Thank you for sharing Steve. How thick of a wall on the pipe do you use? Can you look inside the pipe when it operates? Mine was glowing dull red (barely noticable) when the gasifier was cleaned and it was completely dark when some ash formed.
Allso, to be honest l expected the plate to deteriorate quite fast but NOT nearly as fast as it did! There realy is hell in a charcoal gasifier.
Kristijan,
For your style nozzle, I am using a 12 inch long, schedule 80 steam pipe nipple. It is about 3/16 inch thick and 1-1/2 inches inside diameter. I can look inside the pipe and see the charcoal glowing above the nozzles enough to tell that all the nozzles are working. I may have noticed the pipe glowing once. When water hits it, it boils away almost instantly, so it’s hot.
Thanks for sharing this info. It really show how “hellishly hot” the oxidation zone of a charcoal gasifier can get. I am curious about the amount of square inches the four holes in the Leitinger nozzle has compared to the side nozzle? Does this create a restriction or is the air velocity increased with no loss of gas volume. With out a vacuum guage, I guess it is hard to tell. Did the toyota run better on one nozzle design versus the other?
Gary in PA
Gary, The four holes in the Leitinger nozzle were about the same area as the one inch pipe with flange on the end. I think the inside of the “one inch” pipe is actually about 1-1/8 inches. I haven’t noticed any problems which might be due to a restriction, and I have not done any vacuum tests to compare the different nozzles. I got similar results driving with both nozzles. Of course, I didn’t travel far with the flange nozzle. Also, during that time I was having a miss-firing problem when the engine was under load which I fixed with new spark plugs after changing back to the Leitinger style nozzle.
I guess its time for me to let the cat out of the bag.
For those who couldnt make the Argos event this year,I tried out an aluminum nozzle for the charcoal simple fire gasifier. My theory is that the aluminum,with its cast fins would disperse the heat outside the gasifier faster than it could absorb it. Inside.
Useful info…
Advantage very hot spark,
Add a second trigger and you can use one for retarded timing to start or gasoline and one advanced to switch too for gengas
And I am in aw of the casting work,
Genius!!!
Could you recreate that part in copper?
Nice casting work. Lost foam process?
Rindert
Yes, lost foam. Only about 4th or 5th attemp to get a useable part.
Hi Dave, I hope all is well down under. It must be getting cool there. Have you been able to try the new tungsten nozzle?
Hi Bruce , no not cool ,but freezing at the moment ! , i am still running the old nozzle the hexoloy silicon carbide tube one that i put in around Oct / last year , in fairness we have not had as many cloudy days since then and so i guess this nozzle has only had around 60 hours since then , last week i once again struggled to get the gasifier running and so decided to tip it over and empty out about 150 liters of charcoal from the drum , and yes once again i had a volcano sat over the nozzle blocking the char from lighting up properly , thinking that my nozzle was probably toast as well i gave it a big whack from above to remove it and low and behold the nozzle still in place down below was still in great shape , so i decided to let sleeping dogs lay and refilled drum and carry on running this before changing over to the ones you supplied , and looking at them i feel that they also will work well , but i like to run till destruction before chopping and changing , but as soon as i put it in the new one i shall let you know .
Dave
Dave, Thanks for the update. I hope you get plenty of sunshine and never have to test the new nozzle. Grace & peace, Bruce
Thanks Bruce , i ran the gasifier right down on fuel yesterday till it was so hot the rain water on the lid was starting to boil , as soon as the rains and wind die down here i shall open it up again and make a few changes inside my reactor that i have been working on , if the nozzle still looks ok i shall just keep running it for a while longer , but i am really keen to try the other nozzles in a new down draught unit that i am collecting bits for . but one way or another i shall use them on one of then units for sure
Dave
Dave,
I have just been looking back through this topic to learn more about how your gasifiers are set up. Have you shared anywhere how the bottom of your reactor is set up as far as how the plumbing is attached and arranged on the inside and out? Also I’d be interested in knowing what your filtering system consists of. it seems your system is a workhorse of sorts and I was just wondering what set-up has proven to be durable enough for daily use. Photos and a walk-around video would be nice whenever you might get the time.
I don’t want to miss what Koen just shared under “Some school in Thailand.”
Hi Steve , i am in the process of changing a few things on my setup ,so that may be the time to try and get some photo’s of the nozzle and how its set up through the drum , but in the mean while its so simple i don’t get the chance to update the build that often and while its working so well i leave it alone , we are going to have a sunny day today , so if i get a chance today i will empty my drum of charcoal and show you the inside and how the nozzle sits inside , i am sure it will have another build up of molten slag around it so you should get the idea and the only downside to me not using water drips or egr , is that i have to poke through the slag formation after a week or so from below , or do what i will do today and empty drum and take it out .
As for filtering i used to have just a simple 5 gallon plastic screw lid container filled with lambs wool and connected with plastic hose pipes , but it was only good if you ran for about 3 hours and then it was starting to get too hot , so i now use a 1 inch flexi stainless steel out of the lid of the 55 gallon drum over to a cyclone that helps drop the fines out before i send it down to my small gasifier that is now being used as a filter tank , its 8 inch dia by about 3 foot high made of mild steel with a aluminum lid where the gas comes out having passed through open cell / and a layer of lambs wool with a pile of pan scrubbers sat on top to save sucking anything up into the plastic oulet pipe that then goes for about 5 foot to a in line fine filter and then into the air mix valve and engine’s .
I just nipped out side and took a few photo’s to explain my ramblings better .
This is the 55 gallon drum with everything in place
This is my small gasifer i use for running very small engined generators , but not used it in ages so now its a extra filter .
Dave,
Thanks for the speedy response to my request. I’ll keep your set-up in mind whenever I decide to make improvements to my gasifiers. It’s simple and durable—I like that. I look forward to checking out the other details when you have the time. Thanks for all your experimentation with nozzles. I look forward to more endurance test reports from you.
Steve i did the dirty work so here are a few more photo’s starting with the empty inside and nozzle covered as i knew it would be in molten slag
This is the bottom of the nozzel cast onto a 1 inch fitting allowing it to be screwed on and off the male fitting in the bottom of the drum
I just tried looking up run times for this nozzle but i cant find my sheet of the run times so i cannot give a honest hour run , all my other nozzles have always managed at least 80 too a 100 hours when made in a similar way using refractory to encase what ever nozzle tips i have put in , so i am guessing this one has more than that on it and i am about to replace it back into the drum ,once i have made a few mods to the inside of the drum .
I just realized that this nozzle is the one i bought that Steve smareca showed for sale on ebay way back in sep last year .
Dave
Dave,
Thanks so much for the photos of your gasifier detail. What refractory cement are you using to attach the nozzle? Is this the same material you have used to cast nozzles in the past? Can you recommend a current source? Also, is the nozzle plumbing only going through the bottom of the drum or do you have other layers of sheet metal in the bottom?
Steve , the refractory cement was bought at least 4 years ago from typical furnace / pizza oven supplier here in Australia , when i told them what i wanted it for the recommended i go with a lower amount of alumina , i think i asked for a 90% and they recommended i try the 76% alumina content as it is less prone to thermal shock , even after all these casting i still cannot help but make the mix too wet and that in turn makes it slightly weaker , hence why some breaks off some of the surface when i cleaned the molten slag off .
All i do is sit the 1 inch galvanised pipe fitting in the bottom of a standard 400 gram soup or bean tin can , then i sat the carbide nozzle on top of it and then i use a sloppy mix of the refractory cement around it till its fully covered and allowed to air dry for about a day then i peel the tin can away and leave it for another 2 days some where warm , then i sit it in my wood burning stove at night while the coals burn down a few times till i know its as dry as can be .
This is the grade i bought
@d100f great to hear!
Thanks for the feedback…this is great news for longevity to say the least.
