Firing up the woodgas truck
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Loading woodchunks into the gasifier and lighting it off in preparation for a trip to town.
The fuel for this trip was a 40lb sack of prunings from Apple,Pear,Plum and Cherry trees gathered this Spring from our property.Wood cut from sawmill waste is a typical fuel for the truck.
Woodgas cars were quite common in the 1930s and again after WW2 over here.
Nice to see this again in modern times!
Australia ?
That’s a gorgeous wood gas truck! What a beauty!
One forty pound sack of wood is roughly 40 kilometers or 25 miles driving in my truck.
That's probably pretty impressive all things considering
@GOLD, BULLETS & BEANS world War 1 they sent this out in paper across the country. Due to shortage of fuel. You know like now.
Any problems with getting pulled over by the cops?
@@jasonbrown7258 that would be funny.
For anyone that's curious, approx. 17.6 lbs of wood has the same energy as a gallon of gas.
Good for the end times
And an average 80-foot hardwood tree with a 24-inch diameter can weigh as much as 20,000 pounds.... Which is equivalent to 1136 gallons.. 😄
It depends on the density of the wood
@@DreddKnot. density isn't relevant. It's not volume I am talking about, it's mass/weight. 17.6 lbs is 17.6 lbs regardless of how much space it takes.
@@aomimezura11 but how does a pound of steel weigh more than a pound of feathers?
Just think, if you can run a truck on it. Then setting one up to supply fuel to run an AC generator could bring on hole new light to power outage. Thank you Sir for adding this video.
Can't wait for this to become popular again.
"Yeah I get about 25 miles to the 40 pound sack of wood chips."
How much I would give to hear someone say that in casual conversation.
I'm gonna do it to a car so it would be like "I get 40 miles per 20 lbs" 17ish lbs of wood is about a gallon of gas like potential energy wise
This is unreal I can't believe it....amazing WOW
I love your Apocalypse Truck!
Awesome video and you couldn’t have done it with a better truck. Great work!
If you google woodgas emissions you will find much information on the subject but the short answer is the emissions are quite clean,mostly CO2 and h20.The exhaust from the tailpipe doesn't have a petrol exhaust smell to it.
Before the smoke turns to woodgas,it smells like any other wood smoke but gradually takes on more of a faint creosote smell as better gas is produced.
the car of the post apocalypse
Post Biden :-)
@@harvestvillage695 Post Putin
This is pretty cool. I'd only ever heard of this used in world war tanks, and some guy's tractor from back in the day. For the time being there is ample waste cooking oil for my needs as a diesel van driver, but I could sure imagine a stationary electricity generator running on woodgas though!
No problems with tar so far.The filter is a combination of a cyclone, woven fibreglass cloth,moist straw,sawdust and foam rubber.
Stigge,
God jul og godt nyttar to you and your family too!
I am glad to hear you have the van running again.
The secondary fan works okay but it is still weak and takes 15-20 minutes to make good gas.I continue to search for the type you and Johan use.
Paul
Thanks Mart,
I'll see if I can do some editing and put up a few proper links.
ive built one and im putting it in my 1998 old-school converted Jeep wrangler
screw the gas shortage everyone should swap over to wood gasifiers !!!
There's an old trucker that has replaced the sleeper in his Kenworth with a massive wood gas engine, when he needs to fuel up he just pulls over and goes out with his chainsaw and gathers wood. If you happen to see him go by hauling a lode, listen carefully and you can hear him laughing "cause he ant payed for gas since 1972" Around the country he is known only as "The Mad Hillbilly"
Dear Santa...
i love this concept so much
the perfect zombie apocalypse car. bravo sir, well done.
not really, could get you around, but in an emergency the startup time is too long to save you.
@@williamkirkland2222 can’t think of any alternatives, though. gasoline goes bad after a few months. would be great for a militarized faction in a zombie apocalypse, too
love it, well done !
This is the best video post yet....Hard to edit it all isn't it? Nicely put together Paul.
Thanks for checking out my burn in video.
Mike
Very well done!
Genius! Keep up the good work!
Yes,in Pemberton,BC
American engineering FTW :)
"Improvise, adapt, overcome"
You: follow that car
Taxi: ok sir , wait a minute
can you conpress wood gas? into a tank?
Octain rating is about the same as propain compress it more than its obtain rating in psi and it will ignite
That's great. I just learned about this technology. It's been around a long time! It's almost like it's been hidden from us. I will be building one. Thanks for sharing.
it's inefficient and dirty.
Hey Paul,
I commend you on your project. It certainly is environmentally friendly since burning wood is actually carbon neutral. Have you looked into motors that run on water?
A friend of mine recently did a conversion to cooking oil bio diesel. He gets all the waste oil from local restaurants. Pretty cool!
Sassan
Thanks for the positive comments.
TH-cam doesn't seem to allow links but here is a lead to where you can find more info from others that have successfully run EFI's on woodgas.Look around the site and see what Jonathan and Mike done.
woodgas d o t net
I want one!
I don't believe that either.
What I said was a 40 lb sack of wood chunks will get the truck 25 miles or so down the road,or 25 miles per 40 lb sack.
The power loss numbers I hear for woodgas compared to gasoline are a 30% power loss and I think that is close to what I experience also.
Can you drive on a freeway at 55-60 mph?
Toss some old tyres in there! Get some Xtra power! Add a Turbo for the sound lol
Do a search for woodgas dot net and you will find information on things like why woodgas isn't easy or cheap to compress.
To run a propane powered engine on woodgas would require some modification but nothing too difficult.
Awesome !!!
How long will this vehicle run before it starts to have problems associated with burning wood gas? I assume there are plenty of differences between gasoline and wood gas, more impurities, tars, tannins, sulphurs, etc. any notion?
I think there are similarities to taking care of a horse and running a woodgas vehicle.You must prepare the feed before hand, and cleanup afterward. Ash must be dumped and the gasifier and cooler cleaned occasionally. Tars are going to be a problem if the gasifier wasn't built properly or wet wood used.
Aren't there filters to clean the gas?
@@HellboyKommentiert probably. otherwise the engine would need a rebuild every 5000 km.
thats great!
I thought that you said that you were using a secondary fan. Is to make up for the back resistance on the system so that the engine doesn't have to work as hard to draw the fuel from the system?
Interresting to se that have two fans. I have the same system to not get tar and water in the filter during startup
😳 oh wow 😯
.....it helps to use an earlier technology car without sensors and computer controls .
@dirtTdude what about electic wood gas hybrid, electric for short trips, woods gas for long trips, the batterys could also be using for starting the wood gasification
There are some that drive on woodgas daily but I don't,There is a engine power loss of roughly 30%.
Holyshit man where do you live those mountains are amazing
Great to see this. Are the gasifier plans you used open source?
....FEMA.
@@charlesdickens6706 He got caught lol
WOW Thats about 80.5 Km to the kilogram for us metric guys. What is additional weight of gasifier? Is it only suitable for a truck?
5 stars and straight to favourites. Thanks for info.
Great job does it still run on wood gas ? Or are you still using the gasifier?
aaah that looks like the 1978 f100
i hav one like it
NICE!!
Thanks for the video, What is your top speed while operating on the wood gas? I assume that is a v-8....I have a 76 GMC pickup with a 250 straight 6 that I'm thinking of converting....think it will have enough power to sacrifice with the switch to wood gas?
thats reallly cool! how far can you go on that 40lb of wood?
He said 25 miles or forty Kilometers
I'd love to know if it could be used to burn trash or trash compacted into bricks since we already make recycle bricks for a rocket stove and what it would do to an engine.
My boyfriend sent this to me, saying it would be good for us to drive when we go to the sahara, but... I dont think he knows where trees and wood come from...
Definatly not the desert
.....no, not the desert...the chemistry of the process requires damp or humid air. A steam generator can added . .It'll work on coal ,charcoal any carbon source . It's called producer gas .
@purpleravenstar Actually they used to do this in Europe during World War 2. I bet they got better mileage, too.
look its the arkensaw chugabug from whacky racers lol no realy this beats all idears ive seen what about state laws n dmv also whats it do to the inside of engine over time and will it work with efi system
Germany and UK HAD TANKS THAT RAN OFF WOOD..LOOK IT UP NO JOKE EVEN A TIGER TANK
Amazing! Is that wood gas better for the engine then gasoline? Does the oil last longer?
Hi Oldplaner
Thanks for the good videos
What do you do when you reach the town, and the wood is´nt used up.
Can you let the car stand and just smoke ??
Or how ???
my father is doing the same thing as you making a truck run on wood and biomass
Avry Alexander send me a video of that truck
can you make wood gas at bulk, and then store it in some big tank, and then use it in car, using in the LPG systems that are popular in EU?
How many miles can you get out of 40 pounds of wood? You have a nice setup. I want to make one, but trying not to make it HUGE.
+Paul Crissman About 25 miles on 40 lbs
How can we optimize this!?!
Thought of burning charcoal?
Yes, I built a charcoal gasifier and run a vintage 1965 Simplicity tractor with a 12HP Briggs engine.
very nice truck!
could you tell me at what are the best PRMs to drive on wood gas?
how do you regulate the gas and the air mixture and are you using a carb
How long car can run 10kg wood ?
400 miles
does it mater if the vehicle is diesel or petrol ? and the age of the vehicle
This could come in handy now that gas is getting unaffordable.
Grass pellets work too
Can you send me some links or instructions on how to build a Wood Gas Generator and plans to attach it to a car. Thanks!
would it run the same with coal - or any other solid biomass?
The Wide Open Life no, if it was coal it wouldn't leave clean smoke. Wood gas burns the water off then starts breaking down into methane and butane aswell as small amounts of hydrogen...
It does work with coal. There is a 6-episode series from the BBC called "Wartime Farm." I think it's episode 5 where they convert a 1930's era ambulance to run on coal, which, while rationed in Britain during the War, was not as strictly rationed as gas (petrol). I think it was able to go 40 miles on a full "tank" of coal.
There were also natural gas-powered buses in the cities, which they could fill from the mains. (They're pretty funny looking; like a hot air balloon sitting on top of a one-decker bus that looks like a double-decker because of how tall the gas balloon is.) But out in the country there were no gas lines, so some people converted old vehicles to run on coal.
@ChrisPCrunchy
80.5km/kg? How? I made the calcs it's ~2.2km/kg
Can this be done to newer cars ?
Isn't this great? My mother saw these during WWII in Sweden. Mileage is about 30-40 miles per 50lbs of pellets. This is an alternative people, not a cure! 20 min. start-up, so no quick get-away!
+Chris Jacobson Taking the time to cut your own fuel and understand the work involved to drive to town is something I would recomend to anybody.It helps teach us to conserve. It's nice to slow down,quick is overated.
+oldplaner So true, it would do us all well to take your advice.
There has to be a way we can treat the wood gas to liquefy it. I've been trying to make it into methanol, but had some logistics issues with catalysts and tar formation.
Now all it needs is a 10KW generator head on the engine and you can have portable power wherever you go.
You can make a smaller gasifier for a generator but using the truck as a power plant would age the engine faster idling. My brother suggested the same thing at first.
Wow fantastic....In Australia they'd impound our vehicles if we don't pay homage to the blessed oil baron's using our cash.
Does wood gas cause more wear to the engine?
what type of blower fans are you using on this truck to draw the gas before you start the motor
25 miles per 40 lb sack of wood
How fast can a wood gas vehicle go?
thank you for the answer
But i don´t understand it.
please try again
Is that a 400 or 460 block your using? or smaller like a 302?
Do you use gas to heat the wood?
Why not just use propane to run the truck?
Propane costs money.
I am interested in gasification. Where can I begin something like this?
sehr cool ,
wie weit mag man mit so einem Holzvergaser wohl fahren können ?
Sie können mit einen 40 Pfund Sack 40 Kilometer fahren
Which book do you use to build the gasifier? My brother has the fifty Dollar book I bought him on Amazon but so far it only talks about smaller generators.
It was a set of plans from Mother Earth News but a better place to start is driveonwood dot com They have a great woodgas community there with better gasifier plans and gasifiers than the one I built.
@@oldplaner Thanks!
Is the hopper/ burner insulated ?
How many miles to the tree do you get?
if I convert my company trucks to this wood burning how the hell would I write off my fuel ??? 20 cords in fuel cost for trucks.
why not gasify all of the wood and clean it with some steel wool or sawdust before routing that gas into some water and eventually compressing it into CNG tanks in the bed of each truck ?
shayson1357 do not compress wood gas, I doubt it's safe to have a fuel air mixture compressed into a liquid or even high pressure gas because there is a small amount of oxygen in woodgas
@@rileykirk11 watch nighthawkinlight bio fuel explosion video and you would see that this is not a problem
Sure you can,
Hey try to add some plastic waste it's give awesome results
How long will the truck run on that sack of wood?
A 40 pound sack goes 25 miles.
they say dont go. wooo hoo on Pemberton mountain. if your looking for a wife. sorry dont know what prompted me to sing that. sweet truck i live in the desert though i dont know how long i could keep it running on just sage brush and tumble weeds lol
Truck engine burns the byproducts of destructive distillation of the wood.
DAMN STRAIT!!! =3-
wouldnt it be cool to see tree farms growing to supply Gasified vehicles?.
how about a big rv with a gasifier?? a totally self contained home on wheels with a gasifier ??
GREAT GENTELMEN. PLEASE SEND PLAN WITH THE DIMENSIONS OF YOUR HOME HEATING UNIT. ? IN UKRAINE WITH THIS FULL ASS. WITH RESPECT. KIEV.
Would charcoal so work? Or corn?
any combustible biomass, my freind. even cow chips or tumbleweeds!
Good question corn yes don't know about charcoal , however!! Coal will work