Getting ready for the Bio-Mizer

[Reddog]

Kent,

Grain moisture content is just the percentage of weight that is Water. But when buying from the elevator, they tell you the percentage of Dry. That is why the number seems high to a quick glance.

You can figure the moisture content the same way you do kiln drying. Take a sample weight it, Dry it in a oven and re-weight. End weight/Starting weight= % of moisture. So say your test load starts at 100#'s, you dry  all moisture out and re-weight it is 80#'s. 80/100=.80 or 80%, which is 20% true moisture.

Clear as mud?

Wally

[Jeff]

Wally has it right. It was 86% DRY  according to the elevator man.  When I asked him the Moisture content, he says 86%.  I said, then I oughta be able to wring it out.  :D   Thats when he gave me the lesson in how its figured with grain. Just the opposite of how we figure for wood.

[Jeff]

Wally, Barnie  is taking the distillers off my hands.  Man I'm glad them fellers found us here!!  8)

[Norm]

I'm surprised that it wouldn't burn the DDG's. I thought maybe you had bought the wet DDG's but apparently not. It also seems to be going through the sawdust fast but it is pretty light stuff. I wish someone had some planer shavings for you to try. We make tons of it when doing skip planning boards and I thought it would work really well in the Bio-Mizer. Have you had any troubles with it so far, and what do you think of the workmanship and engineering?

[Jeff]

The workmanship and engineering is way more then I expected after seeing the prototype and I was impressed with that.  You can see there is a whole lot that has went into this rig.  The only thing I can see that would be on my wish list, and I am sure that would be a whole new engineering problem, would be some sort of on board moisture content sensing system that would regulate the settings for optimum burn.  That probably wouldn't be needed if a guy was burning the same fuel all the time.  I'm playing with mine and testing, and can only work with what I have, so my fuel specs are different almost every time I empty a bag in the hopper.

My trouble with the machine to this point, and I don't consider them troubles, but learning experiences, are pretty much of my own doings.

[StorminN]

Jeff,

About how many BTU's is your Bio-Mizer supposed to put out?

Reason I ask is at our snowboard factory, we produce a few yards of kiln-dried aspen sawdust per day from our resaw and abrasive planers. Currently we give this sawdust to a local soils place that composts it, but we've always wanted to figure out a good way to heat the factory with it.

We played around with an Italian sawdust puck-making machine... kinda like presto-logs, but puck shaped instead. The pucks burned well, but we need a burner that is automated feed. Sounds like one of these Bio-Mizer units with a large hopper might work, and no need to make pucks.

Our climate is pretty mild here. Our factory is 24,000 sq. ft. and we currently heat it with an oil-fired hot-air furnace. I imagine a liquid-to-air heat exchanger could be added to this? Are there any plans to generate electricity with these Bio-Mizers? I understand you are a test site, do they have a target date for these being available to the public?

Thanks,
-Norm.

[Jeff]

The unit I have here is rated at 150,000 BTU  and your aspen fuel should be awesome. I wish we had a way for you to get a couple bags here and I would test it for you. The industrial model is 1,000,000 BTU  that would certainly fulfill your needs.

I know that co-gen is listed as one of the future goals/intentions on the brochures I have here and I am hoping that is certainly still in the works. 

I'd hesitate to give any approximate release date as I'm sure that can fluctuate one way or the other depending on a multitude of events. Hopefully Batesvillebuck will climb in here and give us an update.

[Furby]

Back to the pool.  Furby, I don't know why your solution with the copper loop wouldn't work as a stop-gap method, but you wouldn't want to do it that way during the times you actually wanted to use the pool. I'm not sure what pool chemicals would do to copper but I bet its not good. I think a pool heater would have to be made of stainless.

I suggested copper due to it's ease of use and ability to hold up to some chemicals.
But, since you brought it up......... here's a good read:Link
I also found a page that claimed there is little reaction between chlorine and copper at room temp, but as they heat up, the reaction is vigorous.
But that is straight chlorine, not pool water.
Either way, a standard water to water exchanger would be the way to go for long term use.


To burn BTU's or maybe even help dry the dust, how bout using an old car radiator?
Couple of short pieces of hose with some fitting reducers on the end and you can hook it up to whatever.
Leave it outside and let the wind blow through it if you like.

[Jeff]

I'd like to find a small heat exchange to put in the little cabin out back, something that isnt "Ugly" Tammy says.  It could serve two functions. warm the cabin, use some heat, and perhaps even dry some of the sawdust stored in there.

[Reddog]

Jeff all you need is base board radiators a themostat and a valve. or a thermostat/vone valve.

[Furby]

I don't know why you couldn't find a way to dress up a car radiator.
Maybe a wood frame with some sort of punched tin face or some such thing.

Some folks have found ways to dress up those cast iron house radiators.
Pick one up at the scrap yard and paint it up nice with a glass shelf on top or something.

[Stump Jumper]

I don't know why you couldn't find a way to dress up a car radiator.

like with a chevy grill

[Furby]

Now THAT'S funny!!!  :D :D :D :D :D

[Radar67]

Better yet, save time and use a Rolls Royce radiator.

[Stump Jumper]

new thought   

grill & bumper with coyote mounted to it

now Tammy should like that   8) :D ;)

[DouginUtah]

http://www.slantfin.com/product-kicker.html

I have one installed in my kitchen--where there wasn't any place to put baseboard heaters.

Notice also on the left menu on this page the link to Heat Loss Software. I used it to figure the heat loss in my house. Free large download.

[Corley5]

Unstyled Allis Chalmers WC tractor radiators have brass tanks with Allis Chalmers stamped on the top one and look sharp when polished  ;) ;D  Not that I'm a big AC fan  ;D

[StorminN]

Jeff, 150,000 BTU's sounds good. If you want to PM me your address, I can UPS you some bags of sawdust...

-Norm.

[thecfarm]

Might not be a bad idea to dig out the WM and start building a drying shed for the sawdust.Would not need that big of a building,I would think,10X10.If you could make it a 3 tier drying rack.Use a roof rake to spread the sawdust around on each level.That would get rid of some heat too.I know the heat excanger fan would move the air at times.We used cheap Walmart box fans,around $10 each,when we had the greenhouse to keep the air moving.Had like 4 going at a time.We kept them on 4-5 months and run them 24/7 and they are still working after 3 years.I never thought they would last the long.I would think with 3 layers,you should be able to have enough sawdust drying all the time.Just an idea.What about a solar kiln?

[batesvillebuck]

Jeff,  The water to water exchanger they brought to the hog roast was a AIC brand LB31-40 Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger.  If you google that, you can find them.  I think it was around $500.  You can probably find something that will work for less $$.


Co-gen is still one of our goals, and will be #1 priority once the 1M BTU unit is in production.  We think that will be sometime later this summer.

[Jeff]

The water to water exchanger they brought to the hog roast was a AIC brand LB31-40 Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger.  If you google that, you can find them.  I think it was around $500. You can probably find something that will work for less $$.

OUCH!


Yea, I'll bet I work at finding something that works a lot cheaper! :D

[Dana]

Jeff I have a email in to the guy I bought a 30 row flat plat from. I ask him on a price for a 40 row. I would just use a coil of copper set in the pool like Furby mentioned. Whats the worst that could happen everyone turns green and the Biomizer runs out of water and cracks. ???

[Jeff]

I gave Furby's idea some thought, and was also discussing it with Barnie on the phone a couple days ago. I think dropping a coil of uninsulated pex in would be better. I havn't priced it yet, but I bet I can buy 100 foot of pex cheaper then 10 foot of copper.

I've been trying to wrap my mind around how to run a circuit from the house, then out to the cabin, then to the pool, then back to the bio-mizer, and maybe another "box" that i'll mention later.   I need to figure out how to run the pex, but valve it so I can Isolate the circuits to these configurations:

1. Run all three.
2. Run just the pool
3. Run the house and the cabin
4.  Run just the house.

or 5. Run the "box" too.


Do you guys think this would work?

Build a plywood box that is big enough to contain 4 100lb polypropylene bags of sawdust. Build a top that is vented well along the edges. Created coils of thermopex around the inside of the box for the bags to sit within. Uninsulated Pex in an enclosed area like that should create a tremendous amount of heat. 4 bags would be over a hopper load. How much moisture I wonder could you drive out of the bags with intense heat in a day? I would imagine if I could find a way to build a tumbler that rotated within the box and the sawdust was loose, you could really do some drying.

[Furby]

I thought of the uninsulated pex, but was concerned that it might start to break down and let particals off.
Won't hurt to try and won't turn things green either if it does.

Are your quick connects on the outside of the house?
Just add a set of quick connects with Tees and valves at the house.

[Jeff]

You cant do it that way.  You cant t off, you have to be in a loop.