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Wood burning truck!

Started by ellmoe, April 28, 2005, 08:18:40 PM

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Paul_H

Nice chunker, compact and neat and tidy!
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

sawdust

Morning Paul.

Joan and I are likely passing through Enderby later in June. Will bring donuts.
David
comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

Paul_H

I look forward to seeing you guys again
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

justallan1

WOW! What a great post. I've read bits and pieces here and there, but I just read the entire post between last night and today and what a great read it was. The only downfall is that some of the links are no longer in existence, but I'm sure there are new and possibly more sites about this stuff to be seen.
Our summer kid and I have discussed doing this to an old '77 1/2 ton with a straight six in it that I have. We'll see how that plays out.

TKehl

Keep in mind, you lose some power with woodgas.  I typically hear 2/3 to 70% of the power from gasoline is had running wood gas.

This makes a 300 Ford a better choice than a 225 Dodge from the power perspective.  Part of why I got a truck with the 460.   ;)
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

Paul_H

justallan1,
The power loss is generally around 30%. On a hill the power loss is very noticeable but you learn to drive accordingly. The newer designs like Wayne Keith\s and Ben Petersen's recover more gas faster through heat recycling and insulation.
The MEN gasifier still works pretty good once temps are up in the gasifier.

TKehl,you are correct,a 300 six is a good choice and bigger is even better.  I look forward to seeing your progress.

Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

justallan1

Can you guys steer me towards any pre-made plans for a 300 six cylinder, made by someone that you can trust has done a good job building these things....Please.
Whether it actually happens or it's something that I read up on, I think just learning about it would be great.
I've watched a bunch of videos and read a little, but there are just to many unknowns for me to just dive in with zero knowledge.
Thanks in advance.

justallan1

ANNND...would it be smart to build one of these things on a smaller scale first to just get a better grasp of what's going on, say maybe big enough to run a 5 HP engine?

Paul_H

Wood gasifiers for small engines are at least as hard to build as one for larger engines but a charcoal gasifier is quite simple and will encourage you. They are fairly quick to make and will help you better understand running engines on wood..
Gary Gilmore has a few good vids on youtube and we have a couple charcoal threads on this board also.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,81327.0.html

These produce dangerous carbon monoxide so don't run the units in a garage,otherwise it's just fine.

Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

justallan1

Thanks Paul.
You hit the nail on the head as to why I would want to build a small one, to build confidence and mainly to better understand the whole thing a bit better.

Edit, after hitting the link I find out it shows the site that I just found last night that seems to be a real decent starting point. LOL
Thanks again.

justallan1

Sooooo.....can you run these things on coal also? My house sits a little off of the main part of the ranch and smack dab in the middle of a coal mine, literally.
Coal is basically free here. I think it's $27 a ton and if I wanted to get cheap about it we have had bunches of coal seam fires around the ranch where I can just go pick it up for free.
Just an idea.

Paul_H

Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

justallan1

Thanks Paul.
I looked through the "drive on wood" site and there's piles of great info on there.
I decided to start with a charcoal gasifier to get a better understanding of what's actually going on.
Before I built the gasifier I knew that I would need charcoal and read up on that a bunch and watched bunches of videos. I got some made and then built the gasifier yesterday and will test it today if I can rig up some kind of blower.
I'll get some pictures of what I'm doing today with any luck.

billschi

Quote from: justallan1 on November 23, 2017, 06:55:11 AMI got some made and then built the gasifier yesterday and will test it today if I can rig up some kind of blower. I'll get some pictures of what I'm doing today with any luck.


Just curious, did you try and fire up your gasifier? Pictures and videos would be good.

Don P


justallan1

Yup, I got it running and ran a 3000 watt generator on it.
I thought I posted the video on one of the threads about this, but can certainly post them tomorrow on this one.

Paul_H

Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

justallan1

I had fun making it and learning something new for darned sure.
I tried firing it up awhile back and can't quite get it to run the generator, so I'm figuring that letting it sit for long periods of time with charcoal left in it is the problem, thinking that the charcoal took on some moisture.
I'll make it run again if we ever get some winter around here. 

Paul_H

It's possible that it has bridged and left a void near the nozzle and if it is you can either give it a good shake it send a ramrod down through the top.Wood chunks are more prone to bridging in a conventional gasifier and I keep a rod handy in case.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

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