Hi, Jan-Ola!
1.9.2016
Next, start the rust-off fight and preservation!
It starts already from below!
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I hate that kind of work. I’ve put in hundereds of hours in rust fighting and preservation on old junk cars when younger. After a year or sometimes a few months I bought another junk car and all the effort I put in was always in vain.
I did blow some oil into the box frame (trösklar) below the doors on this one too, but that will be all.
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Hi, Jan-Ola!
1.9.2016
This time it is hopefully not in vain at this age; I guess this well suitable vehicle stays with you for a long time, if you preserve it… well!
Rubber flaps behing all wheels, orthophosphoric acid, two-component paint, asphalt, linen oil… save the doors…
spray-plates. Threshhold oil.
The more you do, the more you will like it!
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Yesterday was a cool but sunny day. I decided to go do some felling for 2017-18 firewood. After less than two hours work the chain snapped on my chainsaw. I didn’t mind - it was worn down anyway from years of charpening. I grabbed my other saw and pulled the rope. The rope snapped. Hm… I worked the hatchet for a while and delimbed what was left of the smaller stuff for my chunker and loaded that on the bed.
With the bed full of limbwood and broken chainsaws and also not in a very good mode I just turned the key and went off. As usual the fuel pump was shut off after 200 m, but after a little while I had very little power and a very low vacuum ratio. I resigned and went the last few miles on gasoline.
This morning I suspected to see a hollow burn and a glue bridge. However I did not expect it to be totaly empty from the funnel to only an inch of char on the grate.
Went for another workday in the woods today. When chunking up today’s limbwood my chunker’s chaindrive broke 
Edit: Another % of the 75% done: Always poke down after sitting for a while.
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Sometimes you have to ask yourself, “Maybe I was supposed to do something else today?”! 
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I am amazed that the gasifier actualy worked with so litle char in it!
I agree with MikeR, such days come and go.
In the midle of May l had a shot vaication. The plan was to set the foundations for a summer kitchen. I woke up at 6 and started to manualy compress the sand bed with an old train bumper (about 50kg weight) up and down for about 3 hours. You imagine what that felt like. Thain it was time to weld the armature iron. The welder burned. Tryed everything to put it to life, no use. Took a nother old welder, it dyed on the last weld.
Went ahead without the last weld and in to the mixing of concrete. Mixed 4 concrete mixers ( each holding about 3 whealbarrels). The mixing drum fell off. A whole lot of elbow grease went to hell to mix it by hand and after that, a night shift. Like Mike sayd, there comes a day you shuld just eat popcorn and watch movies
Ps. I forgot to say an angle grinder had made quite a lightsow in my hands while cuting the armature, rotor bearings had most likely melted and you get the idea…
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2600 km (1600 miles) on wood so far. Mostly short trips, less than 50 km (30 miles) = one hopper.
I fixed my cyclone seals and flex exhaust air leaks. After that I’ve seen steady 150-200 C (300-400 F) temps into the cooler.
Today I went on a longer trip where I had to reload. The last 20 km (12 miles) of the first hopper I went WOT, 60-65 mph on the highway and the temp stayed just above 400 F. No problem. But after reloading temps started to climb close to 600 F even at slow speeds. Same problem I had before my leak fix???
I’m beginning to think my gasifier is allergic to reloading. Or is it possible my small system isn’t warmed through even after 30 miles? Thoughts?
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Are you auguring out any char before you fill with new wood. Could it be the ash pit is filling and allowing the CO2 to come out too fast and not mating with the hot C to make CO? I think when my ash pit starts getting too full, I see a lot of soot in my cyclone. How is your cyclone doing? TomC
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Interasting. Do you poke in the charbed a lot when refueling? Is the system just geting hot or does performance allso get reduced?
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I empty half a shovel of soot and tiny char from the cyclone collector about every 100 miles.
Every 200 miles I auger out a full shovel of char from below grate.
If it’s been sitting for a while I do, but with just a quick stop at the road side I don’t.
No, not that I know of. But it’s hard to tell because I give it some slack when temp reises and don’t push it enough to find out. The vacuum ratio is also lower at this point, sometimes as low as 2:1. Shorter trips I’m usually around 5:1.
I think Wayne was onto something here lately:
Pulling hard for a long time, dragging oxygene down deep into the reduction, consumes all my fines, leaving only big char. This lowers vacuum ratio and oxygene gets even further down - higher temps.
or…
…all the metal is finally heated up and have nowhere to conduct further heat and passes it along.
Probably a combination of these two.
Well, well - it’s time to get out and fire her up. Going for a 20-25 mile trip - into town and back. 3/4 of a hopper. That’s what 95% of my trips are about. I guess I’m just fine.
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I seem to have an opposite effect. My charbed is wery fine. No matter how l drive.
Culd it be diferent fuel? If l recall right you use alder. I use oak and chestnut. They sort of split in lairs when they become carbonised, giveing scales rather thain chunks of charcoal. Perhaps your alder carbonizes differently?
This scales are one of the reasons for the constipation problems l had.
It is so great to have someone with such a similar setup and engine size we can compare resaults 
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Since I put a glass jar on to catch the soot, I am just amazed at how much soot I get. About 35 miles the other night and I got 1/2 quart of soot. Going to check my ash pit today. It might be getting full and letting soot go out the line to the cyclone. TomC
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I use a mix of alder, mountain ash, different sallow, birch and cherry. Anything with leaves on. Alder is very bulky, but has almost no tar in it and gas is very clean - very little soot. Char is so-so, but acceptable.
I’d like to use more birch. Birch is denst and gives a perfect, firm but easy to breath through charbed, but I like to let them grow for firewood. Some straight logs can even be heavy duty saw logs. Worth their weight in gold. I chunk the limbs though.
Spruce is a big no-no. Char emediately turnes to fines. Spruce is saw log material and so-so firewood.
I live too far north to have any beech or oak.
I guess you mean close to constipation.
Before I went into town this morning I shoveled a bag full of bottom residue from one of my chunk storages. Lots of small stuff and fines. I thought I had such a loose charbed yesterday it wouldn’t matter. Well, into town was ok. But after sitting for half an hour going home again I started off with 10:1 and ended up 20:1 or worse. I pulled full vacuum and almost nothing on the hopper. Hardly drivable.[quote=“KristijanL, post:452, topic:1928”]
It is so great to have someone with such a similar setup and engine size we can compare resaults
[/quote]
Dito!
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Do you think lowering the grate wuld help or get things worse? In the case of big char in the reduction. You are at 4" below restriction if l remember right?
Edit: i have reread the topic. Are you still at 3" below restriction?
Did you get rid of that “slag” problem on top of the grate?
Without rereading I don’t think I’ve ever been at 3" below. Maybe I was aiming to, but never got there.
My restriction is actually almost 1,5" tall 3,5" ID (old big bearing part) and I think the lower end of it is 4" from the grate.
Most of the time the reduction is a bit tight, just like yours. Only the rare longer high demand trips (second hopper) gives me lower vacuum ratios.
I think I have som ash and fines in there right now, but that’s after yesterday’s event, filling up with that small stuff. I’ll avoid that in the future. I’ll make a WK-void down to the grate when I light up next time and burn out the fines. While it’s burning I’ll tap the grate some to let the ash fall down.
I’m up for inspection during fall and will pull all the gear. I might raise the grate a little bit then. I think I’ll aim for maybe 4,5" from the restriction top. I think that would fit most of my driving habits. Longer high speed trips I will have to hybride a bit.
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Got these as a gift from a friend at work today. His father used to DOW during WW2.
Text on the box says: “THREE STARS GENGAS MATCHES. PATENTED.” and most importantly:“HANDLE THE BOX WITH CARE” I will.
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Hello Jo
You may have a collectors item there in the original box.
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History right there. Those must be old!
I was thinking to make these. People look at me a bit from a side when l start to light the propane burner at the parkplace 
l was thinking of rocket candy (potasium nitrate+shugar) or something similar. It burns hot and burnrate can be adjusted with baking soda. From smolder to explosive speeds.
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I have only a 1/2 gallon plastic jar for hopper juice tank. I empty it before I go on every trip.
Last trip I didn’t collect any hopper juice at all. Trip before that it was only half the usal amount. It seems short trips and colder weather don’t heat up the gutter enough to make tar flow. After 10 miles to work the lower part of the hopper, wich is my gutter, is still cold to the touch.
I heated the drain with the torch a bit today and that’s all that was needed.
These last two trips I discovered lower vacuum ratios and I suspect the overflowing gutter to be the cause. Didn’t notice any other difference in performance even though all that water had to go through the charbed…
…but…
…this gave me another teory to why I always see lower vacuum ratios on longer trips after refuling.
If the hopper wall gets too hot it might lose its condencing ability. Wood gets wet in that steamy enviroment and I get a loose charbed. I think I will try refueling before the hopper gets too hot next time.
Does this make any sence?
Yes, I know! This should’t happen if I added WK hopper tubes 
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Jan, every Gasifier has it own unique qualities about her self, on how she performs and acts, there are no two that are alike, just like any women. There good gualities and the other more challenging qualities. Did I say that right? Lol
It would be interesting if you did put the WK tubes/fins on your hopper, you might see a lot more water coming out.
I have noticed more power with drier wood. After every run long or short I get water out of both of my tanks, when I was checking them for some references. Now I only dump my tar/water tank, the other does not need to be dumped very often, the condensation tank is a lot bigger tank.
Gasifiing is fun.
Bob
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