And I have found that the hexaloy nozzles are not all the same size either.
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Iām sure I can figure out how to mount the hexaloy nozzle when I am ready to use it. Mine had a chip in it when I got it which was probably from the seller cutting it. Shouldnāt be a problem but I will be careful.
Can I use a water drip with the hexaloy nozzle?
The water drip is my next addition I want to add because my quick and dirty testing (squirting a little water into the air inlet pipe) noticeably smoothed the sound of the engine. I couldnāt really tell if it increased the power but a more controllable water drip should allow me to test that. I did see Garyās simple fire burn cooler when he added the exhaust gas and I assume water would do the same plus add a little hydrogen.
Iām still considering this build as my practice gasifier which is part of the reason I donāt want to install the hexaloy nozzle yet. It might get installed in this one when I have another gasifier to work on but I am looking forward to experimenting with different nozzles.
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Water shouldnāt hurt it, also yes water which gets hot and turns to steam will help cool the reaction and add hydrogen.
You can notice the difference, RPM can increase and flares can be stronger as well.
Exhaust return doesnāt add much if any power but works well to tame the reaction. A combination of both may result in too cool of a reaction.
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Like Cody sayd. In some engines the difference is huge. Like āit runs greatā vs" ābarely runs at allā.
A IV drip is excelent for the tests you plan to do, if you can find one.
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The needle valve and blower should be delivered sometime tomorrow but I needed a new nozzle for my gasifier soā¦
I didnāt have threads on both ends so I just welded a washer over the back and blobbed on a bunch of weld to fill in the hole. Nothing fancy. Hard to tell how long this will last but should get me making electricity from charcoal again.
I only drilled 4 holes in the 7 inch long pipe around 1/4 inch diameter and screwed it into the gasifier trying to get the holes facing up.
This was a little harder to light until I started drawing air from the outlet instead of blowing air in like I had been doing. The mattress blower should make lighting it much easier and not require compressed air.
Still not finished with the new filter but all of this was welded powered by charcoal. My plan is to make this similar to the bucket filter Iām currently using. The gas will come in the bottom, through a filter (probably planer shavings), and out the top pipe. Iām going to use hose clamps or maybe just wire to attach pieces of felt over the holes of the āTā piece as a final filter and to stop any planer shavings from getting sucked out. The bottom will get a pipe plug as a drain in case it collects any condensation.
I was going to bolt the lid on this like I did with the access port but it fits pretty tight already. I might just make a silicone seal on the main tank and call it good enough assuming it doesnāt leak or I might use a spring or bungee cord to hold it down. I might even fill it up with whatever filter media I decide to use and silicone it shut. I open the bucket filter just to check on it but havenāt done anything to it for a while. Seems to be working good. I could always cut the silicone when it needs opened.
It will probably get some kind of legs to hold it up high enough to get to the drain plug. I havenāt noticed any condensation in the bucket filter but the planer shavings probably absorb any that gets in. The drain might be useful to wash the filter media. The threaded hole was already in the propane tank where the valve used to be so it needs plugged anyway.
In case anyone is looking at this and thinking it kind of looks like that down draft gasifierā¦
Yes, the thought did cross my mind.
Is all this effort worth doing when I could just buy gasoline or use ārealā electricity? Iām having fun experimenting with the gasifier and it still amazes me that Iām making usable power from charcoal that I made myself from sticks and scrap wood.
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Restarted the gasifier and finished up the filter all except adding the silicone and testing it for leaks. This filter shouldnāt get very hot so I just got the cheaper clear silicone so I might just put some on the inlet and outlet pipes just in case I have leaks.
Not sure if this will make any difference but I put some hardware cloth over the inlet pipe.
Then I added some planer shavings pressed down but not packed tight and put pieces of felt over the outlet āTā pipe.
This is the new filter but the lid isnāt sealed yet. The generator wasnāt running as good as it was earlier so my welds were lumpy but are holding so far.
The gasifier is still hot so Iāll probably have to wait till tomorrow to check on the flute nozzle but Iām expecting those small holes are getting blocked. I burnt about another bucket of engine grade charcoal today finishing up this filter which means I saved probably a couple hours worth of gasoline by using the charcoal gas.
I donāt expect this new filter to work any better than the bucket filter I have been using since itās basically the same thing but Iām still hoping to mount this system on a base as one unit instead of being spread around with hoses all over the place.
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Yup, Dude whenever you stop having fun, just stop, and find something else to do.
But youāll come back to woodgas eventually. Youāre one of us now.
Rindert
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I had to find out why my second run with the flute nozzle didnāt run the generator as good as it was.
This slag build up was the problem.
The slag came right off but I drilled the holes bigger. Still only 5/16" holes instead of the 1/4" ones I started with.
Going to need to grind up more charcoal. Iām not complaining. Iāve been using it a lot and havenāt made any more charcoal but have more that needs ground up and screened.
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You might look at @KristijanLās flute nozzle. He starts with an extra heavy piece of pipe and compensates for Bernoulli effect by drilling the holes closer to the air inlet bigger. Also he made a cleaning device to open up the holes before lighting.
Rindert
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Thanks Rindert. Iāll search for that later tonight.
Right now Iām still fascinated with this whole idea of making usable fuel from scrap wood and am documenting my build for my own use as well as for others that might want to do this.
I see I got the new user of the month badge for last month.
I knew I was posting a lot and reading even more but didnāt realize I spent 5 days in a month reading posts.
I really hope this encourages others to give this a shot. Iāve been interested in wood gasification for over 30 years but Garyās simple fire design and using charcoal instead of raw wood was the thing that finally got me success.
Iām sure Iāll eventually slow down with my posting but I doubt Iāll stop using some form of wood /charcoal gas. Iām spending a lot of time getting my process figured out and experimenting but itās like I asked Gary. You arenāt just playing around with this are you? You actually USE this thing right? His answer was that the last time his wood splitter run on gasoline was when his neighbor borrowed it.
Seeing Garyās gasifier in person and seeing just how fast he was able to light it and start splitting wood made it look almost as easy as dumping $4/gallon gasoline in it and it is running on fuel that I can easily make myself.
EDIT to keep from making another post:
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I think it was in his thread Mercedes-Benz E230 vol. 2, charcoal powered - #53 by KristijanL Should make your search a little easier.
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You should try positioning the flutes at 45 degrees off verticle or even 90 degrees which would help keep slag off the flute holes.
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Thanks Don. I reassembled it but didnāt refill it with charcoal yet so Iāll open it back up tomorrow and twist it a little more to redirect the flutes. I was afraid it might direct too much heat to the sides of the gasifier but Iāll start with 45 degrees and see if that helps. The sides get way too hot to touch but it hasnāt burnt the paint off yet and itās just cheap spray paint and not the high temperature engine paint.
Iād already drilled all the holes a little bigger but if I go bigger again Iāll skip drilling the end holes bigger.
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An updraft will get hot at the bottom. Mine did for my Mazda pickup. Once you start adding water drip the slag wonāt be so bad. Itāll form more of a volcano instead of a scab.
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today i prepared the nozzle for my tractorā¦same style as in my little engines with 250 ccm ā¦
there this design, though in stainless, combined with exhaust gas direction , keeps up very well. only very small amount of slag, and this is not hard but crunchyā¦
the big head of the nozzle whitstands the heat better as thin tubing materialā¦
on my little engines the hole is drilled 14 mm, with a fine layer of residues it comes in practice to about 10 to 12 mmā¦
the thread is from water tubing, 1 " nozzle head diameter is about 4,5 to 5 cmā¦
the hole on the foto is bigger, 16 mm because for the tractorā¦
will try the system from eddy ramos
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Guess I never learned to read. My CLEAR silicon is WHITE but should still work. I saw 100% silicone and didnāt bother looking to see if it was clear.
I put some silicone around the inside and some on the pipe fitting. Then I put a layer of grease on the lid to try to stop it from sticking so I can eventually get it back apart.
The outside gas inlet pipe got a layer of silicone too. Might not have needed it but there shouldnāt be any leaks now.
I had previously drilled out the 3/4" pipe plug that Iām using as my drain plug so I put some silicone in the drilled hole. I might eventually get a new one or even add a drain valve if it collects too much liquid but I donāt expect there to be much in this filter.
The gasifier is refilled with charcoal ready to use with the old filter still hooked up. Those hoses are siliconed and clamped so I hate to rip them back off.
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Maybe my old bucket filter had some leaks.
I had to open the air/fuel mixer valve almost all the way with the new filter.
Only run the gasifier enough to refill my air tank (maybe 10 minutes) but the generator runs good with this new setup.
Still need to add the water drip but wanted to test out the new filter first.
Also got the mattress pump and that made lighting the gasifier really easy. Almost as easy as just running the generator on gasoline.
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@JO_Olsson, from Sweden, says in very cold weather, starting is maybe a little easier on woodgas. 
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To be fair, I spent a good bit of time building the gasifier but mostly used scrap metal and I was having fun and getting lots of practice welding so it wasnāt wasted time.
Making the charcoal has been a learning process but using the better barrel to shovel the coals into after making it made a big difference in the amount I ended up with per batch. I should make another batch soon but I still have over half a 55 gallon drum waiting to be crushed so I havenāt bothered making more yet. Plus, with colder weather coming, I plan to use the house furnace to make the charcoal so I wonāt be wasting the heat making it.
Iām not to the point where I could run a vehicle on it but it shouldnāt be any problem keeping enough charcoal to power my tools. Iāve run saws, grinders, a wood planer, the air compressor, and even the welder and log splitter using the simple fire gasifier. I run the wood chipper too but it didnāt seem to have enough power to run that but adding the water drip might help.
So, to answer the question about is this worth doing. Iād say, for me, I donāt regret it at all and I expect to use it a lot. I do still want to build another gasifier but this one does about anything I need it to.
I assume this is like a lot of hobbies though. Always some new modification to try and always the next one to think about building.
I still want to add the water drip and put this on a base but Iām close to needing to start working on the next one. My charcoal grinder works but powering it with a drill is a dirty job so that could be my next project.
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No doubt about it. With gasoline, you donāt get a fine enough spray pattern to easily ignite when itās really cold. Woodgas on the other hand is always in a gasious state. To find the correct air-mix right away can be tricky though - regardless of temperature.
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