Hi everyone,
Long time lurker but first time posting. I have recently built a charcoal gasifier in the style of Koen Van Looken’s version of Gary Gilmore’s simple fire.
Here is a video of the first time I ran it. I decided to modify a “turkey cooker” instead of just building a flare off tube so can do some cooking as well.
[https://youtu.be/KA2BBaXVMnY?si=eXMohgzGPfTRYAT2]
On the channel I also posted a short of the blue flame visible during the night.
Welcome to finally posting! That gasifier looks awesome, solid setup.
Very good Jon , nice build and a great use for a flare, i could be wrong but i dont think that’s a Koen style gasifier as the last time i saw one of his builds they were horizontal Nozzle , yours is a Vertical up from the bottom ,and i dont remember who started running that way , i have only been a vertical man since about 2017/18 abd before then mine were all like Gary Gilmores horizontal style simple fires .
Dave
Hi Dave,
The vertical nozzle is still in my design. ( mostly in connection with steam coil and waterdrip )
However, for the easy farmerstyle, i use horizontals.
Hi Koen, i must have missed your vertical nozzle post then , i dont seem to remember reading about it , but then again i do have a very small memory span with so much going on .Dave.
Hi Dave,
in my older posts, for example
And here in a video from 10 year ago, start from the side, but then closed and nozzle from the bottom
I remember those early vIdeo’s of your Koen , but because i saw you light it up horizontally i just assumed the bottom was just for water reaction , as your earlier video’s of stationary units were for sure horizontal when you sprayed water in to show the increase in revs of the engine .
Anyway we must try all ways to get to our goal of a hands free running gasifier of a once set walk away .
Dave
Hi again, I have been doing extended runs with this gasifier lately using the air inflator and the turkey burner and am finding that it takes roughly 1-2 minutes of operation to get the turkey burner lit. After running for 10-12 minutes the flame goes out and I have to hold my butane torch on it to keep it going.
Have tried looking for air leaks but couldn’t find anything obvious. Also tried installing an air mixer valve just before the blower but introducing extra air would make the flame go out straight away. Does the brains trust here have any extra suggestions? Could my fuel size be too small? Can attach a photo of my charcoal for reference if required.
Hard to say without seeing your operation Jon, but if you are making good gas for ten minutes and then not I’d think about some kind of bridging of your char. I’d also make sure the char is clean of dust and very fine char.
Hi Jon,
Here some reasons known:
1: Your blower has an air leakage on the back, motorside. (you can close with a piece of tape )
2: reduce your nozzle size. about 12 mm i recommend.
3: to high flow from your blower. ( run at lowest possible )
4: bridge forming , needs a shake.
5: to big charcoal size.
7: a bit to moist from the charcoal, how does the gas smells before igniting ?
8: small gasifiers like to be cleaned out between running cycles.
a picture of fresh charcoal and a picture of the charcoal when emptying the gasifier will tell more.
I will be happy to give helpful hints
Thanks Koen, I taped up the back vent of the blower and put a valve on my nozzle.
While running I peeled back the tape and the flame would go out so I know that is the cause.
I experimented today with the valve open different amounts and the speed of the blower and kept everything running for over half an hour. I have attached some photos of different parts of the system.
My nozzle is 15mm diameter so closing it off part way was helping too.
