Making Charcoal with Homemade Retort Kiln from Water Heaters V72
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Almost 2 years ago I started making a retort kiln to make charcoal for my blacksmith forge from two old water heaters. I took some time this past week to finish.
I've run it twice and made a few tweaks to get it working the way we want it to.
I hope you enjoy this one. This makes me happier than a bird with a french fry.
Cheers!
For the first part of me making these • Homemade Water Heater ...
I started posting videos as a way to share when I was building my forge and then my bellows. I kept making videos from time to time over the years. And, now want to make them more frequently as a way to hold myself accountable for the projects that I start.
I'll be making stuff in my garage and that includes getting back the blacksmith videos, but, includes welding, cars and a few other things I have in mind.
Thanks for watching. By all means, subscribe to the channel.
By the way, I apologize for this video, they are all better than this one. I swear.
Cheers!
Justin Jennings
Music:
"RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
"Cold Funk" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Of any video I’ve seen , you have the finest selection of music ever!
You are a good 👍 man
Thanks for kind words.
I think I’ve watched ever retort charcoal furnace build on TH-cam and by far yours is the best. Clearly explained and showing all the pieces and troubleshooting after... a wealth of information.
I'm glad you found it useful.
Interesting concept of reintroducing the wood gas in to the burning chamber. I'll implement this as I'm new to turning wood to chat.
Thank you for the post.
Finally, a charcoal video that actually produced good results. Can't say enough good things about the quality of the video and the build. Yes, it's brilliant work!
⁰
Very good design
Best charcoal retort youtube video. Thanks
This is by far thr best charcoal kiln/retort Ive seen so far. I cant believe this doesn't have more views
22 min and I have learned heaps.
Thanks very much Mr.
Fascinating and interesting
You are a brilliant man and I must follow you to upgrade my skills.
Hey thanks mate, great vid. From Australia
Brilliant set up, and good problem solving.. Best I've seen
Brilliant design. Many thanks. I grew up in Hanford and lived in the SJV for 30 years and I forget how damned ugly it is there. Yikes. We havent had any measurable rain in two months and its still green as could be here in NE TX.
I like Hanford. But, you're right. It gets very burned looking around here and east Texas is much greener.
Excellent video.
You know there are cash prizes out there for efficient designs to turn waste wood into charcoal. I'm seriously 100 hours into this topic and yours is more efficient than any I've seen and could be made with very basic parts. Better charcoal creation helps save forests and reduces pollution.
The main suggestion I'd give is to insulate the firebox with refractory puddy (I'll share a link you might like) and redesign the burn box to a rocket stove.
I'm doing that with a batch box rocket stove, Insanely efficient stoves, so I can bring the fuel usage down and sustain higher temperatures.
Here's a video on thermal puddy. There are a ton of mixes out there, I like this guy and always have the ingredients on hand.
th-cam.com/video/YuOBfOF8zN0/w-d-xo.html
I'm considering building another using a rocket stove. I have two rocket stoves I started for a guy and I keep kicked them in the garage floor.
well done!
I adore your wonderful style of explaining what you’re doing. Amazing video!
Nice build. This is actual pyrolysis unlike other open designs that just burn wood in an open container and call it pyrolysis.
Many thank of sharing this idea Justin, you don't how happy I am right now and cant wait to start making charcoal.
Brilliant video. I have actually scaled this up to 440 and 900 gallons. It works perfectly and produces perfect charcoal. Cooling time dramatically increases the larger the chamber gets. Run the gaspipe inside the burn chamber and most of the tar and creosote actually burns off as the gas pipe is also red hot as ot burns. I got a temperature of 980 deg C in my chamber and a firebox temp of about 1600 degC after the gas started burning. Great job.
Wow! That's big! What are you using the charcoal for? Or, is that a big secret?
Size is an important factor in making charcoal as you have to fight heat loss. The bigger the batch size, the easier it is and the less fuel you have to use.
BUT I doubt the 1600°C value. Steel melts at that range. Stainless is already molten. °F maybe? Or a measurement error.
Awesome job sir
Be sure to check out the latest update I posted just a few weeks ago that shows how it is currently configured.
It's awesome bro!! I definitely caught a few tips
Talk to some "fuel Abatement" contractors who do fuel clearing for the forestry services, it might give you a line on the hardwood needed for dense charcoal.
Impressive! One possibility for making it even better: Be more structured with the air flow for the burn-chamber: Adjustable primary air below the firewood and introduce pipes that deliver pre-heated secondary air into the burn-chamber. Secondary air pipes could come from the bottom and deliver pre-heated air to somewhere above the firewood. Primary air should be adjustable and you should be able to reduce primary air to zero. Would give you a much more efficient fire and a clean burn with no smoke.
But again: Really nice design!
Charcoal Charlie is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I have seen several pyrolysis videos, and by far yours is the MOST exciting! I have an old water heater I was going to cannibalize for a Whizbang Chicken Scalder, I think if I am careful with my cuts I can use the upper portion for Charlie's twin!
Justin, thank you SO MUCH for making this video! Just amazing work, congratulations.
Be aware that I have made changes to the build. The pipe is now abandoned. I drilled about four 1/2" holes directly from the upper chamber into the fire box. I placed a length of angle iron over the holes to keep them from being blocked. Now the gasses from the upper chamber blow down on the hot embers in the fire box and ignite. It works way better now than when I made that first video.
I've watched a few videos so far and am most impressed by this build . This definitely is the direction I
(Wood , lol) would like to build my own .
Great build !
I put my return inside the burn chamber. This keeps the gasses hot and moving. I also put half my holes pointing down so any fluids wouldn't collect inside the return gas tube.
Hey, the creosote/wood vinegar that you collected is dynamite in your compost heap. Soil fungi love it!
fantastic, simple, and concise build. my only critique would be to make some tabs out of flat steel and weld them to the door front in place of the washers used to hold the door on, then make some large wingnuts by welding rods onto the nuts for the door. then you wouldn't need any tools to open and close the door and wouldnt have to worry about keeping track of the washers when you take the door off.
Nice work
Thank you! Cheers!
Great build and follow up on it's use. I've been making biochar for years, but most biochar enthusiasts do open burns and do not use retort methods. I'm an exception. I have two recommendations from my experience: 1. You have a serious likelihood of an explosion with the check valve if/when it plugs up or the pipe gets clogged. Get rid of it. Also replace the plug at the top of the tee with a simple 2" square steel plate, 1/8" thick. Just place it on top of the tee. If any excessive pressure does build, it will blow off. This shouldn't affect the operation of the system. Also you don't have to worry about oxygen getting back into the retort from the burn chamber based on my experience. 2. There's no reason you can't have the initial out gas steam go into the burn chamber. Your burn chamber is so hot it'll easily burn any moisture injected through the burner. Check for creosote build up before each burn. Excellent job, video...thanks for sharing. O.J. Romo, Elkton, OR
No explosion. I watched that check valve through several cycles and got rid of it. The only problem it had was it got stuck open. I'll be doing an video soon showing the changes made. Thanks for the comment. Cheers!
Very valid suggestions!
Hi. I am a biochar enthusiast planning to start a micro scale business based on Biochar made from agriculture waste. My question is can I use retort system to carbonise agriculture waste? What I have seen in most of the video is that they all used open burning.
Your suggestions will be highly appreciated.
@@ecmeitei1749 Hi EC, Absolutely! There are definite advantages to using a kiln, most notably they are more efficient. You will also get a more consistent product with next to no ash. There are numerous designs, some better than others. TH-cam 'Hookway charcoal' and 'Exeter charcoal' to see a couple of extremes. Take into consideration the workability of a kiln. Hookway's design is very popular in China and is about as efficient as you can get, but is a pain to unload. Also it is fed with a rocket stove which gets so hot it literally eats metal and the longevity of the kiln is an issue.
I really like Justin Jennings design. It's simple, easy to load and unload, burns fairly clean (little smoke), uses the outgases so it's more efficient and gives a consistent product. Also on TH-cam look up 'Pressvess portable charcoal'. Similar idea on wheels. The only improvement I would make on Jennings design is to insulate the kiln, cutting the burn time.
Key to being successful as a small biochar business is getting your 'waste' free. If you can use it as fuel for your fire box as well as for your char, all the better. I don't know what your 'waste' is, but the only downside of a kiln is you can have a problem if you're packing it with something like wood chips or sawdust and there is little room for air flow. In this case you get uneven heating and the center of the kiln will often be left unbaked.
Best of luck, O.J..
congratulations bro please can i get your design for charcool charly
Great build, I know it's a couple years old but if it helps anybody else, that back pipe has to be insulated to reduce the creosote buildup. If you insulate the entire build it would be even more efficient, less heat loss and it'll keep you cooler. I'm very impressed, keep those videos coming, thanks for sharing
I really appreciate your work behind this.
i am extremely impressed and yes you are doing very great job. thank you soo much for letting us know about this technique.
Love this unit.. Right out the gate success. Easy to sort out the initial issues too. Love the roller castors. Good work!
Thank you for sharing Justin.
Greetings from Durban South Africa.
Great Video.
Great video. Thanks to all the commenters as well who ditched in with their experiences. Learnt a hell of lot out of this.
Great review, maybe the best I have seen on the net. I,m planning one with your instructions. My problem is finding drums heavy enough to
not burn out. Thank you again.
After going through numerous-numerous of videos and doing experiment myself. Given proven benefits from all information gathered on every project.
Nature works on fixation timing to get any kind of woods turned into good charcoal. Above >5 hours no matter how well the design is.
Up till now, nobody could get natural wood charcoal created in less than
Good on you for making your own, when it's homemade you know there's no hidden chemicals in it, now you know you have safe charcoal to put on a barbeque or even for what you want it for. You know you can work with it without breathing in chemicals.
Very good efforts
I have been planning a similar apparatus and suddenly realized I am 50% there already with an old outdoor water furnace sitting in the hedgerow. Outer jacket, inner chamber, and sealed door.
Fellas, look up "outdoor wood burning boilers" then contact your local dealers to find folks who need to get rid of old ones. These get replaced often because of water jacket leaks, which would not be an issue here.
How do you plan to modify it and use it?
Just like he did, if you use your god given mind.
Great to see you're learning curve in action more helpful than editing the lessons learned out.👍
That “crud” collecting at the bottom of the “Tee” is a mix of tar and wood vinegar. The tar is obviously used as a sealant. The vinegar is a good organic insecticide. Good build!
Could you please explain more
Outstanding!
I've been watching utubes and studying charcoal making for a while now, [That's how I found your channel]
your retort is the best I've seen yet!!!
I've made charcoal for cooking out of maple, It makes a difference in the taste.
My system is rather crude compared to yours. I have a 55gal drum and a 26gal galv trash can with lid.
I drilled some 3/4" holes in the bottom of the trash can. Put trash can in drum, load trash can with
maple wood, put lid on. Pack wood around can in drum and light. I have a partial drum with chimney
to help the draw. Light it up after dark and watch the drum glow red.
I did a load of construction scrap for the first burn to burn the paint and galvinize off. I did not use this for cooking.
Good job on your retort and all the video's you've put up.
Awesome! I've already had people wanting batches for their barbecues. Too many people keeping asking and I'll have to build a really big one. Thanks for the comment.
The best ive seen so far...
Brilliant, I loved your attention to detail! This was one of those videos I didn't regret spending my time watching!
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks sir 🙏🙏 I hope you always healthy
Thank you.
One of the bestter design I saw so far.. great job!
Glad you like it!
Sehr schöner Bericht von einem sympathischen Kerl.
Das ist die beste Lösung, die ich gesehen habe.
Jetzt weiß ich, wie ich den alten Boiler verwerten kann.
Applaus!
I enjoyed every second. It's so beautiful
Save the pine for the burn chamber, you are experiencing the exact reason why you don’t burn pine in a fireplace.
With the way the grape market was last fall vinyard owners should be pulling out their older vineyard blocks in anticipation of replanting when the market picks up. For the most part they have to burn the old vines and should be willing to give some to you. I witnessed a demonstration of field burning to create bio-char and it takes a lot of equipment and people to burn a block, but yields a good amount of charcoal.
We grow a lot of grapes in this area, both table and wine. The guys I've talked to about taking material for myself seemed to want me to take quantities that I couldn't move or store. But, at some point I'd love to try grape vine. Maybe if I ever get a bigger piece of property I can revisit that idea.
Impressed, really I am, good job
Best build I've seen and I've watched a lot. I'm totally impressed with the build. I'll definitely have to watch the next one.
Большое спасибо за видео! Прекрасная работа! Greetings from Russia!
Thank you for commenting.
Здравствуйте, производитель 40+ лет. 【Цена на уголь и древесно-угольные брикеты 1-80 т / ч】 Нажмите:
www.chinafote.com/briquetting_machine.html?ytb
You're a genius, by using the exhusted gases from the wood to sustain the fire in the fire chamber 👌🖒
Looks like really good Biochar. Good job.
Amazing work Justin
Good job..one of the better designs I've seen. Love how you punched holes in the return pipe to make a gas burner.
Good vid.
I use charcoal here to run my generator.
It runs so cleanly, and it is environmentally friendly too :) .
I'd love to see that.
Excellent job like your tar trap thanks for sharing
Great job 👍
I suggest turning the regular nuts into wingnuts so you don't need a wrench. Part of your creosote problem is a distillation-type cooling of the wood gas allowing the creosote to "condensate"out and gumming up the works. Maybe insulate it or rework it so it is inside the firebox.
Awesome Job. Very exciting and inspired me to have a go!! Love the vent pipe and burner with the tar trap.
Thanks for your time.
I love you bro,thanks
Excellent job, thank you for sharing
I will try to do it ;)
Great job
Awesome Video!!! Loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you.
Totally impressed,yaa!
Great video!👍👍
Fantastic video - Very informative, very well constructed, and the music is GREAT! Love the idea of recycling old wood...
Thanks for your idea. I will make it
The video was one of the best in practices. You started with the first cycle. Attended to problems in the same video. Did the second cycle. Results were there for everybody to compare. Thanks for share.
Love this video thank you
Happy your back friend. I am always impressed with your work and this is an example of good ole Justin inspiring us. Keep them coming.
I'm not sure how inspiring I am. But, I appreciate the thought. Thanks!
That is the best one I have seen. great video
Justin, thanks for the video , the best charcoal maker i have seen , thanks for sharing!!!
Awesome video
Success!
Congratulations mate, great kiln. An excellent piece of engineering. You have every right to be happy with it. I have watched many videos of retort kilns recently and yours is the best I have seen. 👍👍👍
It works. There have been a few modifications made. And, I should do an update video. Cheers!
It's really amazing.thumps up to you brother
Few years late but great! I will have to see what I can find to do the same!
I get people from all over the world asking questions about this. I actually had a guy call me on the phone one morning to ask questions about it. There's a follow up video for this. And, it has changed a little since then. So, it's a work in progress.
amazing stuff to see you have fun! so glad for you that you can finally enjoy your hobby!
I've had a bit of a holiday the past couple of weeks. If you don't take the time off you won't get the time off.
I really wish that I had the ability to weld a unit like yours. Well done, SIR!!!
ha ha I'm with ya.
thank you justin very very nice charcoal charlei :))))
I like the design with the exception of the return pipe. Imagine if the pipe clogged completely, it’s basically one big bomb. I would add at least 3 more return pipe. Also maybe a larger diameter return pipe.Just in case one or more return gets clogged . I rather be safe than sorry.
Revisions were made. But, that pipe would need inspected between each burn.
Awesome build. Best I've seen tbh.
Simple and effective.
Thank you.
very ingenious !
I do like the flattery. Thank you. :-)
best one ive seen,good job dude
Awesome video nice to see you back.
Thanks. And then I'm gone and then I'm back. I really need a keeper. :-)
Thanks for the journey Justin. I appreciate you noting the problems and how you made the fixes..I like you design.
Thanks. There are still more changes that I made. I'm working on another video for the kiln.
great build. I've watched a lot of them on youtube and this is among the better retort builds I've seen
Thank you.
Awesome Job 👍🏻 and well done video with good follow up. I will make use of it. All the best from Russia
Awesome! Both Charlie and the vid.
The back burner is a really smart idea. Using the gases to heat the wood you wanna dry up, just simply smart. :)
Tried and true design. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you, this is very inspirational and a great help to my charcoal retort and donkey geyser I want to built.
brilliant. nice vid thank you.
every gram of charcoal we make was 4 grams of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before the plant grew. bury it and it stays in the ground.
I personally think that is a well crafted and well thought out charcoal Retort Kiln.
It ticks all the requirements I can think of for an efficient system.
Cool charcoal!
Thank you.
perty spiffy there Justin...... a true Fabricator, "If you want it/Make it" ....... Thanks for sharing
If I can't build it, I might not need it. Thanks for the comment.