Don, l see l havent answerd the previous question. The nozzles point about 30deg up at the moment.
The top stays on for now. Problem is the genius previous owner applyed some sealant on the plastic cover where it meets the bed and l am afraid moisture got under corroding the metal. But if the cooling of the gas will be inefficient l will have no choice but to remove it.
Lighting up is a problem but a solveable one. The real problem is loading the hopper as the barrel sits high under the roof. I think l will build some support structure that pivets so that l can tilt the whole thing on a side a bit. Wi see…
Bob, there can be no light port here. The two barrels must not be connected anywhere, because the center barrel must be able to take out for ash cleaning.
Bob, since the gasifier is so simple your idea makes sence. For longer runs it wuldnt take any more space. You need the space for fuel aanyways! But for my current situation, and being used to up to 10gal hoppers, this thing looks huge
It’s like sneaking a 357 magnum round into your buddy’s revolver, he thinks it’s loaded with 38 special and all the sudden hang cannon engaged!
I know with Wayne’s system this is where he talks about the sizing of the choke plate and distance from the nozzles and tuning it the closest you can and being happy with loosing some performance somewhere else in the rpm range that isn’t used as much, but is that same effect seen with charcoal as well? My rough understanding was charged is more stabile in what Is produce with the tars and moisture being removed before the gas is harvested
I have no experience with charcoal gasifiers, but at least with raw wood gasifiers I think there’s even an earlier step involved.
Let’s say you’re slowing down after running hard, or even stop to idle for a short period of time. Very little air is suddenly drawn in, you have a temporary excess of heat and produce very rich gas during idle. Short enough stop (and enough gas reserve) you can take off with super fuel.
Back at full throttle. The charbed had time to cool down a little and the sudden rush of steam and CO2 passes the charbed unconverted until enough heat builds up again - the famous hesitation sympthome. Best you can do is richen the mixture a little up front to have the amount of oxygen match the weak fuel you’re temporarely feeding the motor.
I don’t know if I’m correct, but this is what I imagine happens when sitting behind the wheel.
How about putting in a ash cleanout hatch in the side of the bottom of the barrel and you can light the gasifer up through the hatch at the grate.
Yes you are right about weak gases being produced at long idles with out the good WK turn down ratio in the gasifer. But at the restriction opening you can put in a heavy steel plate in like a rotor disk the extra steel holds heat even with ash over it.
If you can recirculate the good gases that have been already made back to the bottom of the grate outlet area that would help to keep the gases mixed up all the time. How about using a electric EGR pump for this, by making a gas recirculating loop.
By just adding hot air when idling will help keep the gasifer hot and not cool down. Just some thoughts.
I have even thought about by passing my muffler preheater on hot summer days it is not needed. In the winter time yes. You were with me at Argos when I had my muffler preheater by passed. The truck ran good on the rocket fuel we mixed up. Right.
That was a great experience I learned a lot.
Bob
The goal here is to KISS it to the extreme. A hach brings complications. Plus unfortunaly our supply of ammo cans is non existant
For lighting, l think pouring in a few drops of gas or kerosene, followed by a torch and slow suction will do the trick. Fire shuld burn in the flute nicely. But we will see.
Marcus, you preety much nailed it. What you describe we call a turndown ratio. The ratio between lowest possible draw on the gasifier without making tar and highest draw without overheating the gasifier.
The only gasifier that has a allmost limitless turndown ratio is a updraft charcoal gasifier but it has its drawbacks and a lot of them.
However! With a downdraft charcoal gasifier you can cheat! It doesent realy have a low milestone for for gas demand because the extra heat will burn any tar. This means you can make the gasifier biger, with sets the higher demand milestone up
Kristijan if overseas shipping wasn’t an arm and a leg I would mail a few cans to you! I like how you’re setting this reactor up though. With a mostly empty hopper she won’t weigh much at all.
Any idea how to form the round cylinder for the cyclone/cooler? It shuld be about 8"… Prefferablu out of oildrum material. Its what l got for free
Second question. 2 clamp lids on this gasifier. I imagine the big barrel lid will only be opened monthly, for ash cleaning. Not a big deal. But the hopper lid will be opened dayly. How do you guys make your lids come off easy? And still seal well. After the gasifier cooled the other day l removed the clamp but the lid required a mallet and a lot of force to come off. It seals great but thats a no go. Any tips and tricks?
Didn’t JO or Jan say he’s used ratchet straps to wrap up sheet metal so he can weld it down? Could cut out a sheet from barrel material and just try to burrito wrap it with ratchet straps. Tack weld then go from there.
Also I’m not 100% sure on this but some thick lithium grease could both seal and lubricate the lid so it won’t stick on so bad.
I hadnt weight it but yes its wery light. That was the goal. Škoda has a tiny bed and sometimes l need it whole or haul flamable material. I need to snap the gasifier off in a minute. And, l MAY even fit it on my tiny tractor… It will be used there for when the tractor runs a long time with litle load like for ploughing or powering a generator. Will see.
Problem with the barrel material is it has those two ridges… I dont quite know how to make that happen…
Problem with the lid is that it seems the clamp squeezes the groove together. If nothing else l will need to ditch the clamp and make it spring loaded.
Kristijan, as I understand it the inner vessel/wall doesn’t need to be 100% gas tight. You could cut the ribs off the barrel, strap/bend shorter pieces around a right sized log and tack them together for any length.
For the outer vessel I think a barrel could take bending even with the ribs in place. If I remember right I think @Norman89 did that for his hayfilter.
About the stuck lid - there are several types of high temp grease out there that doesn’t melt as easily. I never tried any of them though.
Really not bad at all, I work close to the ribs and the rest of the flat part follows right with it nicely just go slow and it won’t kink and forms up pretty good mine was almost a perfect circle when I was done
Can’t wait for Chris to activate my premium. I went ahead and added another 6 months on top of the 6 included with the book since I’m so active on here. I know he’s a busy guy though so it’s fine.
Thinking about this now, the ridges may even be a advantige, holding the shape of the rest of the metal. Time to start doing this when l get a nother “fathers day” (each person in our family gets his dedicated day from time to time. Myne comes at a interval of maybee two months )
Don, no idea. It was pure obtainium. I think it shuld be in the neighbourhood of 5". Downdraft charcoal gasifiers arent picky. However l may need to tighten up this one because the double flute has 2 blank sides where no air is injected and potentialy, tar culd creep trugh there. Its all a matter of fine tuning wich is easy with the adjustible flutes
Edit a nother advantige of downdraft charcoal. Ifl were to gasify this 1.3l engine with an lmbert the restriction wuld probably be in a ballpark of 3". Here 5 shuldnt be a problem. This means less restriction, even if fines acumulate (constipation)
Exactly the same as my plan. Fortunately my working boots are off now and there is some time to catch up reading. Wow. Lots of things happened here. Not got to Jo’s Volvo.
But the bad part is, I cant send you one right now. I have a few leftovers. Round 200 mm 1400 mm long with snapring and flat end. 400 grams Polyesther needle felt. Not realy resistent for higher temperature.
On the other side, useless to send you one. You build everything in one day.
Just another idea. I imagine a cup grinding wheel made of corundum would make a good, long lasting restriction if the center hole were chipped out bigger, 3 inches, in this case. Too expensive, but if you find one at the flea market or someplace…
Rindert
What about to try circular flute, @KristijanL ? I know it would be much harder to make it instead of just join standard fittings, but it might come with some benefits. Possible source might be section of serpent pipe from old water heater.
