Wood burning truck!

[Radar67]

Paul, what does the maintenance of your gas gen consist of? How often do you have to clean it out?

I've been reading up on this some and wondering if you have any advice on keeping a good air seal? from the "throat" to the carb? is that correct?

Also, what is your method for getting your wood down to small enough sizes to keep it from bridging?

I keep eyeballing my old S10 with the 305 in it................................

[Paul_H]

I've been reading up on this some and wondering if you have any advice on keeping a good air seal? from the "throat" to the carb? is that correct?

When you say throat,do you mean from the "hearth" inside the gasifier? In my gasifier,the hearth is made up of the frying pans.
If that is what you mean,the only way is to really check your welds and make sure they don't leak.I filled the parts with water to check for weeping and then rewelded.The tough welding was the tanks that had the glass lining bonded to it.The grinder wouldn't touch it and it wouldn't come off with heat but if I could strike an arc,it would weld but there was some tough chipping because the glass made a strong slag.
The piping and hoses are pretty straight forward using clamps and in some cases,silicone.

On the cleaning out,I've giving the woodgasifier two good dungings in around 300 miles.I wouldn't have to do it that often if I had a cyclone which would seperate the larger pieces of charcoal and dust out of the gas stream.I plan on building one soon but am looking for some info or a set of plans.(I have a webpage bookmarked)

The straw wasn't overly dirty when I cleaned the filter so I would think it would go  quite awhile before the straw needs replacing.

According to the plans I got for the gasifier,the chunks should be no bigger than 2x3x4,I try to keep mine 2x2x2 or 1x2x2. I know of two guys that use wood chips.

I think a S10 with a 305 would be a great match of power and weight and would be even better if the engine was high compression.My 302 is worn pretty good and I'd love to fix up the engine but the truck is a rust bucket.

[Radar67]

Yes, the hearth is what I was thinking.

The 305 in my S10 was bored 30 over when I put it in. It still has pretty good compression considering it has close to 250,000 miles on it. It still has good power, just sucks the gas down. (4 miles to gallon) It has been parked for a while.

I may try to gather some parts and think of it as a winter project this fall.

[pineywoods]

Radar67, start collecting discarded water heaters. I already have 3 in my parts pile . All I need to push me past the thinkin stage is somebody close enough to visit with that's building a gasifier.  Got a 76 ford pickup with 300 six in the barn.

[Radar67]

I've got one if it isn't too far gone. Found it in my step dad's brush pile.

[jpgreen]

Paul, when you talk about the crowded volkzwagon power  , and mountains is it due more to your worn engine, or the gasifier fuel system capability?

I've got my eyes on my 1971 international scout with a newly rebuilt engine.  314 V8 power and a low geared 4x4 light weight rig.

[Paul_H]

Jeez Pat,you want your cake and eat it too,eh? 

There is definately a power loss with the woodgas but it's tolerable.I think a high compression engine would make a big difference.

pineywoods and Radar67,

Do you live fairly close together? I'd love to see a couple more woodgassers building some gasifiers

[Radar67]

Paul, we live close enough to help each other....about 220 miles.

One of my concerns is my welding skills...I can melt two pieces of metal together, but it sure ain't perrty.

How tough is the carb conversion Paul? My truck currently has a 2 barrel on it, I figure I'll have to change the intake and carb to a 4? Your pictures made it look easy, anything hiding we might need to know about?

[jpgreen]

Jeez Pat,you want your cake and eat it too,eh? 

Yes. I'm not getting any younger Paul, and you are definitely catching up to me in age.. 

[Paul_H]

Yes,but don't forget they are metric years where yours are standard. 

Radar67,

there are some pro welders on the FF that can give you some tips and then the rest is patience and practice.If you look at some of my welds in the pics,you'll see they aint pretty either.TexasTimbers was kind enough to point that out after watching my first You Tube video 

The carb was really pretty easy,the hardest part was to secure the carb in the vise and carefully drill the 1½" hole in the back of it.If you have enough room for a 1½" hole in the secondary half of your 2 BBL carb,you might be able to use it.
I fretted over most all of the building stages of the gasifier but once I was in the middle of it,things generally went well.

The MEN style that I built doesn't need all those tubes.There are other styles that are way easier to make that work just fine but I didn't really discover that until after I was finished and driving awhile.
I'll post this and then go find the link where Johan built a Imbert gasifier designed by Werner from Sweden.

[Paul_H]

Here is the Web page where Johan build the gasifier over a weekend.I think the outer tank he uses is a propane tank(?) He has some great photos to give you an idea of what is involved.
Johan is one of the three young men that travelled 5200 kms around Sweden last Summer in a woodgas converted Volvo,and then he was asked by National Geographic to go to London and build a gasifier and woodgas system to run a small pickup.
The photos are thumbnails,click on them and they go full size. 

Werner Gasifier

This second link is the main page and it has a lot of great nuggets of knowledge.One of the things you'll find is the conversion of his Diesel tractor to woodgas,after he converted the diesel to a spark ignition.

More wood in the tank

[pineywoods]

Radar keep in mind that the unit Paul has built would be considered the cadillac of gasifiers. I'm more interested in a model T version Simpler to build but doesn't work quite as well.
 Got a couple more dumb questions. I see 2 items that might cause some problems long-term from the heat. Filler door on the top needs to be reasonably airtight. What did you use for a gasket? The startup fan-finding one that will tolerate the heat might be tough. Would it be feasible to pressurize the air intake instead?
On the carb--I would be inclined to try to use the single barrel on my old ford. The throttle body is a separate piece bolted on the bottom of the carb. An adapter between the two to take the wood gas looks feasible. Lots of these old trucks were converted to propane, that's the way it was usually done.
I found another interesting reference. On www.ahoogah.com (dedicated to model A fords) there's a thread posted by 2 guys from aus. Very vague on details of the gassifier, mounted in the bed of a model A truck, but the carb setup was about as simple as it gets. A 2 inch pipe T with the center connected to the gasifier. One side had a short stub pipe with a butterfly valve in it, serves as choke/mixture control. The other side connected directly to the air intake on a stock ford carb. the model A lends itself well to such a setup, there is a gasoline cut-off valve in the cab, and the main carb jet is also adjustable from the cab.
They claim to have driven all the way across aussie land on scrap wood picked up enroute.

I just happen to have a model A truck

[GF]

Paul,
     What would you different on the gassifier you built if you had to do another?  I got so many irons in the fire, I need to allocate some time toget me one built.

Gary

[Paul_H]

pineywoods,

I've got to head out to the mill in a few minutes so I'll be brief for now but will try to give more details later.

The gasket on the lids of the gasifier and also on the top of the filter housing is the same rope gasket used on woodstove doors.I bought mine at the local hardware.On the filter lid,I smeared high temp silicone into the rope to give a good flexible seal.

On the pressure vs suction,I thinks so but have no experience with it.The fan I used seems to hold up well so far and never has gotten so hot that I can't hold my hand on it.It's only used long enough that the gas will light and then it is shut off.I'll add a link to this post later,showing the fan specs.

On the carb configuration,I think that anything that allowed air/fuel mixing and metering would work fine.I've seen some drawings where they were made out of pipe nipples and homemade butterflys.The type I used is really easy to switch between woodgas and gasoline but it's by no means the only one out there.

As far as mine being the Cadillac,it really isn't and doesn't make any better gas than the one that Johan built although the monorator is good to have and the air preheat is good also but if you look at Johan's flare,it's good gas.It's been cooled and filtered before lighting but it's clean.

GF,

I would have used a larger outside dia tank(22") and only used 7 larger air tubes instead of the 16 smaller ones and I would have taken the time to build a flange so I could split the gasifier for easier access to the hearth and tuyeres.I can still do that but I wish it was already done.
I'm also looking at changing the hearth and adding a small fire tube instead of just the two pans.

[JimMartin9999]

Google :external combustion engines, steam engines, Sterling engines, cyclone engines.
See where that leads you.  You will be amazed.

[firemanpaul]

Hey Paul, folks,
New to this site, joined as part of my research into building a woodgas vehicle.  A couple questions.  Are you able to maintain 65 mph?  I live in California and to drive slower would be suicide.  Have you ever considered turbocharging?  Since this system requires suction through the gasifier, i would imagine that you would have to pass the woodgas through the compressor side of the turbocharger which raises lots o red flags to me.

[Don P]

One of the reasons for power loss is that with woodgas you are taking a double dose of atmospheric nitrogen, one in "making" the fuel and another with the combustion air, where with gasoline you are only taking nitrogen in with the combustion air. I've read in an older Lindsay publication that supercharging was done in some of the WWII vehicles.

[Paul_H]

Welcome to the forum firemanpaul,

My woodgas experience is pretty much limited to my old truck so I might not be much help.My old truck wouldn't be able to maintain 65 mph in hilly country or fighting a strong wind.It does fine around here but our speed limit is 50 and the roads are two lane.
To perform well on woodgas a high compression engine is needed and mine is worn out,I bought the whole DanG truck for $800(tires and battery included) 
I was talking to somebody the other day that was considering building a woodgas system and I said if I did it again with the same size truck,I would want a 351 or a 400 for the extra power.
My generator is heavy too with all the tubes.I think I would go a different route than the cooler/heat exchange I have but I never sat down and figured out the weight differences between the one I have and a simple system of aircooled tubes.

Have you visited the yahoo woodgas site or any others? I've seen turbos dicusses but don't know anybody offhand that is using them.

[firemanpaul]

I have not seen the yahoo woodgas site but will look at it pronto, can't be hard to find.  I would appreciate any other links you may have, be it by email, PM on this site or post here. 

I have been thinking about this more.  Another option would be supercharging.  Some superchargers are designed to have the flammable mixtures running through them.  Still considering running the woodgas through the compressor of the turbocharger. 

My normal trip is 50 miles with one hill in the middle, the rest of the trip is basically sea level (I live near Santa Barbara CA).  I have no good route options but by 65 mph speed limit highway.  May build to just get around local and then experiment to get speed up.

If an engine was turbocharged, would you think the gas producer would have to be oversized compared to un un-turbocharged engine?  I'm currently looking at a 350 size motor.

My email is perland@verizon.net

[Paul_H]

A fellow I know named John came by today with a exhaust analyzer and we ran some tests on the woodgas truck.There was no setting for woodgas although we are going to try and get the specs for the analyzer,so we tried these 4 different settings.
I'm thinking town gas is the closest to woodgas but I don't know for sure.

Can anybody here shed some more light on the results?




COKE ]@2500 rpm                        TOWN GAS@2500 rpm

3%   -  O2                                               2.9%   -  O2                     
20% CO²                                     11.1%  -  CO²
5500 ppm CO                                         28-3200 ppm  - CO
86% efficiency                                         72% efficiency


PROPANE@2500 rpm                   COAL@2500 rpm

3%  - O2                                                3.3%  -  O2
11.9% -CO²                         15.4% -CO²
1375-1500 ppm CO                               1600 ppm CO
84% effiency                                           89% effiency