Hello J O You already know me as a little pushy so I guess this won’t change how you see me. It’s been 11 days since your last post and I am waiting with my breath held to see what kind of ash / char gets past your grate in a long run. I get a lot of spillage over the edge of my grate. It appears that everything will have to char down to ash or very small pea size stones. I know you are working the long shift and don’t have time but just thought I would remind you.TomC
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You’ve been holding your breath for 11 days?! That’s pretty impressive! ;D
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Hello Tom,
Haha, you pushy? Naw…You know I have so many bosses I’m quite used to it. Wife, daughters, granddaughter, parents, wifes parents, friends and neighbours - they all boss me around. Oh, and at work - more bosses then workers.
I’ve only run one more hopper since I last posted pics. Dump looks about the same - white ash mixed in. I’ve even pressurised with a smoke bomb - no air leak.
I find it hard to belive that oxygene should be dragged down past grate with only that little 40W air mattress blower I’m using for vacum. I seem to be making good gas though. That night time flaring video I posted was with only one of those little blowers.
I have a few days off from work, so I’m fire wood prepping at the moment. We still have a little snow but I like to be early to take advantage of spring time dry air. I also have some milling to do. Have to get the timber home from the woods while the ground is still frozen or there will be a (mud)mess.
But I do think of her (gasifier) every day. You just have to be patient.
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Hmmmmm… that small shouldn’t pull air down that far. Maybe you need smaller fuel? I’d put a cooler and filter train on it and try it on an engine.
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I believe Arvid uses wood chips. Can’t tell from the picture, how large the chunks are that you are using. But a 2 1/2 in. restriction is pretty small for chunks. I have spent a lot of time this after noon checking out your grate. With that 5 in grate in a 6 in. tube should give you the air space you need along with the slats in the grate. Scratch that subject.
Next thought about the same as Arvid. The wood gets charred before the restriction as should be, but the size hasn’t gotten to the point that the char will flow through the restriction. As it hangs up in the restriction raw air passes over the faces and turns the surface to ash before the char gets to the size that will fall through the restriction. The CO2 created in turning the char to ash goes on through the restriction and gets converted to CO. Thus you have “good” gas but have a white ash in the ash pit. TomC
I don’t know how you can ask for more gas or better gas.
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Far from an engine but that little blower pulls really good. I tested with a hose/coffee-(guage). It pulls 6" static and 2 1/2" on the radiator while flaring. Flow isn’t to bad either.
At the moment I think the most restrictive part is my temporary radiator cooler, wich means actual vacum on the gasifier might be a little lower. But it sure heats up quickly. If I hurry up with my wood bag and lid closing (incl 5 sec revers) I can flare in one minute from lightup.
Wouldn’t lowering the grate have the same effect - more reduction char surface area?
I’d hate the adaptation process of my chunk-production line 
When I read this I suddenly remembered that my nozzles are sized to fit a 3" restriction (Imbert dimentions). This might also be part of my white ash problem.
For some reason I decided to start with a 2 1/2" and that’s a 9% nozzle/restriction csa-ratio. If I were to put in a 3" I’d increase my csa by 33% and get a 7% ratio . If restriction on the same plane I’d also gain a bit more oxidation volume (at the expence of exposing more wall in nozzle area). The other route would be screwing in smaller nozzles. Both are easy to do.
Hmmm…the pic of my my reduction tube in the grate area shows white wall. Wouldn’t that indicate oxygene still present? Also if I scratch the surface of my newly slipped char in the dump the layers below are smaller char and more white. Oxygene blasting from above eating my char?
Only one thing doesn’t match. Wouldn’t my gas also be eaten and deluted with CO2 and not flare so easily?
Agree. I don’t worry to much. I think I’m close. Wayne usually claimes theoretical values will be “all over the place” when it comes to every day driving 
These were my thoughts during the day enjoying myself in a (belive it or not) sunny swedish wood pile.
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Lucky you JO We got 10 inches of snow last night and I have a 3 ft snow drift between the house and the shop. So I am sitting here sticking my nose in other peoples business. TomC
My “theory” on the white ash went something like this. If you look through your lighting port, you can actually see the char moving down past the port. If the char isn’t moving fast enough, the air from the nozzle continues to hit one side of the char and reduce it to ash on the surface facing the nozzle. In the mean time air is going around the char and reducing the size with out going to the ash state. That sounds bad, but I think you are getting good and a lot of gas because this situation is happening above the restriction. It creates CO2 which would be bad, but because it has to go through the restriction, it has time to run into more hot char and get changed to CO which we like ( anyway I like it ) This is just my WAG. ( wild ass guess) It goes along with your thinking of to small a restriction or to big of nozzle openings. Well guess I’ll go make some more charcoal. What a dirty job that is. TomC
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Your keyboard will be a mess
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Just a brief breif on my project, before TomC starts hunting me
Welded a new restriction insert. 3" this time (well almost: 74 mm). Dug the old one out. Looks good on the way down. Took the oppertunity to try losening the nozzles. Threads are smeared with copper paste - so no problem. Put new restriction in and put layers back the way they came out.
Welded a new ash dump. The old kitchen pot is a bit tall. (pictures later)
New disign lid seal (third) going on today (pictures later).
Rolled out the beast and started welding seal support. So what happened after a little while? Yes, rain! Mixed with snow slosh. But I stayed out and finished it anyway.
A little frozen I went inside and lit few stickers in the kitchen stove. Wife working night is asleep. Shopped an old boiled potatoe, a carrot, an onion and a tomato. Fried it in the pan together with a leftover piece of pork. Poured over a can of beans and let it simmer. Ate with a spoon straight from the pan. Delicious! I’m now on my back on the kitchen couch.
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What a life! Got any leftovers?
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Ahhh! Just in time. I was hesitating about prodding you for a post. Your weather is at the same state as our. Looking for more rain and snow this afternoon.
So glad that your are progressing and can’t wait to hear how the larger restriction and smaller nozzles work out ( I would use the proper name for the nozzles, but I can’t properly say it so obviously, I can’t spell it “tuyeres”?)
Have you given any thought to what you are going to do with this gasifier? I find it hard to understand how you can be enthused about building one without having an end game in mind. I KNEW I wanted to drive on wood, and I went through two vehicles ( and a couple of engine tare downs ) before I got to my goal. But I always had the same goal all the way through, to drive on wood. ( besides, I always had my wife asking what are you doing and why?) Good luck and we are watching.TomC
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No problem. I can scrape together a meal for you. Unfortunately I don’t do delivery
Me neither. At the moment I can’t remember what they are called in my own language. I like Wayne’s “blowholes” best.
I’m scanning adds on a daily basis.
Wayne once said 8" gasifiers were for lawn mowers. When I asked Arvid if it could power a car he said: “I have no doubt” - so I might be aiming somewhere in between
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Bought a new toy last week.
Dark caught me so the photo didn’t turn out to well, but yes, it’s a Rabbit Pickup. I’ll try feed it a different diet in the future.
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Nice I would love to have one of them but there all but extinct around here. I would trade my Dakota for one of them any day. If I have to drive a little truck I would like it to be efficient.
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ALRIGHT!!! Now we have something to work towards. You know what size engine you have to feed. What size is it by the way. And what year is it? As Jim said, they have all rusted away on this side of the pond. I did see one recently for sale for $6000 US and it was a late "80s I think. Most of those were stick shift weren’t they. I am so excited for you. I know you are among the employed and don’t have a lot of time for this, BUT, I’m going to be watching for updates TomC
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Nice ride!.. I like it a bunch
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US production of these pickups stopped in the 80s but continued in Sarajevo in former Jugoslavia until 1992 when someone bombed the plant.
This is a 1990 1.8L 95hp Bosch K-jetronic. Multipoint but constant fuel spray. Fuel pressure dictated by a mecanical air flow meter, quite easy to bypass. There is a lambda as well, but I haven’t figured out how it affects things yet. Old style vacum advanced dist of course.
It’s a stick shift. Until reasently auto trans were very unusual here. We used to say it’s used only by disabled and americans. (Sorry 
)
Unfortunately the saltbelt stretches even to this side of the pond. These pickups are quite rare here to, but when you go south looking for vehicles in good shape we go north. Only 100 km north of here and upwards they don’t use salt. To cold to benefit from it.
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Guilty. Got my first automatic when living in Los Angeles, and couldn’t believe how much nicer the commute was with the automatic. No goosing it and clutching it, just step on the gas and step on the brake.
I remember barely studying the Bosch fuel system because VW was the only one that use it over here, that general mechanics would ever work on. Maybe some exotic European cars also had it.
Be careful who you tell about this truck. My grand daughters always think I should give my trucks to them. Guess it is the American Cowgirl thing.
Yes I am just rattling on. I am so excited to see this project grow LaterTomC
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A little bit of progress:
Started cutting bits of pipe for my cooler. Got a bit disappointed when I discovered the drill bit for my holesaw was a bit broken.
I was a bit low on cutting discs anyway so I decided to go to town for a bit. Went home with discs and two new bits, just on case I’d be a bit unfortunate to brake another bit.
I didn’t brake one new bit. I broke both new bits. Ss is bit hard for the holesaw bit. Ended up welding the drillbit together. Didn’t think for a bit it would work. But it did, for a bit.
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I bet you are a bit sick of bits
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