Okay I have a Question for all you Charcoal and Wood gas fanatics and experts. When running on wood gas you can expect the soot getting into your intake manifold and having to burn it out. But what about charcoal gas, do you still have the problem of having to burn out the intake manifold from build up.
When reading about the chargas engines running there is no mention of this problem arising, and having to be done.
Maybe I missed it in my reading on different threads the chargas people have written.
My thoughts on my gasifier is to limit it on gas production to control the heat, so I can’t over pull it at full open throttle. By using @KristijanL idea. Hooking it up to a engine that has a carburetor fuel supply. It well idle on gas , run on chargas and fuel in hybrid at full throttle.
Any thoughts on this. Engine size 440 cu. in.
Char gas will enter under the carburetor. Char gas will be manually controlled. Also with a two stage foot throttle control. It’s a one foot control fuel/chargas pedal.
The charcoal gasifier will also but not the same time run my 4 KW genset.
Now you know where I’m heading with this discussion. A Dodge Motor Home that gets 8 miles to a gallon of fuel. Can we get better mileage with some chargas blended in, or are we just going to lose it in horsepower on the high end.
All thoughts/input on this will be appreciate.
I know it has be said forget it when it comes to a big motor home for a woodgasifier, woodgas driving, I agree, but what about a light weight charcoalgasifer. Using chargas/fuel hybrid driving to help with milage.
Most of my motor home trips are under 100 miles round trip. It will not be used as a daily driver.
Bob
Talking about hot metals…Jakob was doing a welding job today for a local tree surgeon. Welding up cracks and gussets on a dual axle log trailer… He tripped over a grinder cord and fell… Caught himself with his hand on a square tubing right on the weld he had just finished about 20 seconds earlier. His whole left hand palm is blistered up…At least 2nd degree burn. I think it will all blister up and come off in a few days. He’s hurting pretty good too. Wrapped up with burdock and charcoal and aloe…
Let Jakob know I am praying for him right now as I type this in Jesus Name, for healing.
Bob
Thanks and Amen…
Not a joke… i learned here in Thailand to put toothpaste on the burned spot to sooth the pain… it works fast and last long…
@gasman, Hi Max, my gasifier works but I put the wrong hopper shape on top of it. I was trying to use the materials I had on hand at the time. The original design was going to have a square or rectangle box between the hopper and gasifier area. It left out trying to keep the height down. It was going to be mounted on the back of a Subrau Outback and needed that shape to clear the hatch door. But now I plan to put it in the back of a truck bed so the hopper shape now can be changed to stright walls for better charcoal avalanche flow of the charcoal. It’s working the way it is, but has limited charcoal storage because most of it just sits there not moving down to the nozzle. I have use a piece of wood under it to simulate road vibrations and it helps. But it’s not to my satisfaction. I have been working on the retort and using some of your ideas on building it.
If you have any new ideas on this avalanche of charcoal to the nozzle and the nozzle blasting it from a couple of inches away. That would be great. So far there is no sign of any nozzle wear on gasifier. I ran out of charcoal and here in the State of Washington there is a strick fire burn ban on right now because of the dry weather. If they see any smoke they will be at your doorstep. With a fine.
Thanks Bob
Hi, Bob!
7.8.2018
Are you placing it permanently on the truck?
Again, pictures of the bed from side and from behind; on the drivers head level; almost the max practical height.(picture mid-height line)
Hi Max, no it will not be permanenty in the truck bed. It will be a slide in unit for now. Just to continue the testing of this type of design. If I can get it to run my Dodge Dakota 318 cu. In. Engine down the road then I will look for another truck to put it in. I will redesign the gasifier to fix the new truck, it needs to be lighter in weight for one. It ended up almost twice the weight I had planned. So for now it will sit behind the WK gasifier.
Bob
Hi, Bob!
10.8.2018
If this slide model chargas module fits behind the “woodgas plant”, you can use the excisting hay filter as a common feedpoint:
This makes it possible to make the promised (predicted 2016, mess 622) roundup video, if it was not made back then…
The total dispencer – mixer system with resonance tubing is still of general interest
I suppose?
8/12/2018 Yes Max, this is the present plan. This is one of the reasons I put the air lifts bags on the top of the back axle. It will be interesting to compare the performance of both units in the same truck. I’m not sure if anyone has ever done this before or not. There has been some who have whiched out to one or the other type gasifier, but not have both units in the truck at the same time, and able to run on the same day.
The air intake can be blocked off to the WK gasifier, and piped the charcoal gas into back condensation tank, then up to the hay filter. Everything will run the same form there to the engine. Including the mixer controller that Chris S. built.
I think data like this could be usefull for this DOW site.
I really enjoy exspermenting and try new things.
Thanks for all the input you have given on this WK Gasifier truck and charcoal gasifier.
Soon to have a Charcoalgasifer riding in the 92 Dakota bed also.
Bob
Hi, Bob!
13.8.2018
That’s liberating news! The flow from the unused gasifier has to be completely blocked at the delivery end to avoid any unintended leaks! Uncoupling the nonused is the safest way.
The advantage with two systems simultanious on board is in the extra weight; it really puts both systems sequentially under “loaded” working conditiones, which is a harder test to put across! That seems to generate 3 videos! Thumbs up!
- Balanced mixer
- Woodgas performance
- Chargas performance
I definitely was not going run them at the same time at first. Running them both at the same time now that has really got me thinking. Lol first thing is to just run one or the other on the same day. Yes the air supply will have to be blocked off on the unit that is not being used. Also will have to make sure there are no other air leaks. This will make sure the gas is good and rich going to the auto mixer.
Bob
Hi, Bob!
13.8.2018
By sequentially I meant “one at a time”, the other one physically
completely disengaged from the hayfilter. It is not comletely clear to rely on air cutoff only!
Air cutoff does not stop the gasproduction abrupt… and eventual later appearing leaks.
Yes, that is true, it would have to be blocked at the gasifier outlet also, to be a controlled experiment for good data.
It is late and I will continue this discussion with you tomorrow. It has has been a long Smokey day here because on the near by forest fire. My eyes have been hurting from the smoke and reading is getting blurry.
Bob
Good Morning BobMac,
Well we have finnaly transitioned into wonderful high mountain valley Fall here. 34-36F mornings with low 70’s to low 80’sF afternoons, depending on how much/how long the morning marine clouds hang around. Had rain twice now to re-green and humidify. No more crunchy dangerous walking around.
My point.
I now have to fire up the wood stove for ~10pounds DF every morning to chill break for the low-to-the-floor 3&4 yo foster kiddo’s… And my 400 pound thermal mass stove leaves absolutely NO remaining char. Good for heat making fuel economy. Not so good for any char collecting.
I normally avoid the charcoal engine projects, not having the hardwoods available to me to make the engine quantities of charcoal.
But now I fear most here on DOW may see Washington State as all the same as SteveU’s conditions!!
Not true at all.
So how is your fruitwood/charcoal vehicle system coming along?
best regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
Hi Steve, I need to make more charcoal so ,I have set that project aside at the moment because of the air quality around here. When your numbers are in the 200 plus to 500, 500 when you can’t see more than 200 feet in front of you, like dense fog. You just stay inside if you can. Yesterday it was wonderful it was down to 12 for air quality. We took to the water at the Lincon Rock park for a outing. Today the smoke is back but not as bad as it has been. The retort project is as well is on hold. We can’t even have a little fire in our pit in the back yard. Don’t want the fire marshal come knocking on my door with a ticket in his hand.
As soon as we can get things back to normal so we can have a fire again I will get back on the charcoal projects.
Bob
This year,down here we are more wildfire smoke lucky. At it’s worst it was only down to 1/4 to 1 mile viability. Still . . . nothing to be out huffing and puffing in. last year with the much closer Columbia River Gorge “Eagle Creek” fireworks started fire we had your hand-in-face conditions sometimes.
As could have been used wood short-term wasted away, these Western wildfires are horrendously wasteful. Minimum of 30 years to 300 years of growing done and gone up-in-smoke in weeks.
And imho, that rate of using-up, versus re-grow replenishment is what would happen if wood-use-for-power every exceeded more than maybe 5% to 15% of Washington States annual energy use expectations.
You were the big-hydro power man and can make your own feeling-it comparisons.
As long as personal wood use is matched by intentional tree growth replenishment like in my tree-lot DF’s and your area fruit growers trim-back and aged-out and diseased trees replacing; then we are in-balance and responsible.
Ha! And as hard as it is to stack 50% of fruit trees gnarly cuts, reducing these down to charcoal chunks, makes sense.
Yep. Still in total any/all fires burn ban here too. My morning woodstove fires are technically illegal. Why I must begin before sun-up and get into no-smoke state quickly. And finish with no air choked back char saving lingering chimney smoking before the various agency inspectors are fully coffee’ed-up, driving and flying around on-duty, and raring to write.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
I can confirm that the smallest smoky fire stands out on all but a really windy day.
Them Indian smoke signals were very effective
What is your elevation Steve? I live in a shallow valley (100’) at elev 400 and we have not gone below 43 degrees this fall.
You must be several degrees of Lattitude South of me so should be a bit warmer
I am back at work again. Turns out that each contractor can agree with the operating engineers and get a waiver for their crew to work.
Hi MichealG, been thinking about you too, you Washington Stater, you.
At the house site valley floor we are at 672 feet. Goes up and up just a 1/4 mile east to 1500 by 2-3 miles, then to 2000, then to 3000; with a crow-fly’s 45 miles to the Cascades Crest if that crow would veer north or south of Mt Adams to keep itself under 4000.
But to get into this first Cascades foot hill valley you have to 1200-1400 feet road travel up and drop down in.
From Kent? Think about 10-15 miles east of you for the weather/frost equivalent. Can’t think of an appropriate town upper river valley name opposite you.
Ha! I am better with SW Washington and up out of the Willamette valley locations and names.
Go just 10 miles east of Longview up either the Cowlitz or the Coweeman rivers for the same as here. 5 miles east of Kalama, up the Kalama river for the same as here. 8 miles east of Washugal, up the Washugal river the same as here.
My-here: west-slope, inter-mountian altitude forced rainside is pretty much the same Roseburg/Cottage Grove Or, up thru southern British Columbia. Raintree Nursery’s growth zones catalog and a newer edition of Sunsets Western Gardeners book show the long north south bands well.
Latitude is not the predominate factor.
Rain shadowing from more western coastal mountains, the Olympics and Vancouver Island and the IS.
Being in one of the from east of Cascades ou- flow air spillover drainages like the Columbia river and Frazer river are very affecting. COLD dry winter outflow air at times. Compression overheating forced down slope air racing to the ocean late spring thru summer, early fall.
38F this morning and will zoom-zoom to 90+ today with a shift to from marine airflows to the east Inland Empire air up/over and down sloping to us by both the North and east forks of the Lewis rivers.
This is when the big “Yacolt Burn” of 1902, and re-burn 19teens, re-burn again in 1929 took place. Dry, hot under single digits humidity East Winds fanned.
Lowlands below 100 feet Portland Or and Vancouver Wa are greatly affected by off the ocean airs coming 90 miles up the broad Columbia river basin.
My Auburn, Seattle, Lake Washington surrounding relatives are all greatly Puget Sound air/water moderated.
Hey. You the pilot. Altitude matters. Barometric pressure matters. Humidity matters. And can all change in fractions of an hour increments, eh? Where you choose to live you are stuck with what fly’s in!
tree-farmer Steve unruh
I apologies. I went too long-winded on my last response.
Sunset’s Western Gardener 2001 and later is ok-good for giving a general all western North American growing (frost to frost) perspective. West side of Cascades it shows always slamming with virtually no stepped transitions quickly to their severe 1A Coldest Mountain and Intermountain Areas zone with only 50 to 100 days killing frost to frosts. And directly to that from your Kent valley zone 5 Marine Influenced with 200-250 days. Or down here in sw Clark County zone 6 Willamette & Columbia Rivers Valley’s up 280 days frost to frosts.
The Raintree Nuseries paper catalog does a much more detailed proprietary descriptive named-zones breakdown from the Canadian Border to ~Longview WA.
The Territorial Seed Co folks do the more specific detailed zones breakdown only in their paper catalog from the California border north up to Longview WA.
Same. Same. Coming up off of north/south valley floors, or east/west river drainages they list change within sight distances going uphill/up-slope.
Heck. It is only ~1800 feet diagonally long-wise across our combined 17 acres. “Only” with a double humped 60 foot ground variation from 760 to 820 feet. Grapes vines CARE. Lilac bushes CARE. Even most of the blossoming/flowering trees here care NOT to be in the lowest frost pocket still-air low pockets on our property.
Sigh. Supposed climate durable Navajo Willows really ain’t liking it down in my drainage ditch lowest area. Frost bite twice on the new spring growths. I really should transplant them up and out. Probably not. Move onto to something else more able to live here locally.
Intermountian; and valley sides sun blocking has much more effect than latitude too. I lose an hour each and every morning here on the east edge of Yacolt valley. Our true up-in-the-mountians on north/south Wind River property “valleyed-in” shadowed loses 2 hours sun in the morning, and three hours sun every afternoon year around.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh