For no other reason than I was worried you might think I quit feeding the Volvo chunks 
I turned the camera on going into town for a couple arrends today. Even though it took me almost 3 hours before I was back home again, it was all within one hopper’s range (+ maybe a minute’s worth of gasoline for pullstarts). Only about 30 miles in total.
Even if we only live 20 miles or so apart and I know the roads it is always nice to ride along. I enjoy watching everybody in here ride-along videos, thank you all for them 
After two years of almost everyday driving, it’s time to do some hopper maintence.
Things tar up with miles. I ran the fuel as low as I dared last time. Today, with the barrel lid top off, it looked like this.
The funnel had a 3-4 inches thick layer of mixed tar and debrie baked on it. It probably stole 20% of my shallow hopper’s capacity.
With the funnel and inner wall ripped out it looked like this.
I carefully knocked some of the excess baked tar close to the firetube off and cleaned up gutter and hopper walls… it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I guess I could have waited one more year.
I forget to take a pic before putting the top on, but here’s one through the filler lid.
It was easier making a new funnel, rather than trying to clean the old one up without deforming it. The old inner wall wall was ok, but the umbrella was paper thin and sagging.
Case closed. Silicone and paint will cure over night.
JO, we have to write down the date for the general cleaning 
. By the way, what is the diameter and depth of the “Volvo” hot zone?
Tone, I’ve been experimenting back and forth in an effort to minimize the hesitation sympthomes, but I’ve been running an hour glass shaped charbed for some time now. I have 14 inches between nozzles and grate and a 4" restriction sits right in the middle. 10 inches between nozzle tips in a 12" dia firetube, which is closer to 11" ID with the ss heatshields in place.
Will be interesting to hear if you get more water out of the wood, after making a new effort.
I’m pretty sure I will - for a while.
When tar builds up, partially blocking smoke passages, it will slow down again. But it won’t hurt catching the most moisture during these weather conditions 
JO, the accumulation of “baked” tar on the lower edge in front of the hot zone also happens in my gasifier, otherwise I occasionally crush it and push it into the middle. I am thinking of installing additional nozzles for the air supply, which would allow the gasification of this fuel at the tank wall. Otherwise, my hot zone already has two rows of nozzles, I would replace this with an already made one row, where I would add these widely placed nozzles, of course the lower nozzle remains, but the restriction pipe would be increased from 5" to 6". The hot zone remains a little more than 8" in diameter and just as deep, which ensures good performance at light loads and idling. …
I do that too - to a point, but with time the weak barrel material in the funnel can’t take more abuse. I try to take the oppertunity to bust some loose when the hopper is still warm and the tar soft, but at the same time I want to avoid feed the charbed too much tar.
I wanted to clean the gutter and I had to replace the hopper umbrella anyway - so while I was at it…
I just wanted to report on another feature I added on the car.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, the Volvo has been suffering from intake backfires now and then. Over time I’ve come to suspect that, apart from a lean mix, low rpm and a sudden accelleration, even moisture has something to do with it. Lately I’ve added more area to the cooler and a couple days ago I mounted a final condensation trap in front of the radiator.
The reason I’ve been suspecting moisture to cause backfires is that it happens almost only when on longer trips - when the whole system is properly up to temp. I do already have a slingshot/puffer valve on the lowest spot under the car, but visiting Johan yesterday (a 40 mile roundtrip) I still managed to catch another half a cup of water in the final trap in front of the radiator.
To early to tell for sure - but no puffs yesterday.
When the thing works, I don’t change it, but there is room for improvement, moisture is necessary and a problem, especially in the line towards the engine. If the engine has a high compression, the ideal gas is slightly moist, because moisture prevents detonations, but for a lower compression engine, it should be dry without moisture. Your construction of the gasifier, where the moisture condenses on the outer wall of the upper part and collects in the gutter just above the hot zone, while the cold and moist tar gas enters the hot pipe, I think it works well with a heavy load, but with a low load, the moisture passes through the hot zone. If you imagine that the heat radiating from the hot zone prevents the steam from coming down, but pushes it under the hood, it would be better if the water catch chute was a bit higher… Just thinking
You’re right Tone. My hopper condensate arrangement is not ideal. But to put things in perspective, yesterday’s 40 mile trip generated about 2 liter from the hopper, about 1/2 a cup from the post cooler rear tank and another 1/2 a cup from the new trap up front.
With some effort I could probably make the hopper produce some more, but I’m very hesitant to do any welding on that super thin and rare stainless container - especially with my poor equipment.
Good looking volvo install- how many mile can you go at steady 55 mph on hard or soft wood i am wondering.
Hi Kevin, best I’ve seen is 50 miles, but then I need to hand stuff the hopper really full. Best guess is a 10-15% difference in distance depending on type of wood.
What is your mileage count driving on wood?
Welcome Lars! Danish, are you?
I’m not sure if you mean consumption or total number of miles under my belt.
Best case senario the Volvo burns 2kg/10km or 0.7 ppm, but that can sometimes double with a lot of stops.
For the past 7 years I’ve done almost all my driving on wood - avaraging around 10,000 km or 6,000 miles a year.
I hope this answers your question.
THANKS JAN O-- i forgot how much wood that hopper holds- I know the dakotas get around a mile a pound of wood- and likely more wood with many stops.THANKS.Would you have a close extomate of miles per pound on the small 4 cyl CAR. THANKS AGAIN.Happy DOWING-P.S I remember NOW he told me a while back- he was average around 2 miles a pound on highway- Thats good wood miles per pound- AND like they say stopping at lights-burns more. AND stopping at walmart burns a little more as the coals are eating some of the wood while parked even though the air is turned off at shut down.
Kevin I think J.O. already answered that.
Depends on how/where he is driving. And how many stops he is making.
The vehicle I drive with the best instantaneous, and average mileage (gasoline) milage read out is the Wife’s old 2007 Hyundai Tucson. 2.7L V-6, four speed auto lock up transmission.
Intersting out on the Interstate at steady 70 mph I can get the same as 45-55 mpg on with a few stops signs county roads. 24-27 MPG. Wife only got at best 22 MPG. A nervous right foot.
Get into the least amounts of four-way and six-way intersections driving and it plungers quickly to a horrifying 19 MPG. My F150 Ford V-8’s best using every one of my cheats.
That is a 30-35% difference!!
My druthers is to drive the older Toyota sedan 2.5L I-4, auto without a MPG read out; confident I will get 32-38 MPG. Ha! Ha! My older sisters old car originally. And she would claim 40+ MPG on Interstate traveling.
O.K. sister dear. Not what you got in town.
Over-all is what counts.
Regards
Steve Unruh
Driving style can make a large large difference be it wood or dino squeezings. My geo metro is consistently 50.9-51.6 mpg on the same round trip daily. Did some running around town a few weeks ago start stop put put start stop made 46.1mpg. I found this to be the same in the Toyota V8 on wood, the big v10 not as noticable with a lot of hybrid driving but straight woodgas in the v10 is anywhere from 34-48mpg (gasoline use is for warm up and switch over to woodgas) and would vary wood consumption HUGELY if traffic was involved. That fluctuations were not as evident in the Toyota I guesstimate this was due to a excess of available horsepower in a light weight truck, wood consumption was extremely consistent no matter the driving of city highway or traffic
I think with woodgas, there’s always a minimum amount being consumed wether at idle or cruising RPM. Wood’s always burning. Your overall speed and distance travelled determines how efficiently you use it. That said, with smaller engines your gasifier is slightly smaller, so it’s consuming a little less at once. What could make a smaller engine consume as much as a V8 pickup would be staying in the 2000-3000 RPM range more often in stop and go traffic.
I have a feeling that with Joni’s gasifier, as an example, he squeezed out as much efficiency as possible and likely traveled at cruising speed more than town traffic. Just my theory as to why he could get 2 miles per pound average.
My little Mazda got almost 2 miles per pound of charcoal, but that’s Apples to Pears. Lot of similarities but still different. Both around the 2L range, both lightweight vehicles with 80s aerodynamics, but different gasifier styles. When I was driving the Mazda it was mostly in the 45mph range with miles and miles between each stop sign.
I bet JO has a fairly even split between town and country driving. Lots of pedestrian-mindful speeds spent in low gear. Wood’s still burning, engine is chugging along but you’re not going as far for the same amount of time spent.
