Author Topic: Wood burning truck! (Read 88892 times)

timerover51 · « **Reply #440 on:** April 13, 2011, 05:36:29 pm »

Quote from: Jeff on April 13, 2011, 05:28:37 pm

I would suggest reading this entire thread. Paul takes you from the beginning of his project to video's driving around within it's content.

Okay, Jeff, will do later tonight.

timerover51 · « **Reply #441 on:** April 15, 2011, 07:19:18 pm »

I have gone through the entire thread, and found it most interesting. One thing I would say it that someone, with Paul's permission, should compile all of his comments, pictures, and drawings, and put them into a handbook format for others to use in building wood gas units. I suspect that if might sell pretty well.

Second, that a pickup truck appears to be the ideal vehicle to mount the unit on, having plenty of space for it, while retaining a fair amount of capacity, and keeping it out of harms way in minor fender bender type accidents.

Third, am I correct in saying that it will work only with a vehicle with a carburetor and not with a vehicle with fuel injectors? If that is the case, it looks like you would need either an older vehicle, or some way of converting the engine from fuel injection to a carburetor. If I am wrong, please correct me.

Lastly, is there any difference in performance when burning a soft wood such as pine or a hard wood such as oak?

pineywoods · « **Reply #442 on:** April 15, 2011, 08:46:05 pm »

timeover51, try this link. http://victorygasworks.ning.com/ It's another forum devoted entirely to woodgas generators. On the question of carburator vs fuel injected, remember woodgas is not a liquid, it's usually just mixed with the proper amount of air and squirted right into the air intake. Probably would take some backyard engineering to run an injected motor. Most of my research (no experience) says softwoods generate a lot more tar and creosote. I am in the process of building a small gasifier just to get some experience. IF it works ok, may hook it up to an old gas massey ferguson tractor or a 1930 model A ford pickup.

beenthere · « **Reply #443 on:** April 20, 2011, 12:45:15 am »

Here is a video of a Finnish built wood burnng El Camino.

Ron57 · « **Reply #444 on:** April 22, 2011, 07:57:02 pm »

Hi Forestry Forum, I have built 3 hearths and grates using the frying pans they work good but only last about 1500 miles.Last year I discussed with Paul briefly how to build a better one and he suggested making one with a deeper reduction, so I put this together to drop through the top frying pan.I made it 6" wide inside and 5" deep, hopefully this will help get a more complete reduction and 0-6o in 6 seconds

Thanks Ron L

Ron57 · « **Reply #445 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:57:16 pm »

Ron57 · « **Reply #446 on:** April 22, 2011, 09:27:34 pm »

sorry I accide >:(tly deleated my photo album I cant believe it

timerover51 · « **Reply #447 on:** April 22, 2011, 09:43:55 pm »

Ron, that is not a good thing, although I have done a few things like it.

Ron57 · « **Reply #448 on:** April 22, 2011, 10:29:03 pm »

The first photo is of the origional MEN hearth with about 1500 mi,
The second is the grate end of the hearth
Third is the restriction end of thehearth

Ron57 · « **Reply #449 on:** April 22, 2011, 11:22:02 pm »

Top photo is the Gasifier, dry filter and coolers
Bottom is a load of boxes headed to South Bend IN about a 75 mi round trip. The truck ran good!!!

timerover51 · « **Reply #450 on:** April 23, 2011, 01:18:17 am »

Ron, how much would it cost for you to build another unit like that? Not including the truck.

Ron57 · « **Reply #451 on:** April 23, 2011, 06:46:12 am »

Hi Timerover,
The cost of building a unit depends on how good of a forager you are. Part of the challenge is to build it for nothing but, that probably won't happen. I have between $500 - $700 in it. My biggest source of parts and material was from a local plumbing and heating business that let me scavage through the scrap they had from repair jobs they had done. So if you are a good welder and a good source it won't cost that much. Local scrap yards are paranoid about liability. They wouldn't let me have any scrap for my project. Hope this helps. Let me know if you start one. It will be interesting. Paul Halverson was a tremendous help when I built mine.
Thanks, Ron Lemler

jpgreen · « **Reply #452 on:** April 23, 2011, 10:55:00 am »

Is the problem with the pans cracking? Cast iron is really pretty weak. Specially a pan as it would continually warp from heating and cooling, and it looses it's original strength to handle warpage with the center cut out.

If you could weld one up with heavy plate in an octagon shape and compound angles, it would never do that. Be a lot of work, but would probably last years.

ibbob · « **Reply #453 on:** April 23, 2011, 02:53:16 pm »

Hey Ron,

I've seen that rig on the road.

Say sumpin if you go back to the Apple fest or anything like that. Sure would like to see it up close.

Ron57 · « **Reply #454 on:** April 23, 2011, 04:38:24 pm »

Hi Bob; I am planning on entering it in the Apple Fest again this year. My kids have a lot of fun there handing out candy and walking in the parade.
They have a hard time figuring out what catagory to enter the truck in one year it was in in with all the fire trucks,last year it was misc automotive. It was alot of fun
We are from Bourbon not far from you, With gas almost $4 gal I have been driving it alot and making small deliveries of pallets and misc parts to local businesses.

timerover51 · « **Reply #455 on:** April 24, 2011, 04:52:55 am »

Quote from: Ron57 on April 23, 2011, 06:46:12 am

Hi Timerover,
The cost of building a unit depends on how good of a forager you are. Part of the challenge is to build it for nothing but, that probably won't happen. I have between $500 - $700 in it. My biggest source of parts and material was from a local plumbing and heating business that let me scavage through the scrap they had from repair jobs they had done. So if you are a good welder and a good source it won't cost that much. Local scrap yards are paranoid about liability. They wouldn't let me have any scrap for my project. Hope this helps. Let me know if you start one. It will be interesting. Paul Halverson was a tremendous help when I built mine.
Thanks, Ron Lemler

Ron, I am not a welder, or mechanic, I am a lot of things but not those. I was wondering how much it would cost me to have you build one for me? It would be nice to have something like that next year in the Solomons, or even for here is gas keeps going up.

JSNH · « **Reply #456 on:** April 29, 2011, 12:44:44 pm »

This is a really fun thread to follow. Wood gas is really for the extreme DIY person. I ran into a site that is pushing wood gas along and selling parts and units and has an active discussion board. I though some of us who has been watching this thread woud like to also check out it out: http://www.gekgasifier.com/

JSNH

twobears · « **Reply #457 on:** May 10, 2011, 02:06:17 pm »

i,am looking into building my own woodchip Gassification unit to boil maple syrup. i,ve done some research and some people seem to use this same idea to do it..has anybody here done it or tryed it??
one patent i looked at uses a unit like the men unit but skips the filters and pipes the gas into a firebrick lined steel box and lights/burns it there and there flairs it off into the furance.

delbert

Ron57 · « **Reply #458 on:** July 20, 2011, 11:43:55 am »

Hi Forestry forum members; Mr Wayne Keith stopped in on his way to Michigan. Driving his wood burning truck , it is over 600 miles from his house to here he was burning wood all the way. He gave me a ride in his Dodge Dakota with the 318CID we were going the speed limit + that thing will move. I gave him a couple bags of Indiana hardwood chunks for on his way home.
Indiana hardwoods are like Indiana Maple Syrup it is just better.
I posted a picture of Wayne and his truck in my photos.

Paul_H · « **Reply #459 on:** March 19, 2012, 01:10:38 am »

A few years ago in this thread I posted some pics of a trip to customer/friends that we had milled,dried and planed a T&G floor for,out of Birch logs from their property.

Link to woodgas trip

I had bought the planer from an oldtimer and logger(Bob) in 2002 and he told me I had to move it off his property within the year.I never did move it and he told me he liked the activity so I was welcome to keep it there.
Just before we moved he asked if I could run a 1x8 floor for him so I obliged.
I left the planer with him in appreciation for keeping it on his land.

The video shows Bob and me running his floor.

News:

Author Topic: Wood burning truck! (Read 88892 times)