of automatic regulation.
corrected sketch
Since my last post, I’ve been busy building a simple fire with pieces from my wood gasifier. I reused the ash cleanout, ignition port and the cyclone. I added an air inlet from a wood boiler as the loading hatch. I was excited to see the results and was extremely disappointed that I could not get a sustainable flare - that is until I noticed I had neglected to attach the water trap jars back onto the cyclone and radiator. I think I am going to have to get my eyes checked. 
Anyway, seconds after correcting that blunder, I produced the best flare I have ever had. I shut down shortly thereafter to cool down so I could get some idea how long after startup I could get good gas. I don’t have a lot of charcoal yet.
The post mortem of the wood gasifier indicated to me that there was insufficient heat in the hearth area. I think it was due to the hopper lid not sealing properly. I did get some bubbling around the edges when testing for leaks, but I thought they were small and perhaps augmented by the positive pressure pushing against the lid. I will have to redesign the lid. But right now I am so jazzed with the simple fire, that project will probably not happen for a while. I have more to do to like a filter and plumbing to the generator.
Anyway, on to making more charcoal and making a charcoal crusher - I have a design for that. Thanks to everyone with all their help in this saga.
Here’s the charcoal grinder that I built.
You don’t even need bearings, could just drill holes in wood to fit the shaft. I eventually made a hopper for it and I set the grinder on a table that is over a plastic child size pool, a tarp or anything else would work I just used what I had.
Take round bar and flat bar, drill holes in the flat bar and braze or weld into teeth.
Then opposite of that make the static teeth with about a 3/8" gap.
With a 17" steering wheel I have enough leverage to bend nails.
Martin,
Congratulations on your success. It’s hard to beat the SimpleFire. Thank you Gary Gilmore.
Nice one Marty , if this is the design you are happy with and it can run your generator with the power you need then stick with it , don’t start making improvements until you have got so bored with it running time after time after time ,that you think you can improve it .
I have run a 55gal Horizontal simple fire for many years and i have been itching to change things and try and improve , but apart from a Hexoloy nozzle put in the bottom in 2018 that’s all i have changed till this day .
Only just recently decided to play with down draft and although i am not quiet ready for unattended running like my simple fire i am sure i will master it one day .
Dave
Thanks Cody for the charcoal crusher suggestion, but I had already started on another method based the design of a rock crusher. It is a prototype made of wood before I commit to metal and bearings, etc.
I didn’t time it, but it took about an hour to crush a half full 55 gallon barrel of charcoal. A lot of that was time transporting the material bucket by bucket to the gasifier site and filming. Once I get into a production mode with more buckets and a dedicated motor running the crusher, I think I could do it in a third of the time easy.
Now it’s time to start thinking about a retort.
Marty
Wery nice chrusher you got there! It wuld be interesting to test it aginst the clasical chrusher most use, the roller with pegs type. Specialy in dust producing.
Yeah you must test a gasifier under vacuum presure. If you have a good vacuum source you will hear it hiss and can locate those leaks. Positive presure wont tell you anything because those small lid leaks will seal up under vacuum presure. If you have a difficult time or feel resistance opening your lid under vacuum then chances are its sealing just fine. If not then there is certainly a leak.
That looks really good! Just need to figure out a hopper setup to feed more constantly. I think if it already works as a wooden model there’s no need to improve.
So it works by use of the eccentric rod spun by the drill? I’ve never operated a rock crusher so I don’t know how they work.
Martin, this crusher type style is very compact and with the fine screen at the bottom to remove the fine charcoal dust, is the best I have seen. It will out due my big bulky crusher tromel that is 5 times the size. With a added hopper above it you will be able to make a full 5 gallon buck every time. Have you got any brands in it that will not crushs or go through yet?
Bob
I didn’t see a lot of dust compared to my peg crusher but my eyes are getting older. How do you adjust the distance between the jaws at the lower end or do you?
I like it.
Cody, I never have operated one either, but I saw videos on their use and was impressed by the action. My only concern with the wood is wear on the “teeth” which remarkably appear unworn even though they are pine. I would also have to do something with the bearing surfaces as they are only 3mm wide and will eventually wear grooves into the rods.
There is an eccentric rod spun by the drill. I just ran a pipe through another larger pipe and welded them together at the ends, the smaller pipe resting on the wall of the larger. This would never do for a rock crusher, but for soft charcoal it is fine.
Bob, I haven’t had any brands go through it yet - I may just throw one in to see what happens. My guess is that it may just stop the shaft and cause the drill to spin on it. Ok now, but not good when I put in a dedicated motor on a belt drive. Of course then, maybe the belt would just slip. Now I’m curious. Eventually that is a possibility so I will have to check it out.
Tom, there isn’t much dust, but I don’t really have anything in my experience to compare to. It seems to create less dust than I got when I crushed charcoal manually and then screened it. This perhaps due to the fact that anything small just falls through the gap but when crushing manually, everything got crushed regardless of size and more fines are created.
The distance at the bottom is controlled by two bars (one on either side of the moving jaw. They are connected to the jaw and then to the sides of the bin. It is crude, the bars swing on these attachment points and to adjust I would have to unscrew the screws into the bin and relocated them. Since I am looking for a fixed crush size I didn’t feel an easy adjustment was necessary (unlike a rock crusher where you might want gravel one day and sand the next).
It would be easy enough to make adjustable. Probably the easiest would be to drill a series of holes in the bars in say 1/4" increments and just choose the hole that gave the charcoal size you like on a fixed pivot point.
Well, here is an update on the crusher. A video of it is at:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/785301235?h=88c26fdc5a
The first part gives an idea of the throughput. The second part shows a brand in the jaws.
I added a motor to the crusher to replace the drill. It is still in debugging mode - I have wooden pulleys as I didn’t have any metal ones the right size.
What I learned:
I can crush a third of a 55 gal drum of charcoal in about 11 minutes. It is actually a little too fast as the dust doesn’t have time to vibrate down to the screen. I will have to increase the length of screen and/or agitate it beyond what shaking the machine provides. Or just slow down on the feeding.
There was a bunch of dust produced this time. Partly because I wasn’t catching it in anything below, but also because of the high rate of feeding. Also the video shows operation from near the bottom of the barrel and there was a bunch of ash.
I definitely need better pulleys. 
The speed seems to be slightly slower than with the drill and I like it better. But there is too much slippage on big chunky loads.
I have a 130 watt motor driving it now. I think it would be much better at 1/3 or 1/2 hp. Big pieces choke the motor.
I also need some sort of hopper above to funnel the charcoal in better. I have to be careful to not spill all over the place.
I threw a brand in and for the most part it just jumps around although it did cause some belt slippage. I hope good pulleys will alleviate this problem.
I am starting to plan ver 2.0. It will be metal with bearings. The rod in the current version is going to get ruined quickly with belt tension on it now.
I like it, good job. Looking forward to seeing all metal one
Hi Marty,
I like your machine. I’m a mechanical engineer but I don’t think you are going to be able to improve it very much. Nothing wrong with wooden pulleys. I would add an idler pulley that would increase the wrap angle on the motor pulley. and I would use a flat pulley on the crusher end. This will allow the belt to slip around on the big pulley, when the machine jams, so you don’t get a burned spot on the belt.
Rindert
Thanks Rindert, good ideas. I was forced into this configuration with the limited materials I had on hand. The only belt I had was really small so the wrap on the small pulley was not ideal with no real room to put an idler in. I live in rural Chile, so it is sometimes difficult to source things. Plus, my usual source of materials (stuff people throw out) is miniscule compared to the States! 
I got the motor and belt out of a small junked washing machine. I’ve been looking for a larger washer with a bigger motor for ages. But I’m going to a regional city today to get some supplies and I hope to get some bearings, pulleys and a belt.