I live in a house I heat with wood, I’m setting up a heat exchanger between my wood furnace and my water heater to for my hot water to. I live in a place where I can get broken logs delivered to my house for free, primarily hemlock, all of the wood is soft woods. I want to get in to wood gas but am looking for a little direction in getting started
I was wondering if anyone has any experiences in prosesing logs in to appropriate sided fuel and what they do, should I just cut and split it like firewood?
I have a family of 5 that will likely continue to grow so a pickup isnt as practical an option as I would like. I was wondering if anyone on hear has built a wood gas van or suburban station wagon ECT and what that project looked like.
Welcome to the forum! Myself, I started with a cheap generator that I fixed up, the other idea I had was to grab a cheap or free lawn mower to get the basics of how this process works then move up to bigger engines. The simple fire of Gary Gilmore ( details found on youtube ) is I believe a great place to start, but the members of this forum have years of experience to help make the job go easier.
Myself, I am into rocket stoves and you might consider splitting your wood and letting it dry before burning it ( if you are not already doing so ).
There is much to learn about the process, but I have found the threads here help, and also the youtube videos really help with the learning curve of getting started.
Another option I was considering was to build a wood gas generator, then charge up an EV with the gen, then use the EV for travel. But each one of us has to work out our own creations and how we wish to go.
I have a generator aircompresor welder like would go on a service truck that I think I’ll start with. I am already drying my wood, but that is a challeng where I’m at . I live in a rainforest and if you leave wood outside to long it will rot and hold water again. i was storing some wood in my shop but last summer I lifted it and once it’s squared away I’m moving some wood back in it.
What size engine is on that generator aircompresor welder? If you decide to go charcoal, I know it takes time to make but it stores like forever if you put it in an airtight plastic barrel, it does not take up a lot of room. A 55 gallon barrel’s worth of engine grade charcoal will run engines for hours and hours. They quit making pennies here but that is my 2 cents worth of advice.
Hello DillonP.
You’ve been here a while I see. I read your desires. Read you have access to hemlock woods. Experience with home wood heating. Now just read you live “in a rainforest”. You show Oregon. Hemlock and rainforest that means western wet-side.
Where I live; except up in Washington State.
So you will get pushed, prodded, pulled by the Eastern boys into charcoal making. They live where the good charcoal making hardwoods are the predominate.
You and I live where conifer woods predominate. ONLY older growth conifer limb and knot woods sections makes the dense hard, handleable, storable charcoals for us. Regular conifer trunk-stem wood makes lightweight fragile charcoals best used hot as made left in place where they are made. And that means a raw woodgas system. This is what Ben Peterson Builders book system was designed to do.
Now onto practicality. That you will actually use once you have spent the hundred+ hours to build, and set it up. I’m including useable amounts of fuel prepping/making.
Just skip on past the small engines systems. Most small engine systems as Wayne Keith answered once: you just want start up, and get the specific job done. Then be able to shut it down, and walk away to other homestead needful things. He was talking about his car Mercedes diesel operated bandsaw mill. Today I will start up on gasoline my 10.5 hp B&S on my 34 ton hydraulic wood splitter (ha! what you need for grains entwined Hemlock and cleave or mash down big 4-6" DF knots) for a single wheelbarrow of fine split wood. 15 minutes. Using, less than half quart of gasoline.
A small woodgas system to supply would need at least 15 minutes to get up to operating temperatures. I’d have less than 10.5 engine HP. So have to work much slower. Then the woodgas system would be still producing and bleeding off heat energy for over an hour. A waste of wood; wood preparation time; and personal energy. Actually the only small engine woodgasing using that makes sense is electrical power generation. 2-4 hours of direct use. With battery bank storage. Even recovered pumped hot water storage. The gasifer and engines systems heats rejections being engine blown and drying down wood chunks to useable just-in-time for the next batch cycle. Bank this made ready wood at least one batch ahead.
So where to get the now West Coast expensive gasoline for small engine usages?
In what you save not buying for a personal work/commuter vehicle. This is what actually once built does gets used.
Multi-passenger family vehicles: I know of no one following thru. And then using.
Think about it. You out 5-15 minutes at least firing up the system and getting it stabilized to reliable production before a drive-away with the family. . “She” having to keep the kids on-track, settled while you do this. Then when you do have the on-the road stoppage for a woodgas system clog-up/burp/charcoal bed burnt out problem: then Her out on the road having to keep the kids settled, calm, and not fighting.
Save your marriage. Just do a work commuter vehicle woodgassed for your usage. Take along the kid who is interested, and actually helpful. One less kid for her to manage. She will thank you.
Giving her a modest amount of electrical power when all else is out; cold, wet, and dark - believe me- she will thank you.
We’re going into wet cold and darker now and they should be thanking you for the wood heat.
Woodgas pursuits you want to multiply on that.
If you developed a passion for fishing . . . you best be bring home enough cleaned prepped fish ready to cook to feed the whole family. Every single, away from them outing. Same principal.
Will a new interest activity be family supportive?? Or a solo shout out?
They only have the one you. They need you engaged with them. Kids remember if you were there or not.
