BruceJ I still remember your woodgas beginnings back at the base/prison in Iraq.
I and others thought you were nuts building for woodgas pursuing in a place that grew no trees.
Shipping pallets and wooden boxes materials for my fuels, you said. So with that as your constraint (and a near bottomless Gov’Mint welding&equipments resources, engine generators, delivered Dino-fuels, and such) you converted a little “civilian” Toyota pickup. To be your use-wood, fuel sipper, run-a-round.
Now your constraints have flipped 180 degrees . . . lots of onsite owned wood and brush.
Near no-more-equipment budget at all. And you are aged older too.
I like this old permission the best, “Smoke 'em if you got 'em.”
You gots lots and lots of woody fuel stocks now. Efficiencies be damned.
Ha! Ha! Deep money budgets just lets the mistakes grow out to be really, really BIG.
Wife and I are DINC’s. So is not the efficiency and cost as such shyed me away from trying TEG’s on the woodsotoves. It is thier as of yet poor, poor durability; short-lifecycles has kept my hands away from my wallet.
A wood stove, a gasifier hearth can easily go glowing red hot in a full all-gone-to-char burn down.
Be real easy to wipe out an at least current $1,000 USD for an ~100 watts made up TEG cells, generator.
I’ve already made those $1,000 loss mistakes on the wrong specialty engine to woodgas.
The wrong gasifier system initially bought into.
An E-Bay bid and bought 1st world quality used TIG welder, arrived shipping damaged to n.f.g. unrepairable.
Even a DINC (DICC) such as I, has limits. Can learn. Measure twice. Cut once.
Regards
Steve unruh
Ok, I think I know what to do. I just need to be reminded by Steve, Sean, and Matt. Anybody can make wood gas. Like the guy in Canada used to say, it’s the machine you build that can run a thousand hours on woodgas that is important.
When I think in those terms, I am reminded about how much wood is actually required to do something. I need a silo for chunks or charcoal. I need a saw station for that too. There is lots of infrastructure to be built.
I am not used to not scrambling all winter just to survive.
Just looking at your forest, I would look at a screw chunker. It should handle underbrush better which probably needs to be cleared anyway to help prevent fire.
They are too expensive, and they get hot in the summer and wont fully output.
If you need one they are ok. But if you plan to stack multiple units like we did, you are better off buying a second hand Invertter with the built in charger. Even if you are buying it only for the charger.
Three of those stacked is 60 amps for $900. A Used EG4 can be found for less than that and they have an 80 amp charger. Then if the Iverter actually works its a bonus buy
Bruce, the beauty of the charcoal “system”: less need for a saw station, more of a place to crush and sift to get the right size “engine grade” chunks, after the wood is charred through and fragile. You can use off-cuts, odd size pieces, smalls and large. If they don’t char thoroughly the first time, throw them in the next burn batch. Yes, you will need dry storage, can be multiple container sizes with lids to fit.
I know I sound absolutely absurd, whining about not having a charcoal project going, while my gas generator is heating the Volvo block, preparing the loader for a trip to the upper junk yard. I have retrieve a partial Chevy cab so I can look at the fire wall. I have to install the simple heater core box, and fan box on my 1984 suburban. Yesterday I tore off the AC box.
So when you posted the link, I didn’t quibble, I ordered the eg4. I also ordered the aims. I like the aims because it’s 110v. I like the eg4 because it’s signature solar, and I like dealing with them.
I don’t care what it looks like…I am stocking up on these survival items… although I prolly will build a treadmill motor 48v charger with a lil Briggs motor…just to have.
I’ve seen them lots of places for usually around 11 bucks, but they are always 9 bucks at Menard’s and often on sale. You can stack them as high as you want. I have mentioned that I also use them for container gardening. Best things since bread slicers.
Are they a pretty reliable company? They have 12v 100ah waterproof batteries for like 240 bucks from signature solar. They must be life as they are saying 7000 charge cycles…
As Bruce has said Signature Solare is a very good company to work with and they are the only company I recommend to others. If memory is correct my batteries aliong with the inverter all have a 5 year warranty
They have already made good on one issue I had. On one of the rack batteries a temp probe failed so they had to replace the wire harness. They walked me through hooking up my pc to run diagnostics to find this issue. It was actually pretty cool. They sent out the harness I RnR’d the harness and its been working ever since.
I set myself up as whatever they call their wholesale end. Associate? something like that. Margins for me suck but they carry a good line of the all in one units which none of my local suppliers do.
I had the same temperature probe problem with a server rack battery from them. I learned the diagnostics on my own, but I had all that information ready when I called them and they had me box up the battery and ship it back to them. The truck came right out here to the bush to pick it up. And they sent my customer a brand new battery and he has had no problems since. So I’m very happy with them, not only because of the warranty but because they let me handle the exchange in the place of my customer who is way too busy as a surgeon to handle warranty exchanges. They remind me of the way Magnum used to be before it got bought out.
Just looking for a place to ask a question. Anyone have any experience with Ecoflow power stations? I’ve researched all the tech about them and it’s fine. The customer service is what I am looking at. They did an upgrade of the Delta series and dropped the price of their older models a ton. More than half. I know this because a couple of years ago I ordered a bundle from them with this power station, 200 W solar panels and a fast charger. It listed at $1500 and was sold by Amazon on some special for $899. Sold through Amazon but actually the charge was to Ecoflow and shipped by Ecoflow. After they took the money out of our account they told us that due to unexpected volume of sales they would have to put our sale on back order for as much as a month. We told them to cancel the order and refund the money. They said they had already sent the Solar panels and charger, but they never came and there was no record or UPS receiving them. 10 phone calls or run arounds and they agreed to send back the money minus a 350 dollar restocking fee. Called Amazon, who really didn’t want to be involved but must have look at all the crap we have bought through them and they somehow coerced Ecoflow to give us a full refund. I’m just curious if anyone on the site has had any dealing with them. Any brand power station can have problems. I don’t want to go through that again but this is a hard price to pass on. The same price I payed for a 550W Bluetti. This is twice the wattage with a 1800W inverter. Amazon.com : EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station Delta 2, 1024Wh LiFePO4 (LFP) Battery, 1800W AC/100W USB-C Output, Solar Generator(Solar Panel Optional) for Home Backup Power, Camping & RVs : Patio, Lawn & Garden?
I’m just looking for another tool to keep us functional. I have the 4 golf cart battery set up with a 3000W inverter. I could go two more batteries and the charger would still handle it. I have the 550W Bluetti and I was surprised that it would start the snow blower. A little hesitant at first. I have several 12V jump starters. After that just generators. I did figure that a 1000wh power station would keep my grow lights in the greenhouse running for a day. I can get by in there with 160 watts for 6 hrs, but mainly I want a back-up for my heating system fan and pumps.
Pretty much decided to just get this power station. Watch about 10 non-sponsored youtube reviews, Seems to perform well. I don’t have to worry about dealing with Ecoflow. I can just pick it up in the store if I can get this damned snow cleared out of here. Just keeps coming.
