Wood burning truck!

[TexasTimbers]

I  finally got caught up on this thread again. Insipiring is all I can say.

But an FYI, when you post numbers like you did here 8 days ago and ask for someone to shed light on them, don't go wondering why there has been no response. We are all still scratching our heads. 

[Paul_H]

We are all still scratching our heads. 

Then I'm not alone

We had a visitor at our place a week or so back from Sweden.Werner came out from Sweden to the Okanagan to build a woodgas system to run a small electrical generation plant for a small farm.He was there working on it for 3 weeks or so and then they drove him down to my place so we could visit with Werner a few days before he flew out for home.

This is a drawing of the system and below it is the partially assembled system.Because it is a stationary system,it is prone to bridging problems and I undrstand that the owners of the new sytem have taken steps to resolve the bridging but won't know for awhile whether it was successfull.

 

 

Werner has a website in Swedish and English that has a lot of solid info if studied.He admits his written english is poor but he speaks well and is very focused on things relating to woodgas.

Werner's site

We went for a drive in the woodgas truck on the day before he left and a good 7 hours after we shut the truck off,Werner told me to see what happens when the woodgas generator's lid is lifted.There was no smoke of any kind and the generator was clear but then he took his lighter and poof,a blue flame popped up and then appeared to fire down quite loudly and then the lid of the cooler beside my feet let a pretty good flame out too.It caught me off guard but it was a good lesson that CO can hang around in the system for a long time and is invisible but deadly in an enclosed space.
The first pic was taken right after he lit the gas and then he began poking a iron rod down through the wood chunks to knock down any bridging.There is a little smoke visable by the lid hinge.


 

 

 

Werner took video on our drive to town.I couldn't tell when or whether he was filming and it made me uneasy

[TexasTimbers]

I don't know why, but when I was reading yesterday (picked up at page 12 I bleieve) I had this image of Werner as an aged old man with white frizzy hair almost like Albert Einstein. He's pretty young really.

I'm glad you got to spend some time with him. Did he offer any mods or potential improvements on your design?

I echo the comment he made toward the end . . . "Runz reely goot!"

[OneWithWood]

Too cool 

[Wilfor]

Hi Guys

What a Great Forum . Found it while looking into another way to run  my chevy in the yard . I have a propane system for it that i can put on but this looks way more fun . I started reading this and couldnt stop  and after reading all 17 pages i'm more than a little excited .   Paul your truck looks great  I'd  love to see it in person  once ive read  a whole bunch more and have a whole lot more understanding  of how it all works .  Thanx for all the great links along the way i'm sure it'll take some time to get through them all . 

Now that youve built your system Paul what style would you build next  and what books helped you the most  .

Cant wait to start building a scrap pile in my back yard , my wife is gonna love me


Chris

[Paul_H]

Welcome to the forum Chris.
How are things up at willy's puddle?I havn't been through there for a few years but I like the area.My dad once owned a bit of land at Soda Creek and we would hang out there once in awhile.

Now that youve built your system Paul what style would you build next  and what books helped you the most 

I'm still undecided which type will be my next.It'll probably be another Imbert but it'll have less air tubes and nozzles(7,maybe) and the unit itself will be a shorter by 12-18" I still plan on adding a cyclone to this unit.

You're welcome to stop by when you're down this way and you can look it over and we'll go for a ride.

[Wilfor]

Paul the Puddle is doing good  in the 20 s a little rain here and there just right . Now if i could only catch up at work and enjoy it a little .. . I cant stop reading about this stuff very interesting .. I read all 17 pages here and all the great links are a treat .  Im trying to get a bit of an understanding before i start throwing some steel around . Ive started a list of questions and am tring to see how many i can answer myself as i read along .  I must asy i like this forum all the post are positive and  i'm not used to seeing that .  I have some interesting compressed wood blocks at work that id like to try in one of these .    Well i cant stare at this screen anymore so now that ive got another 20 pages printed   its off to bed ...


Chris

[Paul_H]

I've known for awhile that the system needed a cyclone to separate the char and ash from the gas but was dreading building a cyclone and didn't know how to go about fitting it all together and really didn't want to start hacking away with a torch and cutting wheel  so I lived with things the way they were 
The MEN systen doesn't have a cyclone and I don't even think it was mentioned.I looked around online trying to locate a ready made cyclone to purchase  with no success.When Werner was in Canada,he told me how he builds them out of pipe with no need of a fancy roller.

This link here is to Bill Pentz's website showing the proper way to build a cyclone.

Bill Pentz cyclone plans

Because I didn't have a roller but have Attention Deficit disorder,I skimmed Bill's pages and combined his and Werner's together and hoped it would be okay.

First up was drawing a template but because I was cutting it out of a 6" pipe,I made a half template(below) and used it to cut two pieces. The pattern is 6" to 2½" in a 14" cone with the cyclone being 22" in total length(minus dustbin and outlet pipe)

 



Forming the cone involved a lot of cold hammering on a little anvil and on the soft ground.Lots of hammering,fitting and tacking,etc.
 





From Bill Pentz's design,I used his idea to bring the 3½" inlet pipe in at a slight downward angle.Once it was welded together,I was anxious to test it before proceeding so I used some black tape to seal a jar to the bottom as a dustbin and connected up the shopvac hose to the other end with more black tape.

I gathered some typical soot,ash and charcoal that finds it's way to my cooler and tested the cyclone by turning on the shopvac and sucking up the whole mess.The shopvac ran for about 10 seconds while I threw gobs of char into the inlet of the cyclone and I watched the soot,ash and charcoal fall into the jar the same way as sand in a hourglass!! There was no visible soot or charcoal in the shopvac when I opened it up again and I was really encouraged.



 



 



The next move was fitting the cyclone between the gasifier and cooler.This shows the pipe with companion flange waiting to fit and tack the cyclone.

 



 



And a view from the top looking down to the cone.

 

Well I was a bit horrified to see you cut holes in perfectly good cast iron frying pans but felt that if I said anything it just might tip you over the edge. 

I was thinking about poor ol' Norm when it came time to build the dustbin.I didn't know what else to use and ended up with a 1 gallon stainless steel Dutch Oven(cheap) with 3 toolbox style latches added to seal and suspend the dustbin.
I tried using a 2½" holesaw to cut the hole in the lid but that didn't work well at all so the hole was drilled with a bunch of small holes around the circle and trimmed with a set of snips.


 



The lid was fitted to the bottom of the cyclone using a 2" close nipple with nuts on either side, fashioned out of both ends of a 2" pipe coupler.

 



 



Everything set in place and ready to go.I'll let the high temp silicone set awhile before firing up the truck.

 



 

[Radar67]

Paul, did I see a couple of header/exhaust flanges welded in there?

[Paul_H]

They are some companion flanges that I cut out of 3/8   plate.I made a little cardboard template last year along with some others and kept them filed away for times like these.

[Norm]

I was thinking about poor ol' Norm

All I can tell you Paul is that if you come visit I'm checking your bags before you leave. 

On a serious note I'm sure impressed with your ingenuity. 

[Paul_H]

Thanks Norm,and it's true that I've been admiring the pot and frying pan in your avatar pic   

[Reddog]

I keep waiting to see the wood burner show up at the pig roast. 
You weren't up for a cross country trip? 

[Paul_H]

Wally,

first I'll need you to come out here for a visit and cache some 40 lb sacks of wood chunks every 100 miles or so

[Reddog]

 
I can get you covered all the way through MI and WI.
But there isn't much to burn though western MN, ND and eastern MT. 

[marc_b]

hi paul you make a very good job felicitation
I interested about wood gas from a while ...
I build a smaller kit for my mf 65 and I run the tractor about 4h but I have a  lot off work to make a tar filter the tar like glue my engine valve
you have this kind of trouble
merci
marc_b

[Paul_H]

Welcome to the forum marc,

I haven't had any real problems with tar yet although I have seen evidence of it.I read that there is no good way to filter out tar.Are your valves stuck? What type of gasifier did you build? Is it the FEMA style or is it a similar style to what I built with the nozzles?

[marc_b]

ok paul

my old continental g 176 in my old mf 65 (1958)
have a good rocker and push rod
I glue a 4 valve in 3 time but it is not very hard
to open a replace a push rod and unglue a
valve whit a wd40 and hammer...

my gasifier is a donw draft like a gengas like servtqh

i build a smal burner and biger cyclone, tubing cooler
like this but i make some filter and the tar and water
pass trough in shorter time.

I make a compact kit for easy and fast intal and removal.
if you want see my kit i take some picture.

excuse my bad english i am a french quebecois...

merci

marc

[Reddog]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum Marc.

Thanks for posting the video.

As for your english, It is much better than my French.

Woodgas burning is and intersting idea for me and I enjoy the diffrent designs.

Wally

[Paul_H]

Marc,

You have better fabrication skills than me by a long ways,nice job!The problem I see is that it appears to be a FEMA style "stratified downdraft" and they have a reputation as tar makers.They were designed for emergency situations as in short term use.

Wayne Keith,from Alabama uses a modified FEMA style gasifier but I don't know how to fix the tar problem in those units.Would you consider replacing the gasifier with a Imbert style?
Radar67(Stew) is designing one right now too so we may be able to help with measurements if you go that route.

Here is a link to Johan Linnell's website where he constructs this Imbert gasifier in a weekend.He is using the gasifier on a David Brown tractor and is farming using only woodgas

Link

Paul