Thanks Wayne and Steve, lots of good info there for all of us to chew on… Tom, Council Grove is about 2 hrs. west of Olathe. I will be going though KC late afternoon on this coming Wed. Give me a call if you would like to meet. 5157786466. latter,herb
Is there anyone else out there working with pulling gas out of both sides of gasifier creating a dual system all the way to power plant? Just curious. herb
You are the only one I can think of that is doing it that way Herb but it seems to work really good. I just took a closer look at your picture above and see what looks like open drain tubes from the filters and coolers that are tied to the back rail. Are there some kind of valves on those tubes and if not -what keeps you from loosing vacuum in your system?
Don
Herb, As I check out your coolers / heat exchangers it reminded me of this guy
http://freeweb.deltha.hu/zastava.in.hu/wood-gas.htm
I’m glad to see the site is still there …
Mike
Herb, I don’t recall having dual outlets but I have run a pair of gasifiers into a single cyclone and cooling system. I have a valve that I pull to suck off the second gasifier kinda like a 2 barrel carb. It’s tough to stoke up two gasifiers at the same time but it works well. Mike
Hi Don, there are three 1" drain hoses, one coming from same place Wayne’s construction video shows for hopper, one coming from bottom of each hay filter. I planned on and still do plan on making a holding tank for them but haven’t gotten around to it. The one from hopper is about 4’ long, from filters about 18" long so that is the volume they hold. I just wood plug them for now, I pull out the 3 tapered plugs and let them drain while I reload. Not the best but it works for now plus I am repaving my loading zone all at the same time!!! I hope I didn’t just incriminate myself!!! herb
Edit: I need to make a correction, there are 5 drain hoses on the above pic. Since then I have taken the ones that were on the first cleanout/popoff ports off. They weren’t collecting enough water to have them. Now there are 3, one from hopper, one from each hay filter.
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/winter-startup.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/winter-shutdown.jpg
are a couple of pics of my 2 barrel setup. Get ready for that white crap … ML
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/?M=D
“Holy Cow”, you have a nice collection of pics Mike.
That Hugo is something else. That reminds me of my first woodgas car. It’s not worth it but can be seen on utube Wood Powered Ford Festiva
Two gasifiers feeding one vehicle, that is very cool. I can see how it would be hard to keep up with two! Hard enough keeping up with one!! That’s how we learn though. Thanks for sharing. latter, herb
Herb, When I was at Wayne’s last time, we ran just the rear gasifier. It did just fine but would not break any speed records. If I ran the pair which are actually identical inside I would have similar power as what Wayne is used to. The front hopper was larger and good for around 60 miles and the rear hopper was good for 40 miles flat … They both had 3 inch restrictions and 8.5 inch circles … That would be 12, 3/8" nozzles and a 4.2 inch restriction if I got the math right. It is 3.5 inches to the restriction and then 3.5 inches to the grate. There are many ways to skin the woodgas cat … Monday coming up and I hate Mondays … Mike
Very interesting, one reason I did the “twin” set up is because I know “more flow equals more power”. Plus I knew the Caddy was going to look odd any way I positioned the hardware but thought it needed to be centered with coolers and hay filters on both sides. I don’t know if the “flow equals power” thing holds true w/gasification but I do like the thought of the gas going half speed up though hay filters. The slower movement must be good for cooling two because the coolers seem to really do the job. The temp gages at the top of coolers have never moved off bottom peg and the difference between the first temp gage and the second is alot, most of the time pulling hard on the hiway the first gage will be at around 700 degrees and the second about a third of that. It does get a lot of air back there but it’s hard to believe that it could disapate that much heat in just that first loop!!. Thanks for input. latter, herb
Added latter: I keep thinking of things I’ld like to ask: I’m curious how mine compares as far as sq. ins. of cooling and filters capasities. My coolers are 2"X18"X8ft. long X two of them. My filters are 9"X18"X4ft. tall. X two of them. Would someone tell me how that compares with the more proven WK unit, size wise? Thank You. herb
Herb,
60 feet of 2 inch pipe rails have about 4,500 square inches of cooling surface.
Your double ribbon chambers have about 7,056 square inches of cooling surface.
I’m not sure how the filters compare because I don’t know how yours is set up compared with the upside down pail space in the WK design.
Don
Thanks for that Don, mine are about 98% full of hay, at the very top I have a half in. deep 5x9" pan with nylon screen top down about half in, that is where the gas exits, sits on top of Sea Choice (I like those things) fan blowing down via 2"pvc about half way down inside filter and out of filter w/90 toward engine. I think I can get a pic of that from the top. Could you figue cu. in. of round style. I think mine figue out to 14,452 cu.in.of hay filter, I’m pretty sure I way overkilled them. Thanks for the help, just trying to figue out how mine stacks up flow and volume wise. latter, herb
A 14 inch by 48 inch barrel is 7385 cubic inches so it looks like you have about double the cooling and filtering capacity. Do you bypass the filters at start up?
Thanks for doing that comparison for me Don.
I probably should be bypassing filters but I don’t. I open 2" pvc valve on each side right out of filters and let smoke come out there until I have a nice ball of hot char, takes couple min. Then shut off blowers, let it back flow with valves still open, smoke starts coming out hopper while I load, when full, and plenty of smoke coming out, I close the lid, close valves, start engine on gas pulling air thru gasifier, when the engine starts running rich I switch off fuel pump, I leave injector switches on to let it pull gas until it runs rich again then switch injectors off. If I do all that right it will run 100% on wood within a mile from blast off.
So it sounds like I have plenty of cooling and filtering, I was shooting in the dark on sizing but wanting to have plenty not knowing how the ribbin style would work, could have been a lot smaller, another lesson leaned, there’s been a lot of them!!! It’s still all fun. latter, herb
Good Morning Herb.
Yes Herb it is fun!!
Each operator will learn their own procedure or rhythm for starting the gasifiers . I have learned at what fence post going out the driveway that I can switch off the dino.
I have been so busy lately I haven’t posted much but running the wheels off these trucks . I had visitors from TN yesterday and let them ride with me while running errands . They can say they have ridden in a 7,000 pound truck 80 mph and no gasoline ! ( on the big road )
Keep up the good job Mr. Herb.
BBB
Wayne
Yeah I used to start it different ways until you put up that video on starting procedure, I’ve been doing it that way ever since! You get a hot ball of char going, put fuelwood on top of it, pull air though it your going to make smoke quick, works really good.!!! I call it “Power Starting”
That’s pretty good, 7,000 lbs going down the road 80 mph “ON WOOD”. That’s a day that will live in there mind for a long long time!
I like seeing that look of astonishment on there faces!!! Thanks for posting. latter, herb
I agree on the start. I did one nozzle for years but if you clear the center and light there, all nozzles are rolling pretty quick. I have a short reduction zone so have to be careful to get the new wood in quick and get the lid on … Mike
“Dang” I’ve been trying to start the Caddy since yesterday afternoon. After checking everything else I loosed the fuel line this morning and no pressure at all!!! The fuel pump is DEAD!!!
I was going to drive it to Kansas today. I had wood dry and ready to “lite and load”, I was looking forward to a nice "road trip"on wood, O well, I’ll have to drive the other car, the gas burner!! I hate that! I won’t be back till middle of next week. latter, herb
Cruel irony… since you’re one of the few people that could do without the fuel pump. All the same, I wouldn’t advise a trip with no gasoline backup.
Herb, Are you sure you had the fuel pump turned on and also that the fuse hadn’t blown ?? I always have a fuse or fusable link in line in case I short to ground somewhere. I use fine teflon coated wires for fuses. The other thing is both you and I have been way below freezing for a few days straight and maybe you have some water in the tank that stuck the pump up. Put a magnetic heater on the tank when you get back to thaw that out. I use a 300 watter here. With ethanol in our fuel it absorbs water … We were around 15 degrees F today and my sandwich froze solid while I was eating it at 1 PM when it was in the 20’s with 30 mph winds. I am wore out … Those southern boys don’t have a clue :o) … The snow did not melt today … Safe trip, Mike