Wood burning truck!

[Paul_H]

 Richard,

Wayne Keith,featured in that article lives in Springville Alabama and drives mostly with woodgas.He's a down to earth man but he's not afraid to speak at seminars around the country.The pic below was taken in Wisconsin last year when he drove from the Gulf of Mexico to Wisconsin and back on woodgas only and spoke at a conference (in WI).



The man I bought my old Ford from,was a New Zealander and he told me that after the War,NZ had real petrol shortages until the late 1950's and it was common to see woodgas and charcoal generators on the automobiles there(he is in his early 80's now)
Have you ever seen gasifiers from that era in your country?

Today I was out driving with a friend of mine and we had the truck up to around 85 mph(the gauge goes to 80 mph) which converts to 73 mph using Timburr's formula to convert the gear ratio change.

[ohsoloco]

So what about all of us not gifted with major mechanical abilities    The only way I'd ever have a wood burning truck would be to buy one 

[Paul_H]

There is this,by Jim Mason in San Francisco and there are are a couple others out there that are working on user freindly systems.Chips and augers,infared and computers will help the process along eventually.

Here is the link to Jim Mason's creation GEK

[dundee]

Paul, No I have not seen any gasifiers where I am, but the interest is definatley here, if I see or here I will post on the Forum

Richard

[pineywoods]

Paul I went back and re-read this entire thread plus all the links you posted. Quite an education.  thanks. Based on what I learned, I'd probably go the same way you did, even though it is much more difficult to fabricate.  For starters, I'd like to build a smaller one tailored to run a welder/genset with a 25 hp onan. The ford truck is still a possibility. But first, I gotta finish up all the mods I have in the works for the woodmizer
Thanks again for a very informative thread.

[Paul_H]

You're welcome pineywoods,

It's been enjoyable researching,building and learning as we go along and I've tried to post as many links and photos as I can to make it easier for someone else to build one and also as notes that I can refer to for my next one.
My memory is flawed I found out here just the other day.I had posted the gear ratio in my truck as 3.56 and somehow in my mind it became 3.59,so I'm glad for this thread and go back through it once in awhile as an easy way to check data.

For an engine like the 25 hp Onan,a better way to go might be a charcoal gasifier.They seem to be a good way to go for smaller engines.The only problem might be getting access to good charcoal.If you want to go that way,I could probably find more info from a guy on my gasification list that has built and ran some if you're interested.


Here is a pic of a charcoal(or coal?) gasifier on a Motorcycle.I have more info on it somewhere,I'll look when I get home tonight.

[Paul_H]

Today was the first time out with the truck on "official business"  .
My daughter had a birthday party to attend and we opted for the woodgas mode of transportation.She was enthusiastic about it all.

When we arrived at the party and I dropped her off,I gave a ride to another child's mother who has been following my project since the beginning.She is a high school teacher and asked me to speak to her grade 10 class sometime in April and let them look the system over.

The pics below are getting ready to head out.

 

[Fla._Deadheader]

 2nd photo is PRICELESS. 

  Good on ya, Paul. Love it when the kids think yer smart, after all, EH 
 

[Paul_H]

Harold,


Yeah,she's a sweetie.As we drove she was craning her neck to look in the back

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Perzacktically, how does the truck handle idling ??  Is there excessive build up and choking down of the engine, at first take off, from a signal light ??

  I know it's a smoky gas, but, doesn't it create tars when the heat is down, at idling ??

[Paul_H]

Harold,

I doesn't like to idle too long and I notice if it's too long,maybe 10 minutes,it'll be sluggish when taking off from park to highway speed.I have to get used to reving the engine a little before taking off to let the gas "catch up" if you will.

The gasifier I built was designed to run at around 23- 2500 rpm so I would suppose idling below that could cause some tar.I set the idle with this Black lever and try to keep it up around 1500.

[Paul_H]

Sunday is getting to be the day to drive the woodgas truck and visit.

Last Sunday when I picked up my daughter from the birthday party,the grandfather of the birthday boy came out with a camera and asked if I was driving the biofuelled truck and did I mind if he took some pictures.I told him to go right ahead.
I collected my daughter and we walked back out to the truck and talked to Blaine,who was taking pictures.He was asking some really indepth questions and I realised he had a background in biofuels and was familiar with the process.

We looked the system over and then I took him for a ride in the truck up the valley a few miles and then returned back to his family's home.He was surprised how it travelled along at a good clip.
When I dropped him off,he gave me his card and I saw that he was from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and deals with renewable energy and industrial utilization.
SDTC link

Today,Carla and I took the truck and went out for a visit 25 miles North of here to Bruce and Celine's farm.We met them a couple of years ago when Bruce called to ask if I was interested in milling some Birch logs from their farm and making them a T&G floor for their log cabin.Carla and I liked them right away,they are hardworking people and are fixing up the homestead that originally belonged to Bruce's Grandfather.
They began to drop of 5 or 6 logs at a time whenever they came to town and a pile of logs began to grow out at the mill.I milled them up with the mobile dimension saw into cant's and then ran them through the resaw.Bruce gave me a hand to resaw and load the kiln.The whole process took a year and a half before I got around to straightline ripping and planing because I was working full time logging and was trying to build a gasifier in my spare time   

Celine has been the one who has layed the floor down at the house and has taken her time to sort through the boards and make a pattern with the white and chocolate coloured wood.They have a total of 1300 sq ft of flooring to lay down


 



Bruce built this Birch grate in the corner to let the warm air come up into the kitchen from the woodstove below.

 

After wandering around the property we had some fresh muffins and hot coffee and a good visit.

 

When it was time to go,Celine brought me a big box of Birch cutoffs from the floor to throw in the gasifier to help us get home

Bruce by the truck and Carla and Celine in the background.

 

The gasifier,still warm, fired up easily and we headed for home.The cool thing is,the wood we drove up there on was cut from the slabwood and cutoffs produced from milling and trimming their flooring before they got it.

A total of 50+ miles on the old truck today

[jpgreen]

I'm in awe of you Paul..   

[Paul_H]

Don't be Pat,nobody around here is

[SwampDonkey]

Pretty Dang cool stuff. That birch sure is versatile. 

I like working with birch, I think it is very stable wood when put into flooring or other projects.  My experience is with yellow birch, but the grain looks the same as other native birch.

[Norm]

Don't be Pat,nobody around here is

I don't believe that for one second.

[thecfarm]

Very interesting thread.Keep the stories coming and the pictures.I don't have enough smarts to do it,but glad you do.A very good job you have done.              Need a slap on the back smiley.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 I second Norm's comment. 

[jmsiowa]

Has anyone thought of using wood gas to power a medium sized generator.  From what I've read, each system likes to run at a  constant speed such as a gen would want to do.

Just trying to think outside the box

[Paul_H]

Don't be Pat,nobody around here is

I was just kidding around and thinking about all the things that I haven't done around the house and yard while this thing was being built and the late night and early morning grinding and hammering my good neighbours have endured

jmsiowa,

good question and welcome to the forum.A stationary gasifier running a generator is like the holy grail of woodgas.There are problems with the stationary units because of fuel bridging,where a vehicle doesn't have those issues because of the bumps,jars and turns that come with driving down the highways.
There have been attempts at grate shakers but success seems to be hit and miss.

I know that Greg manning in Manitoba has had some encouraging results with his system,It runs on woodchips and it is a combined heat and power (CHP) unit.The gasifier runs the internal combustion engine which drives a generator to produce electricity and the coolant from the engine is circulated through a heat exchanger to heat his home and shop.
I posted a link a few pages back but I'll fetch it again.


Greg's site