okay so i understand the simplefire (Charcoal) concept and design decently now. i definitely appreciate the simplicity. and…can anyone provide any links/info on what a straight wood system would look like on a bike? Has it been done recently? i’m curious how much more hardware it would add to the set-up.
one thing i’m surprised about with the simple fire is the use of foam filters and plastic pipes. intuitively i would have thought the gas would be hot enough to melt them!
The ascending gas from the gasifier gets cooled down with the descending fuel… all the process heat is used to preheat/cool down the fuel/gas
In my farmer setups, this plastic pipe also act as a passive , cheap, safety. if the temperature exceeds the melting point of the plastic, that will melt and glued together by the vacuum, shutting down the engine and gasifier.
Max damage = 10 cm plastic hose… no damage downstream…
8 Likes
hello sir, i’ve finally got the free time to work on the gasifier. could we text-chat briefly about sizing components to get me off to a good start finding materials?
1 Like
@PeterBJanes Hi Peter, you can just continue this thread so you can keep all the information together on one thread. It is easier for all the members to follow your build this way.
To continue just hit the blue box Reply below.
I see that there is already some great information above.
Bob
1 Like
ok, yes that makes sense. koen has suggested an 8-10" wide and 24" long combustion chamber and xoie has suggested keeping all the piping the same or larger than the carb diameter. That’s a decent start. any other suggestions?
1 Like
Some of you may have seen this video on “My first small engine run” in the Small engine section. You can make several of these and add one as you remove one for cooling. You can do as many as can safely fit in the stove. I’ve only room for 2 or 3. NEVER leave these in the overnight operation of your stove!!! For those who haven’t seen it, here tis:
Thank you, America!
Pepe
Here’s some great info on gasification that new comers should watch. The answers are here from an expert.
3 Likes
Hi Peter James
I hope you are still forging forward with your gasification project.
I got curious about the specs, history and durability of your Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle.
Searched it up.
Surprise. Surprise. LONG production history. Long used as a world-wide adventurer traveler.
Even more surprising used as a basis for a JP-8 fueled military scout motorcycle. That says wonders on the durability of the chassis, tranny, ect.
Anyone interested search up M1030M1 by Hayes Diversified Technologies; or, Diesel Motorcycles.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
4 Likes
There was some discussion earlier about the difficulties of gasifying a single cylinder…but the merits of the KLR650 aren’t in question! kawasaki has finally decided to discontinue the model after around 30 years of production with only cosmetic changes during that time!
i’m moving forward, but limited by the realities of life/family/farm/work…
2 Likes
I’m back at the KLR now that the spring nursery rush has slowed down. Despite most of your best advice i’ve decided to go wood instead of charcoal. I am very aware of the reasons not to -but i’m doing it anyways! So, that considered i’m studying T. Reed’s Handbook and working on design layouts. What i’m finding is that there are different methods of calculating gas consumption/ requirements and thus the sizes of pipes and components. and as a newbie i’m finding this overwhelming.
Its a 47 HP single cylinder (at 6500 rpm) .
Existing carburator inlet pipe is 2" . exhaust is 1.5"
From T. Reed.: Using the calculation for down-rated actual HP = (mph x (hp-h/gal))/MPG
HP= (50mph x 10 hp-h/gal) / 40 mpg = 12.5 HP
This would allow keeping the RPM below 4000 easily
T. Reed’s book says this level of power would call for around 1gallon of gasoline/hour or around 22lbs of wood. Thus the imbert throat diameter would be around 2" and the hearth capacity would be around 140 KBtu/hour
Any feedback on this from those in the know before i commit to it?
3 Likes
Use www.woodgas.nl guidelines instead.
More power-ran it; done it based.
Regards
S.U.
3 Likes
That sounds about right. For hose diameter, if your inlet is 2" than you can run 2" or go even slightly larger. The easier it can breath the more you can get from it.
2 Likes
Yes, by all means read the complete Micro-Gasifier section. It will give you a good idea of what is important!
2 Likes
I’ve been studying the micro-gas notes and pics. Its been a bit of a brain work-out contextualising some of the vocabulary and cross relating the points!
4 Likes
I had a look through the microgas site. I’m hung up on figuring out “cold gas volume/second”…The FOA 72 document (which people seems to diss regularly) has calculations in appendix 1 but they have sullied the original equation with numbers numbers i can’t reference…any help with cold gas volume folks?
1 Like
I just went back through my notes from many years ago when I did the basic calculations for my build. I just figured out “what they were saying” and ignored their example, which I agree, I could not understand. It worked out fine using MY numbers.
Don’t get too lost in all the “power output” and other stuff. Go to page 61 where there is a diagram of a gasifier and the critical dimensions. Then I think if you got to Appendix 2, you will find the formulae to calculate each dimension.
Some where I had a good table that gave me all the dimensions for various size engines but I can’t find it right now.
Good luck and hopefully others will chime in to help. TomC
3 Likes
ooh that table would be really nice to see. as a newbie i’m finding there is a real lack of practical applicable dimensioning information available…
1 Like
Go to the Library and select FREE GASIFIER PLANS— then select IMBERT GASIFIER DIMENSIONS. That is a table of combination of dimensions needed to build a gasifier. Later when I have time I will go back to my notes and try to give you a starting point Sorry this will have to do for now. TomC
4 Likes
yes, i had found that chart through other means. It looks to me like i need to build smaller than its smallest dimension…will try to do the math by proportions with cross referencing with the microgas.nl site
1 Like
Exactly true PeterJ.
Imbert charts; Dr Reeds references ALL have to be extrapolated down for smaller engine powers.
This does not work out well at all in practical use experiences.
Why i said to use Dutch Johns real, small loaded engines experiences IN TOTAL.
Fuel “bit” sizing as learned needing to be ~1/5, 1/7 of the restriction diameter. Low engine power needs - tiny fuel cut/chopped bits needed. " I soon grew tired of making Tiny fuel chunks." Sean French
DJ’s hard learned experience on his walk-behind/skid-behind reel mower as actually only using/needing 1 horsepower so his whole system calculated for 2x-3x- of that was too under-flow/heats loaded! “I stepped over a boundary there.” DJ
Too much waste in finite calculating. To be in real world use found wrong.
Make what you will; with internally swap out adjustable within a range +/- of your rough starting calculations.
And continuous flows static “blower” trialing will never duplicate the true overall system effects of a single cylinder suck-wait-wait-wait sucking pulsation!!
Do a little - and learn a lot, when on small single cylinder gas supplying systems.
DJ learned first on his four cylinder Volvo. 2100cc, 5-60 hp used. Within published experienced gas-flows-power use-needs ranges.
Then had to re-learn on his single cylinder Micro’s.
Ha! Later his big-block V-8 Chevy pickup was easy for him. In tiny Nederlands just no place to use it he said. Gone bye-bye by now I expect.
So PeterB you are actually doing the most difficult: first.
That’s o.k.
Make a real wood gasifing man out of you walking this tight rope.
S.U.
5 Likes
my kind of life style 
4 Likes