Corrections
Hi, Tom!
On 11.20.2014 message I have in distraction given an incorrect restriction diameter.
I have “implanted” the correct value 5 1/4" in that message!
Hoping you have not yet started on it with the wrong measure!
Regards,
Max
Max I don’t know now what your posting said before you changed it but if you look at my sketch I have been planning on a 5 1/4 inch restriction all a long. I got that from you at some point. No I haven’t gotten that far yet. Still working on the grate. Went to my local scrap yard and picked up a propane tank to build a charcoal gasifier hopefully before lawn mowing next summer.TomC
Bill; I have been very lax in using “standard” size wood chunks in my gasifier. I have used three methods of making fuel and each process gives a different product. The first is a table saw to saw up “sized” lumber. That can make consistent size fuel. Then I have used the “cow patty” and hatchet method. That also gives a good quality fuel because I can control the thickness of the “patty” and the overall size by chopping the patty more or less. Both of these processes are rather slow compared to my wood chunkier. But, unless I switch and star cutting “wet” wood, the chunkier “shatters” the wood pieces in to a large variation in size. The size can be and the pile is partially “chips” . Then there is everything up to the size that I am shooting for. I have only burned the chunked wood on one run and that was the last time when I had problems. Right now I am not blaming the chunks for the problem but I do have to make more runs using it. I’m hoping that there are enough large pieces to give the silo breathing room, but if not then I will try green wood. As long as I have so many dry dead limbs in the woods I hate to think of having to make a method of drying the wood. Wisconsin doesn’t have those hot days to dry wood To answer your question though— uniform size wood will give you less problems and is rather important. TomC
The correction
Hi, Tom!
That’s to be taken as a confession:
If you had read the message from 11.20.2014, you would have absolutely no doubts what was the miswriting (clerical error), and what is correct!
Both are there under “Restriction: CORRECTION”!
If you have dumped it, “be happy” as the 5 1/4" is the correct one.
(Anyway, they are stored here on DOW)
Hoping you are not distracted by “side-items” before this one is tested…
Max
Max; I can’t juggle more than one ball at a time and I am committed to building your version… No distraction. I don’t get to the scrap yard very often so figured I would buy the tank and through it into my steel pile. So often some spare time will come along and I want to do a project that has been on my “to do” list but I can’t start it because I don’t have the materials
Getting about 6 inches of snow tonight so I will be playing in my shop tomorrow.TomC
Good cath!
Hi, Tom!
To get home the “perfect” find, just before everything gets covered by snow at the scrapyard is more than good luck! Hopefully your pile is under a roof… and off ground.
When the time for the charcoal gas comes, I might propose a nozzle-saving construction, but it takes out rather hot gas for a cyclone…
Max
Hi Tom,
Just a few random thoughts, a partially charred chunk of wood could almost rest on the close grate and take longer (relatively) to totally gasify and also reduce the volume of the hot (active) reduction zone. Your 60% is not unrealistic imo. Yes, the process reverts to oxidation and dilutes the gas. I’ve experienced that bridging and loss of engine power (shutdown) in my stationery unit before my vibrator addition. I wonder if the “burning” could have distorted something or cracked a weld in the firetube? My firetube is removable and I can bolt in (and gasket) hourglass hearths of diff. dimensions. My firetube covers lines A thru D on the imbert chart. I like that feature as an experimenter. I’ll be tearing mine down in a bit just to see how the gaskets are working in diff spots. I’ll post the results with pics. I’d like to add a thermocouple to the hearth area at the top of the hourglass. Good luck with your changes.
Pepe
Hi Tom,
I just skimmed the last month or so of your project discussion. I have been out of the woodgas loop for the past month, we were visiting my youngest son in Hawaii for three weeks, then returned to our winter abode near Asheville, NC.
Anyway, your description of trying to run on shattered barn wood reminded me of the frustrating times I had trying to run on shredded chunks of various sizes made with my at the time malfunctioning chunker. I suspect that some of the shattered barn wood was causing bridging like I believe I was experiencing with my shredded chunks. I, too, struggled with low power, high wood consumption and high grate temperatures. After Max and others in the group reminded me of the importance of using the appropriate sized chunks. runs became more like they should have been. Also, my gasifier became much more forgiving and consistent when I implemented more heat reclamation through insulating and heating the incoming air with previously wasted heat.
I hope to have my new WK trailer mounted system working with my Caddy this spring, I still have my LaRosifier system in reserve, maybe continuing to work with your LaR system now while gathering parts and material for a WK or other system as you come across them would be a good way to go.
Hope you are enjoying the holidays,
Rick
Three weeks in Hawaii would really be great right about now, but the good part is you didn’t have to come back to the real winter of the north country. I love Death Valley but then I would have to come home to the Wisconsin winter and get use to it all over again. So I just stay and fight it out. I got my furnace working in the shop this winter and I saved some of that dry barn wood with nails etc in it so I have gotten some time “working?”.
I kind of just past on to Calvin the importance of consistent size wood based on my latest experience and your comments. Maybe it is just an Imbert thing, but I think you can only expect things to work right with consistence. Right now I have about every possible way of making “chunks” and they all have draw backs. I have a radial arm saw, my chain saw with a hatchet for cow patties, an old belt driven fire wood saw, and two chunkers. There has got to be a simpler way somewhere. I think any one of them would work better if I wasn’t working with Oak. It is so hard, tough and stringy.
I am waiting to see your progress on the WK Caddy. What a shame that you are in a nice climate where you could be working on it but you have to put it on hold until you get home.
Probably won’t get out of the teens today with another 3 ices of snow. TomC
Hello Friends; Been a while since I posted on my project. Max and I lost contact some how so did not get to complete his modifications — very disappointed. I did see merit in what he had suggested. Anyway, so this spring I put it back together as it had previously been. Even some of the smallest changes that Max and SU had suggested, I passed on. I decided to go back to the last construction and verify if the big chunk of brand was the problem. It is running quite well, so I have decided to stop changing things after every ride and start working on that 75%. Believe me, there is 75% to learn. Ok I got some wood chunked up ahead. It is poplar and when chunked and dried, a 50# feed bag weighs 18#. I don’t think I am getting good mileage out of it. Got to bag some oak to see if the poplar is as bad as I think it is or is my gasifier just “burning” too much.
I put 4 Thermo couples in my unit and before I started driving 2 off dash mounted displays had failed. Then yesterday, my wife and I were driving around and she wanted to give a friend a ride. With 3 in the seat my wife’s knee hit my display mounting, and the other two displays failed. I am now without TC readings. Going to go now and temporarily hook up a couple of TC “meters”. One will read 2 TC’s and the other will read 1. In the mean time I have been hunting ( like Carl did ) for a replacement and the best I can find is about $35 a piece.
As some of you may remember I start my gasifier with a Kirby vacuum. I am looking for a under 1 KW generator to mount in the bed to use when I am away from home. ( I love my Kirby and hate to give it up ) So that is kind of where I am at.TomC
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Tom, glad you got it running again, and working good. I need to thank you for getting me thinking about my wet wood supply. W have had nothing but clouds and rain and cool weather. Had I not started drying wood when you started kicking my butt a little I would be in a bad way waiting on the sun to shine. Hope to see you and your truck someday.
@Tomc how much juice does that Kirby draw? Most I’ve seen are above 12A@120v or 1,440W minimum.
A 1500 watt inverter is about 80-120$ on Amazon, (150-200$ for a 2kw inverter) but would probably be cheaper than a small generator.
hey tom I also am going to try some poplar hopefully a little better than pine only problem so far the bark is so thick its taking a long time to dry.
Paul Nothing dries good until you chunk it up. I chunked mine and then laid it out on a plastic tarp in the sun for about a week. Covered it when it was going to rain. It had lost a LOT of it’s weight. Often when I am chunking the bark comes loose from the drying between sawing and chunking. TomC
Brian; I really didn’t give it much thought about how many amps it would pull. I think it will be ok, because I never run the motor wide open. TomC
o its been almost 2 weeks good drying weather for the most and the bark is still 40% or better the inside wood ready to go so I started removing the bark its a good 1/2 in thick and holding strong so if this stuff runs good I will remove the bark before chunked. I did a bunch of elm that stuff is great I have had the best milage with that so far almost 35 miles to the hopper compared to 15 on pine
White or red elm? white is stringy, and hard to split, red is pretty good to work with.
Bill I wouldn’t worry about the bark. If it is still on after chunking and drying, it will be a small portion of the volume of the chunk. If the chunk is dried enough the little bit of bark will only raise the average moisture of the block by a couple of points. It sounds like you haven’t chunked and dried the wood yet. Just do it. TomC
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My gasifier was sticking up above the cab too much, so I am cutting everything down. In doing so I have taken everything apart. I have a shield around my fire tube with "house hole spun glass " insulation between the fire tube and shield. It has gotten so hot that the glass next to the fire tube is brittle. ( Remember I don’t have a WK design gasifier ) I believe I heard some talk about using a “mineral wool” for very hot applications. Do you think it will hold up better than the spun glass and where do you get the wool??? TomC
Mineral wool is now available at the big box stores. Menards has the cheapest price I have found.