@@mikekleven8130 yup the moisture is from outside humidity and the start up( start with charcoal) the stop and refill with your dried wood . one of the big issue with gasification
Have you built a carburetor to automatically adjust the 02 being mixed in with the gas? They're very helpful when you're dealing with varying feedstocks.
I wonder if it would help if you mulched your wood first then used that to create your fuel? It would most definitely be able to dry out much thoroughly.
Being a father ....the most impressive thing is your family...I came for the gasification....and was exposed to an amazing family. Kudos to you man. Keep at it!
Love your family Christina is amazing. She never has to worry about getting by. She got this. As a proud father myself, I am happy to see other fathers raising there daughters to be tuff and knowledgeable.
I have built a few gasifiers. Try restricting the air intake at the gasifier. Preheating the incoming air helps with fuel production a ton as well. I have had some success in automating the engine air/fuel ratio with a spring on the carburetor valve. The engine timing needs to be adjusted 10-15 degrees advanced to start the spark earlier because the wood gas burns slower than gasoline. This is impossible with many small engines. An electronic O2 sensor in the wood gas stream actuating the incoming air valve is the next iteration I'll be implementing.
If you go on Drive On Wood I did a tutorial on our 02 mixer. This mixer is 8 years devleped now and is a solid controller. NHhbbylogger built it you can look him up for his videos on it.
so in the go kart world you can buy a cut keyway that you use on the flywheel and crack shaft to change the timing or you just remove the keyway and set the timing to what ever you want it to be and your good to go
Hi guys, love your videos, during ww2 here in Denmark we used gasgenerators like yours to run cars and trucks due to gas shortage, it is good to see ole teqniques come back to use..... greetings from Denmark
You need a dry gas scrubber before the generator. We run generators off natural gas all the time in the oil field and you always have a fuel gas scrubber to take out any moisture/liquids prior to burning as fuel. Build a scrubber out of an 8” piece of steel pipe with caps on the end. Run your fuel line in the bottom and your outlet out the top of the scrubber to the generator. Put a dump valve on the bottom to drain liquids and a pressure gage on the top so you can monitor your gas pressure. You may not be getting enough gas pressure under higher load. Probably need about 20-40 psi of gas pressure but check your generator specs. We run our giant 1.5KW generators at about 40 psi and have to shed loads whenever we drop below that.
This is the exact reason every good working gasifier has a cyclone "filter/water separator" at the outlet. You need to keep the outside of the cyclone as cold as you can (water cooling?) to promote as much condensation to build and drop to the bottom collection point as possible. You are seeing lots of water because there is lots of water. 5% moisture means 20 kg of wood is 1 kg of water which equals 1 liter. Wood is heavy. I saw another comment about an O2 sensor from a vehicle at the carb to auto adjust the air intake. This is what I use.
Their setup is plenty big enough to run that generator. Smaller size gasifiers ran old 1930's big displacement very inefficient engines. It's filter/condenser design and generator function/carb mechanics that are the problem. Imho
@@patri0t1776agreed needs to learn how to set the air to fuel ratio on the gene . It clearly runs . Quit closing the fuel to half . The gene needs more fuel when it powers up. The fuel should be wide open and tbe gene suck however much it needs.
You need to remove the air box frome the generator completely and seal the gas hose to the carburetor the engine vacume will draw more gas . I believe the problem your having is the generator is drawing to much outside air and running to lean . Hope this helps
"We have a shop vac contraption, it's like a SNUFFLEUFFLUFFAGUS" 🤣😂😂🤣😜🤣😂 had me losing it! I look forward to Part 3. Love you guys, all the best for fine tuning it,, from Down Under, Australia 🇭🇲🦘🦘🙏🦘🦘🇭🇲
I love how you guys kept troubleshooting. I've also watched Part 1 and I love how supportive you are of your kid. Also, her welds are SOLID! Clearly takes pride in what she does. You can't teach that mentality and it's amazing to see. Congrats on getting it running.
1st off Excellent Job! Well done! You guys aren't quitters and can all work together, what a pleasure to watch! ❤ On another note... A friend told me years ago in WW2 he saw taxis burn smoldering palm leaves in the trunk and siphoned forward to the engine. Amazing what folks can accomplish even with primitive forms of equipment to work with.
Okay - the fact of the matter is that each of you have managed to put a gasifier together that can be used to heat your home, cook your food...and if you tweaked it just a little more with practice... it is going to be running the genny very soon -flawlessly! Fantastic!!
Really enjoying this series. Your water issue is unique and im at a loss for its cause. You could have an air leak or a heating issue or it could be b/c of the ambient humidity. I've built 7 gasifiers since i learned of this technology about 15 years ago to use for various applications and ive not had the troubles you are experiencing. That flame color as perfect when you are flaring. Oh you definitely need to open your gas valve on your carb all the way. Last Christmas I actually got the book for the gasifier you are using and have been gathering supplies to build it. There are a ton of videos on this and other designs on TH-cam by a plethora of home engineers. Also FEMA has several charts on their website about sizing and designs. ...Have you thought about reaching out to the original creator of this design (Ben Peterson) that wrote the book? The people at Mother Earth News have some great contacts for consulting too. Good luck. We are all watching with great interest.
I have a solar retort for making charcoal (or flash steam). The off-gas from the retort is flammable and would likely run an IC engine if mixed properly. Personally, I would just make steam. Of course, my tracking solar retort works only on sunny days. JEFF'S rig works anytime, I get that. I build wind turbines and compressed-air engines and generators that operate on air as a hobby.
Some but not a lot. Consider that in the winter total humidity in the air is rather low as cold air holds much less moisture than warm air. At 5% moisture level in the wood, that means that there'll be a 1 (pound or KG) of water in every 20 (pounds or KGs) of wood. They started off with like 15% moisture level... which means for every 20 KG of wood there's THREE LITRES of water. The condenser assembly is supposed to make this drop out but obviously isn't performing very efficiently - the filter stuffed with straw etc is supposed to be dry.
you guys are awesome! what a great project to work with the family on! especially with all the mini struggles, must be so gratifying when its all said and done and producing the electricity !
I was just waiting for the big bang and for you to stand there with black heads. From this point of view, very well done. The rest is the usual troubleshooting of a new installation, just trying it out and improving it.
Build an external condenser. All you have to do is get a small steel drum or something with a removable lid that you can install spring release latches onto. Then just install in and an out ports . Hay is going to be best filter media in the primary filter and you can also use hay in this external filter. Keep in mind the system is under vacuum so moisture due points are much lower. The water is just condesning out later after the stock cooler. This gas cooler is just getting things low enough to drop the moisture; but as you are experiencing its dropping later as you are finding. So add an inline filter / condenser. A gasifier must be able to breath so filter media must be loose enough to allow it to breath but also collect dust and absord soem of the moisture. Once you get things running give it 5 - 10 minutes to get everything warmed up and allow the gasifier to equalize to the engine load. The blower and generator are applying different loads. The blower is more likely driving it harder than the engine. So the gasifier may cool down some as it gets re established to the load the generator is putting on it. When you make an adjust always turn the mixture just slightly richer and only move the valve a fudge. See what it does. Did it improve? If so adjust a fudge more; if not adjust the other way a fudge. I would suggest getting a brass valve for the air as they are easier to adjust than the PVC valves. They dont work all that well. You have to put some presure on them to get them to move and they just let go and you adjust too far. lol
If you build this external filter. Move your mixer assembly to it. I can tell those that have actually put hours on a machine verses those who have not. Because eventually the mixer assembly will break right off the engine. Your situation you will just break the air box housing. But if you were to mount direct to the face of the carburetor, the bolts that thread into the head will stress harden and shear off that the face of the head. That is a real PITA to get those out as they are lock tighted. LOL
A water separator is cheap at the parts store. For paint shops they can pull a lot of moisture for after the big separator. Because every drop in line size creates another dew point to extract water again.
th-cam.com/video/hzwJStZmI_o/w-d-xo.htmlsi=T7oXrvjOn28oOqYz This is how they work. This design is nothing new and you cannot possibly invent a better one. You're gonna either blow up your gas generator from water blockage or blow the water seperator because they are all low pressure. Think of this fact. Refineries do not operate on Pressure, they operate under vacuum induced from the conversion of gas to liquid. If you start producing pressure, it's going to become out of control very very fast.
I want one of these so bad! I live in MO, and we have Osage Orange everywhere, highest BTU output for wood. I live the idea of combining this technology with coppice agroforestry of select hardwoods with high BTU.
But, will that hedge be used to fire the gasifier or to produce gas? But, if used as the fuel to extract out of other wood the gases needed, then a local tree commonly called eastern red ceder but is really a juniper and due to it's high volatile oils would make a superior gas. But, as for me, I like to use hedge for smelting metals. BTW, I am in northern MO, Linn county.
Well done. I've just built one that's very simple but you'll be interested in my method to extract moisture. I'll release the video soon. 50/50 air mix ratio for your intake but let the first pull have 100% gas. Cheers J
The best gasifier video ever! Love the detailed and honest explanation of the challenges with this thing, and can't wait to see the next video on getting it dialed in. Super great work as usual you guys!
I'm going to guess that this gasifier does not actually work in any reasonable manner given the silence on it along with the massive lack of videos showing it actually working to run a generator for an extended period (to include a lack of such videos on the manufacturer's channel). I hope you will make a video that explains why this project failed although a video showing it working would be even better but I find that outcome unlikely.
@@LesThompson-i3t unfortunately we don't since they have chosen not to make a part three and explain what happened. That's unfortunate, I had figured they would not keep us in the dark if the project was a failure. It's disappointing that they have not updated us on this project as to what happened.
I agree with the comments about the humidity on the air intake side to your gasifier - I think you need an air dryer like you put on a sandblaster setup.
If you keep having a problem with water in the gas you should try putting a moisture trap from an air compressor on the gasifier's outlet (where you are attaching the flexible hose). You can also put a filter over the air inlet of your makeshift carburetor (the Tee intersection with the two valves), that might help some.
Condensation - hot air meeting cold? Some kind of moisture trap like those used on air compressors? Some kind of kiln for drying the wood? Looks like some other commenters actually know a thing or two about gasifiers, unlike me. I'm just excited. 😁 Anyhoo. Great stuff!
That's what the stuff on the side is for - the bendy tubes are supposed to cool the gas down and encourage condensation, where it is supposed to collect in the cylinder on the bottom. The efficiency of that arrangement is clearly not working for these folks - the filter is supposed to be dry! Adding some fins and a fan might help
Yes, they definetly need a more intricate radiator with enough fin surface to cool that water vapor on that sub zero air, since they need this in winter when sun is low, there no reason they can't trap all that moisture before it reaches the generator. They could easely adapt a car or truck water radiator to that purpose. @@holysirsalad
For drying next year's fuel wood, try a method I heard of years ago (in either Backwoods Home or Countryside magazine), assuming you have a forklift or front loader: In the spring, stack your cut wood on pallets, cover the stacks with clear plastic, and wrap them with cling film pallet wrap, then leave them in the sun for the summer.
Percistence! Wow. I am impressed by you and your family s ability to not giving up! This video is also a reminder of the fact that even if you get more and more independence from the grid, we are independent of other sorts of "grids". You need neighours, friends, family, other people and also products with parts stemming from maby far far away 😊
Looking forward to part 3 Try to do it before I die LOL Les England loves your effort so fear. LOL Ps don't forget. [ water contains H2.0 ] That is where the gas energy Live's son
The greatest success story you ever heard was a couple of people not failing completely at setting up their generator... You gotta up your standards more.
Interestingly back in victorian times, the main stove would have been able to also supply electric, and was able to prove upto maybe 200watts 12v but in those days not many people needed power so was not very popular. Awesome adventure
You can make a solar powered fan ventilated wood drying shed. Just need some pallets to stack and separate wood into layers under cover with forced air ventilation. Once found a solar powered attic fan on marketplace for $50 which would be ideal.
Hi, you need a lambda sensor or AFR sensor (to measure the air to fuel ratio) in the exhaust pipe. The value should stay around 14,7. This gives you an idea of the direction in which you need to adjust the valves.
I doubt the stoichiometric ratio is the same for gasoline (14.7) and wood gas. ChatGPT says 25:1 air fuel ratio for wood gas, for whatever that's worth.
@@Screw_This Indeed the ratio isn't the same, but the lambda sensor doesn't measure how much air and fuel is mixed. It rather measures the remaining oxygen in the exhaust gases and deduces a value for the AFR (for gasoline). The same value would hold for the wood gas, because the remaining oxygen should be the same in both cases for optimal running.
Glad you showed just how difficult it really is most people think it’s just chuck some wood in fire it up and away you go leave it running all day there’s so much balancing adjustments needed,load considerations, filtration and that’s before you even get to maintenance 🤣
Great video ! Love the content. Having a few gasifiers myself, getting them to run consistently requires patience, only changing one thing at a time and above all, having a working knowledge of Voodoo. Good luck and keep at it !
@@lesthompson5907 Yes indeed ! I built one machine from scratch, lived it, breathed it for 5 years, had an O2 sensor and Arduino control to adjust the air/fuel ratio, and along with a local group of guys we were just about ready to have the engine and gasifier communicating with each other ... then that covid crap happened and blew our group to bits. That said, we can make good power and fairly consistant runs. Love it !
it was Norway my dad got his gasifier. Back from in the War, we had it for years until, it rotted out . we had cork as part of the filter siystom . of an old meat freezer. yes they worked , well .
Cool stuff! Since you are already working with a gaseous fuel, you shouldn't need a "carburetor", per se, just an air/fuel mixer. That is what the LPG inlet of your generator is designed to do. It has a demand regulator that adjusts how much fuel is allowed to the engine based on how much vacuum the engine is producing. Wider throttle openings create more vacuum, and the regulator opens wider to allow more fuel in. It is then mixed with the right amount of air before entering the engine. (The right amount of air for burning propane, that is.) Perhaps keep the large pipe feeding the generator: since there is very little pressure behind it coming off the gasifier, you need the volume. Then adapt down to the LPG inlet size right at the generator, using as few fittings as possible. Seal them well. And it shouldn't need the extra air intake before going into the generator's fuel system. At least that would be my assumption since a propane fuel source doesn't need it. The earlier comment about adjusting the ignition timing may be accurate, too. Then there is the unknown BTU content of the wood gas. It may not be able to produce very many horsepower, but your results so far show that it should at least be a useful amount. Have fun!
I love this video. And the first post. I know it's an old video but have you tried a wet filter. Bubbling the gas through media in water? Syngas gets introduced to the bottom of the filter housing then bubbles through the water and media removing more particulate, moisture, tar, and other compounds also helps to cool thee gas further. Just a thought but great video.
Hello I was watching this and am very interested in what your doing. I was a mechanic by trade for years. And I dabbled in painting cars that's where I learned that the fresh air coming in had to have a water filter. With that much snow around the moisture content of the air is probably half your problem. Just a thought, not sure if it's right or not
Hello, I have a suggestion for getting the gasified carb settings right. If you can replace the two ball valves you are using as a gasified carb with two small throttle bodies from a fuel injected vehicle, maybe even a motorcycle, they will have throttle position sensors built into them. With sensors you could move the throttles and monitor their positions. One for the air and one for the gasified fuel. Once you find the sweet spot for each of them you can record the throttle position of each of the throttles. This would allow you to go back to the same exact throttle settings each time. In addition, these could be wired to an Arduino motherboard with input from your charge controller. So that as the charge controlled draws more power, the Arduino board could open the throttles to the desired settings exactly, every time. To do this you would have to use “throttle-by-wire” type throttle bodies. These have electric motors built into them as well as throttle position sensors. This way the controller could automatically add more air/fuel as necessary, automatically. I am not a software engineer, but I have been teaching automotive diagnostics for 20+ years and this should not be a challenging thing for someone to write software for. I would be happy to discuss the finer details of this with you and provide a wire diagram for what I am suggesting. I don’t really want to give out my contact info to the whole world so you’d have to give me an email address I can PM you on. Mr. D
Awesome, love your family unit. Just throwing a big soggy wet spitball against the wall. Not sure if you figured it out but maybe talk to a pro auto painter. I worked in a body shop when I was younger (not a painter) and I know water/moistier from the air compressor when painting a car is real bad. Maybe what ever they do can be adapted for this purpose. Just a thought. Also on your Dual fuel generator, there is a difference between natural gas and propane. They are made for propane. I wanted to hook it up for natural gas. You need an adaptor for natural gas. I think its just a different adjustable pressure regulator. Not sure where the wood gas lands in that category. Just thoughts. Good luck.
You do a fantastic job of approaching things with a good vibe and not getting frustrated. My suggestions would be; - The filter medium will saturate with water so it doesn’t matter so much what you use as it won’t stop the moisture for long - It seems like the condenser isn’t doing a good job of pulling the water out. Perhaps some modifications in that area would be good - Perhaps a drain valve on the bottom of the filter housing to let the water out at the bottom, it would be cool if this was automatic and lets water out but not woodgas (and doesn’t let air in) - Maybe a secondary condenser on the gas outlet before the generator, like a large ‘oil catch can’ if you’ve seen those. With the whether being so cold when you run this it should condensate a lot of the moisture out and trap it I’ve not checked all your videos so maybe you’ve solved this prop Ken already 😊 Love to see all the experiments mate and that the whole family is involved it’s super wholesome and good ❤
5:23 Turn the petrol off, let it runout and stop. Then start it on your woodgas. It wont like running on both (air fuel ratio). 15:24 Its running too lean under load . 20:14 I'll go out on a limb here and say that your genny under load is burning the fuel faster than it is produced OR the plumbing is not letting enough fuel through to do the job. 25:38 Are we talking coal or charcoal? Charcoal can also produce a lot of moisture but I dont think moisture is the problem. You'll get there mate.
Gasifier doesn't produce constant mass flow of fuel (combustible gasses) rather it varies a bit. That is why you had problems with setting up your intake valve, it will work for a second or two and than mass flow will change and fuck up your air to fuel ratio soo much that it will stop the generator running. First solution I recommend would be to first store the combustible gases in container and than run the generator on stored gases that way you wont have fluctuations in mass flow. Second fancy way is it to try to use valve system that is actually used in steam engines that enables running steam engine at constant frequency at variable pressure.
Now about water issue. I am assuming because of snow I see that environment in which you are running gasifier is pretty humid, soo air that is going into the gasifier is pretty wet with high % of moisture so even if you have super dry wood you will still experience problems with moisture until you find a way of removing the moisture from air before the air enters the gasifier through air intake.
Yeah he can just add a pressure tank and a pressure valve to level that out. Basically just base it near to the propane requirements for that generator then run it until the pressure valve is constantly open.
I built a retort for making charcoal and it is the same thing you are doing but I am not capturing the fuel and way less complex! When my retort runs for about 20 min you can hear the wood gas burning like a turbo torch. It is really cool. I think on your last video it was a wood moisture issue. I always use dry hard wood for my retort. Great build guys!!!
The book says for a motor that small you need 5 nozzles extended deeper into the hearth. You are running 8 nozzles that is made more for 3.0l motor so you are not getting the heat to crack the tar and moister. Just remember the gasifier is a carburetor.
You could be getting some of you moisture from the air coming in too. Your wood is dry and charcoal is dry. The only other place is fresh air intake. Just a thought
Your flame should be only blue. At the end of your video with dryer wood and different filtration media it looks very blue unlike your first video and the start of this video. If it isn't blue, you have tar/impurities/water which will kill your engine. We ran a crude gasifier with a very orange flame the first one we built and the generator ran perfect. However, when it cooled down we couldn't roll it over again. Opening it up, it was stuck solid with tar. Reducing your burn chamber from 4" to 3" helps keep the reactor hotter and burns the tar and impurities but will reduce the total output available. Maybe it works at low loads but needs a larger opening for charging load.
Y'all worked hard on that project. It was awesome. Time Suggestion: Acquire some small or large propane tanks. Set up some vapor recovery equipment. Collect the Gas vapor from the gasifier. That equipment will squeeze out the water, Thus, giving you a clean dry gas vapor to fill the tanks. Now, you can burn wet wood if you want. Fill the tanks with the gas year-round and store them. Then when you need it, just hook up a tank to the generator. This might Increase the generator's yield as well with wearing it out, giving it a stable and constant vapor pressure. Only thing left to do is research how much the tanks can hold and how long it will run per tank. Thank you for sharing the video.
Hello, I would imagine the generator is fuel constrained, as the load increases so does the draw on the gasifier. This could be rectified with a relatively simple device called a gasometer to guarantee a constant pressure similar to the pressure rating of the LPG. Also you could look at dehydrating the gas by cooling it and then filtering with Silica but watch out for temperature and potential issues surrounding this.
My assumption is condensation from the cold air being driven in. Immediately turning to steam and pushing out through the whole system, along with any moisture in the wood. I'd love to know if you have the same issues in summer.
just great to watch.mybe if you do the test, not in winter.wood to moist.but youre channel is great.40 jyears ago my wife and i allmost didt the same in australia.but your contry is mutch better
Hi guy's, New to you all. Awesome family. The girls are welding, doing leather work and you sooo remind me of Jack Black. Keep the awesome vids coming. 😎
I think this would be better with a diverter valve that can be turned toward the choked inlet for starting and the open inlet for running, if that makes sense.
keep in mind with the gas carb in place it has a throttle valve controlling the overall amount of air entering the engine. When you set the idle speed the carb is shut then it dumps open at fast idle. You need to set the gen on fast idle override so its fully open all the time and tune the gasifier carb from there. Other wises your idle and fast idle are not comparable. good luck.
Hey I remamber getting water from sand in a desert. Covering the top protects it from above, but not below and a tarp will cause it to rain inside. Just a thought. I was going to mention moisture gauge, but I see you got one. Well done sir
Can you add a water separator to the gas line feeding the generator? That way any residual moisture in the gas feed has one more layer of defense to remove moisture.
Engine timing. Advance timing a couple degrees, that is making the spark ignition event sooner. See 8f you can adjust the magneto. Also try running it with a smaller valve for the air inlet at the carburator
If you get water vapor in the woodgas, this means you either don't have high enough temperature in the charcoal bed at the grate, or too big of gaps in the chunks of charcoal for the woodgas to short circuit the charcoal bed, the gaps will also likely produce tar since the carbon will not have come in contact to "crack" the tars, though that requires heat also, but not near as much as cracking water with pure carbon. Cracking water with carbon that is in the charcoal requires high temperature and lots of surface area for the gases to contact. What you're left with if successful is pure hydrogen and possibly some methane gas. This is your goal now, produce some heat for the reaction. This is dependent on the flow rate of the gasifier too, too little flow builds less heat.
27:36 starving for fuel.... smaller generator that uses less draw of fuel, but it's running at max. There just isn't enough fuel for the increased load. Increasing the efficiency of fuel conversion? Brainstorming.... Just thinking of loud. Awesome job !!! Really enjoyed your video and admired all the hard work !
Well done, I love your project and I can't wait to see what happens next. An idea for your water problem in the pipes. You could use a bubbler, like in the video I attach at 4:20 min. If it helps...
Check out the gassifier build in Part 1: th-cam.com/video/HhnrKHF8BWU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qTbET5bQFClhVyaU
Maybe try a couple inline water traps...
Like used for air lines?!?!??🤷♂️🤷♂️
@@mikekleven8130 yup the moisture is from outside humidity and the start up( start with charcoal) the stop and refill with your dried wood . one of the big issue with gasification
Have you built a carburetor to automatically adjust the 02 being mixed in with the gas? They're very helpful when you're dealing with varying feedstocks.
Maybe try out wood pellets if it doesn't work with that you can rule out the water problems.
I wonder if it would help if you mulched your wood first then used that to create your fuel? It would most definitely be able to dry out much thoroughly.
The real hero of the video is the generator starter.
i think it's them girl's of is there on the ball LOL
Absolutely
Try fiberglass in your filter just a thought
😂😂😂
The real heroes are then girls building it. By gum real St' Trineans tip's them. LOL
Your daughter is an awesome welder
Being a father ....the most impressive thing is your family...I came for the gasification....and was exposed to an amazing family. Kudos to you man. Keep at it!
Sad how family values are fading *over the world*
@@the44thcosmic_galaxy25 Thank the jews.
It's intentional
Reminds me of the fond memories ,when we homeschooled our decades ago
Love your family Christina is amazing. She never has to worry about getting by. She got this. As a proud father myself, I am happy to see other fathers raising there daughters to be tuff and knowledgeable.
I have built a few gasifiers. Try restricting the air intake at the gasifier. Preheating the incoming air helps with fuel production a ton as well. I have had some success in automating the engine air/fuel ratio with a spring on the carburetor valve. The engine timing needs to be adjusted 10-15 degrees advanced to start the spark earlier because the wood gas burns slower than gasoline. This is impossible with many small engines. An electronic O2 sensor in the wood gas stream actuating the incoming air valve is the next iteration I'll be implementing.
If you go on Drive On Wood I did a tutorial on our 02 mixer. This mixer is 8 years devleped now and is a solid controller. NHhbbylogger built it you can look him up for his videos on it.
I also have a 3 D printed servo valve. If you have or know someone with a printer I can sent you the file on DOW.
Wow yall are smart👍
@@Thrive-Off-Grid It's been a long time since I've been on DOW. I'll check it out.
so in the go kart world you can buy a cut keyway that you use on the flywheel and crack shaft to change the timing or you just remove the keyway and set the timing to what ever you want it to be and your good to go
Hi guys, love your videos, during ww2 here in Denmark we used gasgenerators like yours to run cars and trucks due to gas shortage, it is good to see ole teqniques come back to use..... greetings from Denmark
Same in Germany
In Australia as well the fuel rationing was the reason. Apparently fixed to the back of the car.
You need a dry gas scrubber before the generator. We run generators off natural gas all the time in the oil field and you always have a fuel gas scrubber to take out any moisture/liquids prior to burning as fuel. Build a scrubber out of an 8” piece of steel pipe with caps on the end. Run your fuel line in the bottom and your outlet out the top of the scrubber to the generator. Put a dump valve on the bottom to drain liquids and a pressure gage on the top so you can monitor your gas pressure. You may not be getting enough gas pressure under higher load. Probably need about 20-40 psi of gas pressure but check your generator specs. We run our giant 1.5KW generators at about 40 psi and have to shed loads whenever we drop below that.
It’s nice to see father and daughter taking on a project like this!
This is the exact reason every good working gasifier has a cyclone "filter/water separator" at the outlet. You need to keep the outside of the cyclone as cold as you can (water cooling?) to promote as much condensation to build and drop to the bottom collection point as possible.
You are seeing lots of water because there is lots of water. 5% moisture means 20 kg of wood is 1 kg of water which equals 1 liter. Wood is heavy.
I saw another comment about an O2 sensor from a vehicle at the carb to auto adjust the air intake. This is what I use.
Nope bad design; there shouldnt be any water. This just means the unit has a poor water shift or the fuel is too wet.
Or the application is too small and is not capable to drive the unit. This is the case here I think. But where there is water there is tar.
I agree and that was my first thought seeing this setup. It needs a big secondary heat exchanger to condense
Their setup is plenty big enough to run that generator. Smaller size gasifiers ran old 1930's big displacement very inefficient engines.
It's filter/condenser design and generator function/carb mechanics that are the problem. Imho
@@patri0t1776agreed needs to learn how to set the air to fuel ratio on the gene . It clearly runs . Quit closing the fuel to half . The gene needs more fuel when it powers up. The fuel should be wide open and tbe gene suck however much it needs.
You need to remove the air box frome the generator completely and seal the gas hose to the carburetor the engine vacume will draw more gas . I believe the problem your having is the generator is drawing to much outside air and running to lean . Hope this helps
Also try removing the entire carburetor and pluming wood gas directly to the intake port.
Yea I thought the same thing. Those little airboxes aren't even close to air tight.
By half way through this video I was like "CALL STEVE ALREADY!!"
"We have a shop vac contraption, it's like a SNUFFLEUFFLUFFAGUS" 🤣😂😂🤣😜🤣😂 had me losing it! I look forward to Part 3. Love you guys, all the best for fine tuning it,, from Down Under, Australia 🇭🇲🦘🦘🙏🦘🦘🇭🇲
I love how you guys kept troubleshooting. I've also watched Part 1 and I love how supportive you are of your kid. Also, her welds are SOLID! Clearly takes pride in what she does. You can't teach that mentality and it's amazing to see. Congrats on getting it running.
What a great mom and dad!
1st off Excellent Job! Well done! You guys aren't quitters and can all work together, what a pleasure to watch! ❤
On another note...
A friend told me years ago in WW2 he saw taxis burn smoldering palm leaves in the trunk and siphoned forward to the engine. Amazing what folks can accomplish even with primitive forms of equipment to work with.
Okay - the fact of the matter is that each of you have managed to put a gasifier together that can be used to heat your home, cook your food...and if you tweaked it just a little more with practice... it is going to be running the genny very soon -flawlessly! Fantastic!!
Really enjoying this series. Your water issue is unique and im at a loss for its cause. You could have an air leak or a heating issue or it could be b/c of the ambient humidity.
I've built 7 gasifiers since i learned of this technology about 15 years ago to use for various applications and ive not had the troubles you are experiencing. That flame color as perfect when you are flaring. Oh you definitely need to open your gas valve on your carb all the way.
Last Christmas I actually got the book for the gasifier you are using and have been gathering supplies to build it. There are a ton of videos on this and other designs on TH-cam by a plethora of home engineers. Also FEMA has several charts on their website about sizing and designs.
...Have you thought about reaching out to the original creator of this design (Ben Peterson) that wrote the book? The people at Mother Earth News have some great contacts for consulting too.
Good luck. We are all watching with great interest.
We're all rooting for you! This is a wild adventure and I certainly appreciate you sharing it with us. You'll get it I have no doubt
i discovered the series about wood power yesterday and today i get to see the next episode already im thrilled
Maybe building a small scale sun kiln for your gassifier wood could be an option? Love your videos and your family!
I have a solar retort for making charcoal (or flash steam). The off-gas from the retort is flammable and would likely run an IC engine if mixed properly.
Personally, I would just make steam. Of course, my tracking solar retort works only on sunny days. JEFF'S rig works anytime, I get that.
I build wind turbines and compressed-air engines and generators that operate on air as a hobby.
Is the water from the humidity in the air coming through the air intake?
This is what I'm thinking. It's so much water there's no other source than the air
You DO have to dehydrate the gas. VERY bad design as this was not taken into account. Look up FEMA gasification...many videos on youtube
Some but not a lot. Consider that in the winter total humidity in the air is rather low as cold air holds much less moisture than warm air.
At 5% moisture level in the wood, that means that there'll be a 1 (pound or KG) of water in every 20 (pounds or KGs) of wood. They started off with like 15% moisture level... which means for every 20 KG of wood there's THREE LITRES of water. The condenser assembly is supposed to make this drop out but obviously isn't performing very efficiently - the filter stuffed with straw etc is supposed to be dry.
MAN I was so invested in the thing working, and now I find out there is no part 3?! CRUEL!
I'll one thing.... that generator has an outstanding starter!!!!
Good morning from Syracuse NY everyone thank you for sharing your adventures
you guys are awesome! what a great project to work with the family on! especially with all the mini struggles, must be so gratifying when its all said and done and producing the electricity !
I was just waiting for the big bang and for you to stand there with black heads. From this point of view, very well done. The rest is the usual troubleshooting of a new installation, just trying it out and improving it.
Build an external condenser. All you have to do is get a small steel drum or something with a removable lid that you can install spring release latches onto. Then just install in and an out ports . Hay is going to be best filter media in the primary filter and you can also use hay in this external filter. Keep in mind the system is under vacuum so moisture due points are much lower. The water is just condesning out later after the stock cooler. This gas cooler is just getting things low enough to drop the moisture; but as you are experiencing its dropping later as you are finding. So add an inline filter / condenser.
A gasifier must be able to breath so filter media must be loose enough to allow it to breath but also collect dust and absord soem of the moisture.
Once you get things running give it 5 - 10 minutes to get everything warmed up and allow the gasifier to equalize to the engine load. The blower and generator are applying different loads. The blower is more likely driving it harder than the engine. So the gasifier may cool down some as it gets re established to the load the generator is putting on it.
When you make an adjust always turn the mixture just slightly richer and only move the valve a fudge. See what it does. Did it improve? If so adjust a fudge more; if not adjust the other way a fudge. I would suggest getting a brass valve for the air as they are easier to adjust than the PVC valves. They dont work all that well. You have to put some presure on them to get them to move and they just let go and you adjust too far. lol
If you build this external filter. Move your mixer assembly to it. I can tell those that have actually put hours on a machine verses those who have not. Because eventually the mixer assembly will break right off the engine. Your situation you will just break the air box housing. But if you were to mount direct to the face of the carburetor, the bolts that thread into the head will stress harden and shear off that the face of the head. That is a real PITA to get those out as they are lock tighted. LOL
that is a truth in what this chap is spiking of ues bras gat valves.,
A water separator is cheap at the parts store. For paint shops they can pull a lot of moisture for after the big separator. Because every drop in line size creates another dew point to extract water again.
@s2006 Not big enough for this. You would fill one of those things in two minutes.
th-cam.com/video/hzwJStZmI_o/w-d-xo.htmlsi=T7oXrvjOn28oOqYz
This is how they work. This design is nothing new and you cannot possibly invent a better one. You're gonna either blow up your gas generator from water blockage or blow the water seperator because they are all low pressure.
Think of this fact. Refineries do not operate on Pressure, they operate under vacuum induced from the conversion of gas to liquid. If you start producing pressure, it's going to become out of control very very fast.
So awesome. I love that your girls get to benefit from your mad scientist forays. I know that I benefit from them.
I want one of these so bad! I live in MO, and we have Osage Orange everywhere, highest BTU output for wood. I live the idea of combining this technology with coppice agroforestry of select hardwoods with high BTU.
But, will that hedge be used to fire the gasifier or to produce gas? But, if used as the fuel to extract out of other wood the gases needed, then a local tree commonly called eastern red ceder but is really a juniper and due to it's high volatile oils would make a superior gas. But, as for me, I like to use hedge for smelting metals. BTW, I am in northern MO, Linn county.
@@sonofeloah not sure what it is best used for. Still dont completely understand the system. Johnson county
Good job guys. Looking forward for the next video on this! 👍
Crazy how much moisture you're getting, even with dry wood. Good luck, hope you're able to get it dialed in!
wen i see all that damp i think fuel & it almost within extra burn chamber being built on to the side of that what i did . & i got Lod's of gas.
Isn't water one of the products of combustion?
Well done. I've just built one that's very simple but you'll be interested in my method to extract moisture. I'll release the video soon. 50/50 air mix ratio for your intake but let the first pull have 100% gas. Cheers J
The best gasifier video ever! Love the detailed and honest explanation of the challenges with this thing, and can't wait to see the next video on getting it dialed in. Super great work as usual you guys!
I'm going to guess that this gasifier does not actually work in any reasonable manner given the silence on it along with the massive lack of videos showing it actually working to run a generator for an extended period (to include a lack of such videos on the manufacturer's channel).
I hope you will make a video that explains why this project failed although a video showing it working would be even better but I find that outcome unlikely.
the best about godlessness is we see all the failures as well as their sucses.
@@LesThompson-i3t unfortunately we don't since they have chosen not to make a part three and explain what happened. That's unfortunate, I had figured they would not keep us in the dark if the project was a failure. It's disappointing that they have not updated us on this project as to what happened.
I know absolutely nothing about a gasifier, other than watching you build one, but I'm rooting for you 👍👏🙏
I agree with the comments about the humidity on the air intake side to your gasifier - I think you need an air dryer like you put on a sandblaster setup.
Consider sending your gas to a holding tank,great video good luck with it
If you keep having a problem with water in the gas you should try putting a moisture trap from an air compressor on the gasifier's outlet (where you are attaching the flexible hose).
You can also put a filter over the air inlet of your makeshift carburetor (the Tee intersection with the two valves), that might help some.
that was a blast to watch
Condensation - hot air meeting cold? Some kind of moisture trap like those used on air compressors? Some kind of kiln for drying the wood? Looks like some other commenters actually know a thing or two about gasifiers, unlike me. I'm just excited. 😁
Anyhoo. Great stuff!
Exactly, some sort of radiator, make the gas come threw that, with a colecting metal container at the bottom.
That's what the stuff on the side is for - the bendy tubes are supposed to cool the gas down and encourage condensation, where it is supposed to collect in the cylinder on the bottom. The efficiency of that arrangement is clearly not working for these folks - the filter is supposed to be dry!
Adding some fins and a fan might help
Yes, they definetly need a more intricate radiator with enough fin surface to cool that water vapor on that sub zero air, since they need this in winter when sun is low, there no reason they can't trap all that moisture before it reaches the generator. They could easely adapt a car or truck water radiator to that purpose. @@holysirsalad
Science + Technology Learning Centre extraordinary. Wow the family teamwork and learning ... no better schooling like hands on. Thanks so much.
For drying next year's fuel wood, try a method I heard of years ago (in either Backwoods Home or Countryside magazine), assuming you have a forklift or front loader: In the spring, stack your cut wood on pallets, cover the stacks with clear plastic, and wrap them with cling film pallet wrap, then leave them in the sun for the summer.
why is it they all won't too. Get rid of the water H2O That's where the gas is son?
Percistence! Wow. I am impressed by you and your family s ability to not giving up! This video is also a reminder of the fact that even if you get more and more independence from the grid, we are independent of other sorts of "grids". You need neighours, friends, family, other people and also products with parts stemming from maby far far away 😊
Looking forward to part 3 Try to do it before I die LOL Les England loves your effort so fear. LOL Ps don't forget. [ water contains H2.0 ] That is where the gas energy Live's son
This is probably the greatest success story I have ever heard thanks for your time and hard work!!!!
The greatest success story you ever heard was a couple of people not failing completely at setting up their generator... You gotta up your standards more.
Interestingly back in victorian times, the main stove would have been able to also supply electric, and was able to prove upto maybe 200watts 12v but in those days not many people needed power so was not very popular.
Awesome adventure
Any updates on the gassifier?
Hi try compressing your gas into a pressure vessel thru water filters and then run gas back through your propane option. Keep up the good work!
that is an excellent idea.
I wonder wood chips would be best? Because moister can be released more faster?
You can make a solar powered fan ventilated wood drying shed. Just need some pallets to stack and separate wood into layers under cover with forced air ventilation. Once found a solar powered attic fan on marketplace for $50 which would be ideal.
Congratulations ya'll - ya freakin did it !
Hi, you need a lambda sensor or AFR sensor (to measure the air to fuel ratio) in the exhaust pipe. The value should stay around 14,7. This gives you an idea of the direction in which you need to adjust the valves.
I doubt the stoichiometric ratio is the same for gasoline (14.7) and wood gas. ChatGPT says 25:1 air fuel ratio for wood gas, for whatever that's worth.
@@Screw_This Indeed the ratio isn't the same, but the lambda sensor doesn't measure how much air and fuel is mixed. It rather measures the remaining oxygen in the exhaust gases and deduces a value for the AFR (for gasoline). The same value would hold for the wood gas, because the remaining oxygen should be the same in both cases for optimal running.
I love all of your videos. Everyone is so talented in their different ways.
Thankyou for sharing your learning curve. Gid bless.
Glad you showed just how difficult it really is most people think it’s just chuck some wood in fire it up and away you go leave it running all day there’s so much balancing adjustments needed,load considerations, filtration and that’s before you even get to maintenance 🤣
Great video ! Love the content. Having a few gasifiers myself, getting them to run consistently requires patience, only changing one thing at a time and above all, having a working knowledge of Voodoo. Good luck and keep at it !
ha ha ha Voodoo Ha ha it must seem like that at times
@@lesthompson5907 Yes indeed ! I built one machine from scratch, lived it, breathed it for 5 years, had an O2 sensor and Arduino control to adjust the air/fuel ratio, and along with a local group of guys we were just about ready to have the engine and gasifier communicating with each other ... then that covid crap happened and blew our group to bits. That said, we can make good power and fairly consistant runs. Love it !
ahh, so good to see these types of projects. Keep it up!
Back in the 40-50's we used to have woodburning gas public transportation here in Finland. There was 40 000 vehicles in 1947 what ran on wood gas.
it was Norway my dad got his gasifier. Back from in the War, we had it for years until, it rotted out . we had cork as part of the filter siystom . of an old meat freezer. yes they worked , well .
Yeah, a Swedish guy invented the wood gas carburetor thats why we had it here in finland
Recreate history one home at a time.
Are taking into account the humidity in the air? Also at this point I would check the oil in that generator.
Cool stuff! Since you are already working with a gaseous fuel, you shouldn't need a "carburetor", per se, just an air/fuel mixer. That is what the LPG inlet of your generator is designed to do. It has a demand regulator that adjusts how much fuel is allowed to the engine based on how much vacuum the engine is producing. Wider throttle openings create more vacuum, and the regulator opens wider to allow more fuel in. It is then mixed with the right amount of air before entering the engine. (The right amount of air for burning propane, that is.)
Perhaps keep the large pipe feeding the generator: since there is very little pressure behind it coming off the gasifier, you need the volume. Then adapt down to the LPG inlet size right at the generator, using as few fittings as possible. Seal them well. And it shouldn't need the extra air intake before going into the generator's fuel system. At least that would be my assumption since a propane fuel source doesn't need it.
The earlier comment about adjusting the ignition timing may be accurate, too. Then there is the unknown BTU content of the wood gas. It may not be able to produce very many horsepower, but your results so far show that it should at least be a useful amount. Have fun!
This is exactly what I thought, I hope he reads these comments
This was my thought but said probably
I love this video. And the first post. I know it's an old video but have you tried a wet filter. Bubbling the gas through media in water? Syngas gets introduced to the bottom of the filter housing then bubbles through the water and media removing more particulate, moisture, tar, and other compounds also helps to cool thee gas further. Just a thought but great video.
Hello I was watching this and am very interested in what your doing. I was a mechanic by trade for years. And I dabbled in painting cars that's where I learned that the fresh air coming in had to have a water filter. With that much snow around the moisture content of the air is probably half your problem. Just a thought, not sure if it's right or not
Hello, I have a suggestion for getting the gasified carb settings right. If you can replace the two ball valves you are using as a gasified carb with two small throttle bodies from a fuel injected vehicle, maybe even a motorcycle, they will have throttle position sensors built into them. With sensors you could move the throttles and monitor their positions. One for the air and one for the gasified fuel. Once you find the sweet spot for each of them you can record the throttle position of each of the throttles. This would allow you to go back to the same exact throttle settings each time. In addition, these could be wired to an Arduino motherboard with input from your charge controller. So that as the charge controlled draws more power, the Arduino board could open the throttles to the desired settings exactly, every time. To do this you would have to use “throttle-by-wire” type throttle bodies. These have electric motors built into them as well as throttle position sensors. This way the controller could automatically add more air/fuel as necessary, automatically. I am not a software engineer, but I have been teaching automotive diagnostics for 20+ years and this should not be a challenging thing for someone to write software for. I would be happy to discuss the finer details of this with you and provide a wire diagram for what I am suggesting. I don’t really want to give out my contact info to the whole world so you’d have to give me an email address I can PM you on.
Mr. D
really like the straw-cob-insulated walls :)
I would not add any charcoal as it has already burned and therefore give off less gas I would assume but that's just a guessing
Awesome, love your family unit. Just throwing a big soggy wet spitball against the wall. Not sure if you figured it out but maybe talk to a pro auto painter. I worked in a body shop when I was younger (not a painter) and I know water/moistier from the air compressor when painting a car is real bad. Maybe what ever they do can be adapted for this purpose. Just a thought. Also on your Dual fuel generator, there is a difference between natural gas and propane. They are made for propane. I wanted to hook it up for natural gas. You need an adaptor for natural gas. I think its just a different adjustable pressure regulator. Not sure where the wood gas lands in that category. Just thoughts. Good luck.
Don't forget ambient humidity.... you may need to filter both sides of your system....
Below 0C there will not be a lot of ambient moisture. Most of it is frozen.
You do a fantastic job of approaching things with a good vibe and not getting frustrated.
My suggestions would be;
- The filter medium will saturate with water so it doesn’t matter so much what you use as it won’t stop the moisture for long
- It seems like the condenser isn’t doing a good job of pulling the water out. Perhaps some modifications in that area would be good
- Perhaps a drain valve on the bottom of the filter housing to let the water out at the bottom, it would be cool if this was automatic and lets water out but not woodgas (and doesn’t let air in)
- Maybe a secondary condenser on the gas outlet before the generator, like a large ‘oil catch can’ if you’ve seen those. With the whether being so cold when you run this it should condensate a lot of the moisture out and trap it
I’ve not checked all your videos so maybe you’ve solved this prop Ken already 😊
Love to see all the experiments mate and that the whole family is involved it’s super wholesome and good ❤
Love how you all team up and just figure it out! Looking forward to the update! Another great video!
5:23 Turn the petrol off, let it runout and stop. Then start it on your woodgas. It wont like running on both (air fuel ratio).
15:24 Its running too lean under load .
20:14 I'll go out on a limb here and say that your genny under load is burning the fuel faster than it is produced OR the plumbing is not letting enough fuel through to do the job.
25:38 Are we talking coal or charcoal? Charcoal can also produce a lot of moisture but I dont think moisture is the problem.
You'll get there mate.
Gasifier doesn't produce constant mass flow of fuel (combustible gasses) rather it varies a bit. That is why you had problems with setting up your intake valve, it will work for a second or two and than mass flow will change and fuck up your air to fuel ratio soo much that it will stop the generator running. First solution I recommend would be to first store the combustible gases in container and than run the generator on stored gases that way you wont have fluctuations in mass flow. Second fancy way is it to try to use valve system that is actually used in steam engines that enables running steam engine at constant frequency at variable pressure.
Now about water issue. I am assuming because of snow I see that environment in which you are running gasifier is pretty humid, soo air that is going into the gasifier is pretty wet with high % of moisture so even if you have super dry wood you will still experience problems with moisture until you find a way of removing the moisture from air before the air enters the gasifier through air intake.
How to dry intake air?
Yeah he can just add a pressure tank and a pressure valve to level that out. Basically just base it near to the propane requirements for that generator then run it until the pressure valve is constantly open.
I built a retort for making charcoal and it is the same thing you are doing but I am not capturing the fuel and way less complex! When my retort runs for about 20 min you can hear the wood gas burning like a turbo torch. It is really cool. I think on your last video it was a wood moisture issue. I always use dry hard wood for my retort. Great build guys!!!
The book says for a motor that small you need 5 nozzles extended deeper into the hearth. You are running 8 nozzles that is made more for 3.0l motor so you are not getting the heat to crack the tar and moister. Just remember the gasifier is a carburetor.
You could be getting some of you moisture from the air coming in too. Your wood is dry and charcoal is dry. The only other place is fresh air intake. Just a thought
Your flame should be only blue. At the end of your video with dryer wood and different filtration media it looks very blue unlike your first video and the start of this video. If it isn't blue, you have tar/impurities/water which will kill your engine.
We ran a crude gasifier with a very orange flame the first one we built and the generator ran perfect. However, when it cooled down we couldn't roll it over again. Opening it up, it was stuck solid with tar.
Reducing your burn chamber from 4" to 3" helps keep the reactor hotter and burns the tar and impurities but will reduce the total output available. Maybe it works at low loads but needs a larger opening for charging load.
You should try storing the gas in some buffer first to not deal with fluctuations, i.e. compress into gas bottle, and hook that up to genny.
Good job guys!! Almost there!! A bit more tweaking and you got it!
Thanks for sharing your time n talents with us today....!!
Amazing!!👍
👍🧙♂️🐺🤙
Have you thought about bolting the pipe directly to the carburetor instead of the air filter box to minimize air leak?
Y'all worked hard on that project. It was awesome. Time Suggestion: Acquire some small or large propane tanks. Set up some vapor recovery equipment. Collect the Gas vapor from the gasifier. That equipment will squeeze out the water, Thus, giving you a clean dry gas vapor to fill the tanks. Now, you can burn wet wood if you want. Fill the tanks with the gas year-round and store them. Then when you need it, just hook up a tank to the generator. This might Increase the generator's yield as well with wearing it out, giving it a stable and constant vapor pressure. Only thing left to do is research how much the tanks can hold and how long it will run per tank. Thank you for sharing the video.
you got some smart kids there 👍👍
Try making or buying a water Seperator.
Hello, I would imagine the generator is fuel constrained, as the load increases so does the draw on the gasifier. This could be rectified with a relatively simple device called a gasometer to guarantee a constant pressure similar to the pressure rating of the LPG. Also you could look at dehydrating the gas by cooling it and then filtering with Silica but watch out for temperature and potential issues surrounding this.
Awesome - what can you say but AWESOME !
My assumption is condensation from the cold air being driven in. Immediately turning to steam and pushing out through the whole system, along with any moisture in the wood. I'd love to know if you have the same issues in summer.
So glad I've found your channel 🎉😊
Woohoo!! Been waiting for this! Gunna watch and enjoy, I'll get back to us 🤠🧐🤓🤠💓💓🙏🦘🇭🇲🦘 From Australia 🦘🦘
just great to watch.mybe if you do the test,
not in winter.wood to moist.but youre channel is great.40 jyears ago my wife and i allmost didt the same in australia.but your contry is mutch better
Very interesting! I would be interested to know whether this design is more effective than a steam engine with an electric generator.
Part 3 ??
With all of last year's adventures & winter kicking in, is it time for the finale of the wood gasifier/Jenny ?
Stay Safe & God Bless
Hi guy's,
New to you all. Awesome family. The girls are welding, doing leather work and you sooo remind me of Jack Black.
Keep the awesome vids coming. 😎
I think this would be better with a diverter valve that can be turned toward the choked inlet for starting and the open inlet for running, if that makes sense.
keep in mind with the gas carb in place it has a throttle valve controlling the overall amount of air entering the engine. When you set the idle speed the carb is shut
then it dumps open at fast idle. You need to set the gen on fast idle override so its fully open all the time and tune the gasifier carb from there. Other wises your idle and fast idle are not comparable.
good luck.
Hey I remamber getting water from sand in a desert. Covering the top protects it from above, but not below and a tarp will cause it to rain inside. Just a thought. I was going to mention moisture gauge, but I see you got one. Well done sir
Can you add a water separator to the gas line feeding the generator? That way any residual moisture in the gas feed has one more layer of defense to remove moisture.
Engine timing. Advance timing a couple degrees, that is making the spark ignition event sooner. See 8f you can adjust the magneto. Also try running it with a smaller valve for the air inlet at the carburator
If you get water vapor in the woodgas, this means you either don't have high enough temperature in the charcoal bed at the grate, or too big of gaps in the chunks of charcoal for the woodgas to short circuit the charcoal bed, the gaps will also likely produce tar since the carbon will not have come in contact to "crack" the tars, though that requires heat also, but not near as much as cracking water with pure carbon. Cracking water with carbon that is in the charcoal requires high temperature and lots of surface area for the gases to contact. What you're left with if successful is pure hydrogen and possibly some methane gas. This is your goal now, produce some heat for the reaction. This is dependent on the flow rate of the gasifier too, too little flow builds less heat.
27:36 starving for fuel.... smaller generator that uses less draw of fuel, but it's running at max.
There just isn't enough fuel for the increased load. Increasing the efficiency of fuel conversion?
Brainstorming....
Just thinking of loud.
Awesome job !!! Really enjoyed your video and admired all the hard work !
Likely pulling in outside air and condensing the moisture out of it .
Well done, I love your project and I can't wait to see what happens next. An idea for your water problem in the pipes. You could use a bubbler, like in the video I attach at 4:20 min. If it helps...
I built a similar setup and ran 3 generators at the same time off of one wood gasifier.
a longer piper for the condenser could help remove more water