Well that settles it, engine was cooled down and I popped the valve cover off and rolled her over. Valve had no issues and was clean!!
Duel Fuel it is!!
I will need have some procedure’s I guess. Users will be recommend to use 100% charcoal and then adding in mixtures before going 100% wood and running 100% will only be suggested if they are out of charcoal and need to run.
I think the real problem is going to be dragging that fuel drying oven around. 
Yup we will have to come up with an exhaust fuel drying process as Steve U has suggested many many times. If you want to use engine heat this is really your best option. A gasifier is not a good solution for CHP as in my opinion it is best used for battery charging for stationary off grid applications. That dont work so well as heating is around the clock.
Either way having the fuel choice options buys you time. Wood fuel not dry enough? no problem whip up charcoal that can run that day. Have dry enough chips but no charcoal? Again no problem; run your chips and get caught up on charcoal production.
Absolutely right Matt. A person that locks themselves out of every possible option is not working at true self sufficiency. I expect one of these days to see you build something to compete with Joni’s, grab some sticks off the side of the road, builds.
The first video is about 5 minutes before I shut it down and I played around with the water drip flow so you can hear that effect. The second is me pulling off the valve cover and inspecting the intake valve after engine cooling.
Honestly pretty amazing it ran on any sort of wood. Maybe because the nozzle is so wide it lets out a wide active zone and vaporized the tar. I think you’re right that the filter media is definitely half of the equation though.
It works very much like an Imbert. But where the reduction zone is, it is much hotter and dense. As there is no where the char ash can go and whats above slowly degasses until it becomes charcoal. The gases just get process. But this fuel on the back side is processing much slower than the fuel at the front. The gas has to flow 10 inches to the back and 10 inch down to the grate so there is a long path it has to take. Plenty of time for the reactions to take place.
So yeah I may have just invented a new type of gasifier.
Another thing too, is the fuel entering where the jet is confined. At the jet is where the reactor tub starts. This is like a “V” Shaped troft and char will naturally build up against the walls here. So only small amounts of fuel are actively being oxidized verses an imbert or typical down draft where this is this big bowl. So I think its easier for the reduction to manage and process the gas. Because its such an open flow it does not struggle with feeding in the small amounts of fuel into the active hearth zone.
Yup the saw dust medium filter is something to really look into. I am thinking as a secondary filter up front of the vehicle. With easy to change out cartridges, open the tube pull out and slide in another one.
This would work great on engines that are not mpfi or they have the plastic intakes. You could have three tubes that can be valve to be put into service or or out of service. Change them all out when you get back from a long trip. All it would need to be is a sock made of a towel or wool blanket with sawdust inside. Have it set up so the filters will self drain of water if they get wet into a condensation tube tank. All could be made of pvc plastic 6" or 8" piping. Paint them my favorite color black. Mount them up front of the vehicle.
Bob
Yes it is a very dense filter yet breathable and if that thing clogs up it just saved you a lot of tar getting into your engine. This is the first filter Ive ever used that could knock out like that. But in this run there really was not much of any tar. The discoloration is from the heat. It was actually pretty dry as well.
I’m trying to picture a way to run sawdust in a vehicle scaled way.
Maybe a 30 gallon drum, with the gas in at the base area. First layer is hay to let gas flow throughout the bottom, rabbit wire disc to hold the hay down and then sawdust, and a canvas or wool sack to keep from sucking in sawdust to the engine. Maybe a rabbit wire cage to hold the sack’s shape and not let you overfill.
I’d weld in a coupler in the lid to add the sawdust with the bag in place so you aren’t compacting the media when it’s all added back in.
Or run this same system inside out. Gas in from the lid down through a pipe, filter is a canvas bag full of dry sawdust.
Yup just drum; feed into the bottom / pull out the top. layer hay in the both the bottom and top. Simple as that no to make it anymore complex than this it will work as long as you have a screen at the exit port.
How many gallons of sawdust would you put in a barrel that size? I’m sure it wouldn’t be the rest of the barrel not occupied by hay that could get pretty dense.
Hi Matt what size or mesh screen. 50, 30, mesh screen. Screen door screen. Stainless steel?
What type of screen are you using?
Bob
As much as you can fit. The more the better. Id fill the bottom with about 4 inches of hay fill the rest with dust up to the first rib of the drum then pack that thing with hay. It will loose up as the gas will fluff things up.
I use the cut offs from the bag filters. Im using a 50% open area screen. As long as the dust cant get through is all you are trying do. SS Window screen Im sure would work just fine.
Yeah Im building a new version using the ammo boxes I used for DIY gasifier build. It will have the same concept but just that the exhaust port will be up higher to relieve packing. This is for the larger engines that this will be offered on. I would probably work for a small truck engine I4 and may even work for a V8.
Hi Matt i just managed to get hold of some large ammo boxes, if its not too cheeky to ask for advice and to copy your new ammo cross fire/downdraft design as i don’t seem to have much luck with my last downdraft attempt that i tried running as the gas came out weak and far too hot , i must have messed up somewhere , trouble is these days i don’t have the work space for experimenting anymore , and need a proven design .
Cheers Dave
There is the tutorials on Youtube if you have not seen them. But they are more for the concept. If you can build this so it is bigger and more robust that would be way better. But I think using the “box” architecture along with the “V” shaped ash pan / troft is key to this designs success.
Yeah if you need help let me know. Anything I post here is open source and anyone is welcome to build or use these concepts.
I just ordered a few of these boxes for the larger ammo boxes. I plan to sandwich a screen under the lid and Ill use a hole saw to punch an array of breather holes in the lid and for the back exhaust port.
Hi Matt , yep just watched 2 of the ammo box video’s , i am thinking of maybe building the ammo box using the same set up you have now with the same internals sizes and then maybe attaching the ammo box onto a hopper to get the run time extended , maybe even just use 2 ammo boxes one on top of the other .
Will keep my fingers crossed i can make the time to make a start on the build soon .
Cheers Dave