Derrick do you have Watts app or Viber on your mobile phone ? if so i can arrange a time so you can see a typical start up and all that can go wrong live on camera and also show you how sometimes even getting a flare to stay lit can be a pain sometimes , i am messing around most day trying to fine tune a downdraft charcoal gasifier and will show you if you are interested .
Dave
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On these small engines, you can see how powerful gas really is compared to gasoline, here every calorie counts, but it is already a great success to start the engine. It is easy to practice with a diesel engine, it is not so sensitive and the efficiency is much better.
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Glad to know that this is a working option, because I have been trying something similar to this, only with something much smaller, which I am learning may be causing me troubles since i need more volume I guess - but yes, this was my first rudimentary attempt at getting wood gas to my generator was just what you mentioned only it went from 1/2’ pex down to a T with a ball valve in it to introduce air, down to a air line fitting which I think might only be 1/4” screwed into the sealed air box. So maybe if I explore larger plumbing options and can get a better quality gas I’ll finally get this thing started.
Hi Dave, currently I do not have either of those apps but I will look into installing one or the other later today and then I will message you and let you know. Maybe we could set up a time over the weekend whenever it is most convenient for you - I REALLY appreciate this offer because it would be great to see some of what you mentioned in real time and possibly even show you some of what I have set up so you can see in real time what I am messing up, lol!
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SteveU offered good advise. build a simple fire and run something. It is a miniature thrill the first time you actually have an engine running on your own gas. Don’t let your gasifier become your white whale. You have tried to go to high school and skipped elementary school. Still, you are to be commended for being a bull dog.
These are Brian White videos. The nozzle he made is simple and pretty durable unlike some plain pipe ones that will melt after a short time.
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What does your wife feed you Tom?
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Funny you should ask Don. As a matter of fact we were just discussing my methane production a short while ago. Apparently Chinese food, cake and ice cream are a good source of fuel.
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Good Morning All,
Marcus’s video shows much about woodgasing small engines.
First you have to assume since he has been driving his Toyota/Chevy 350 pickup on this gasifer system that warmed up it was capable of making enough good engine grade woodgas.
Now his long, long struggle to get it running I’d say can be attributed to that long, long 3/4 inch coil of garden hose that he used. Just observe how many tiny cylinder every-other revolutions it took to suck purge the air from that hose and draw in, fill it with woodgas.
Chop that hose as short as possible and spin that engine electrically consciously for 30-60 seconds would have done that handily.
Then once running his low, low power wood shearing.
Marcus normally fuels this once factory gasoline engine on bottled gaseous propane. I think I recall he said it’s gasoline carburetor was corrosions trashed. So just a flow volume throttling plate now. On lower engine powering propane, he barely had enough engine power to do this wood shearing from his previous running videos. That would have been better performing on gasoline.
Now further power derating this unmodified engine on woodgas . . . . pretty obviously just not enough engine power then.
A bigger 1 1/2" I.D. woodgas supply hose and an opened-up carburetor internal would have helped for engine power.
But the real solution would be not an adequate 5-7.5 hp engine when on gasoline, but an oversized 10.5-17.5 hp sized engine on gasoline. Then at 1/2 actual shaft power on wood gas and his system would sing along well.
Macus is a friend and knows I am not criticizing him but trying to by my own pains-learned-experiences trying to shorten his own learning curve to woodgas engine working.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Almost like you know what im up to Steve!
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Hello all.
I wanted to make a short comment on the above lawn mower video.
The reason the motor quit as soon as the hose was disconnected was a sudden too rich mixture of the wood gas. It did not run out of fuel but just the opposite . Understanding this will help to restart.
Keep in mind the gasifier is creating a resistance that is compensated by the piece of tape to keep the correct fuel / air ratio that is no more as soon as the hose is disconnected .
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Here is a just this morning picture for you Dave-of-the-mountains:
Everything dripping wet from now Fall cooling down nightimes with us switched over to marine air flows now. Heavy, thick, wet air.
We’ve only had four individual minor days of light rain in the last 90+ days. Still in drought.
You are correct, this heavy wet air and all dampening down, really affects small DYI gaseous engine systems, especially.
A week of this daily and all of my carefully summer dried down wood stocks will air suck themselves up by 5%.
Wood stocks put up at less than 10% moisture by the end of Novenber will be up to 20-22% moisture. My “normal” base condition.
Regards
Steve unruh
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Same here on the East side of the Mountains, no need to take a picture because I would get the same smokey no mountains shot.
Bob
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No smoke here BobMac.
Just pure ground fog-dew.
Living’ in a cloud.
Sun out by noon, so not so bad.
S.U.
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Good to know Steve your fire season has come to a end, not here still very dry and very high clouds and low land smoke from Mt. Index area fire. Smells like I am DOW even when I am not. Lol . No one will notice my start ups now and all DOW running in stealth mode now in the smoky Wenatchee area. Inside builds you can see a smokey haze. I see people wearing masks again for the snoke this time.
Bob
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Hi Steve it was only yesterday i woke to a scene almost like yours , today its like a summers morning with the sun breaking over the far side of the mountain and not a cloud in sight 7.15 am
But hang on this is Melbourne the home of the famous 4 seasons in 1 day who knows what treats mother nature has in store for us !
Dave
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hello norman, for starting my small engines i have a kind of friction for stating for my tresher and band saw, so the motor can speed up without load and create by suction his needed gas quantity…when turns speedy i give the belt on …tone has something simil at his sawmill with a v-shaped belt…makes sterting easy when gas is good and gas air mixture is right…mixture is very delicate and must be exact when wrop starting, when the engine is on speed can be variatet…
maybee your engine is too weak for the chunker, or you need a bigger flywheel…
when i start my engines on the band saw or tresher, where is a great dead mass to move from stillstand to start, i draw always with the hands on the long belt to help to come on turns…with short v -shaped belts but is dangerous to bring the fingers between belt and beltwheel, but you can help turning the flywheel by hand till the motor and dead mass comes on speed…
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what engine size you use for the chunker?
ciao giorgio
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Currently a 6.5hp rated briggs and stratton engine
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on the band saw i have a briggs with 5 hp and 200ccm…but of course not so speedy as a usual electric motor for the band saw, but works well though, tried also a honda 160ccm for the band saw, but is a bit to weak for the saw, cuts, but slowly with thicker pieces…but for the tresher the 160ccm works well…your “knife” at the chunker is sloped or takes with the whole lenght when it touches the wood piece?..but i am not a expert for chunkers, only a joiner, and so i know when you cut retangular to the direction of the wood fiber makes more resistance as when you cut with a degree of 45 or 60 degrees…
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what’s your opinion of flexible exhaust tubing? i suspect there are tiny leakage in the spiral coils. ive been trying to get my freshly fabricated system to make a flare but still unsuccessful. propane torch turns yellow in the gas stream but will not ignite. im suspecting either air leaks in my fuel hopper besides the inherent leaks in the flexible tubing im using between cyclone output and radiator, and radiator to filter. i seem to get a good burn pattern inside my 4" burn tube with serviceable restriction to 3" hearth. 4x nozzles 3/8" located 4" above hearth.
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