Posted by Jim Rojas on July 14, 2014, 1:56 pm
Has anyone here made one yet? I am building a scaled down version to run
a 5hp engine for emergencies. I once went 2 weeks without power due to a
bad storm here in Florida.
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Jim Rojas
Posted by adsDUMP on July 14, 2014, 6:19 pm
wrote:
>Has anyone here made one yet? I am building a scaled down version to run
>a 5hp engine for emergencies. I once went 2 weeks without power due to a
>bad storm here in Florida.
Haven't built one, but do have copies of the designs the fed govt gave
out (1930 and 1938 or thereabouts). Probably OK to resize for a
smaller engine.
I doubt that any vehicle engine newer than 1970 would run
satisfactorily (some might not run at all) on the gas mix available
from a woodgas generator. Maybe I should have kept my '49 Ford with
the flathead V8 ;-)
Posted by Ecnerwal on July 15, 2014, 2:09 pm
> Has anyone here made one yet? I am building a scaled down version to run
> a 5hp engine for emergencies. I once went 2 weeks without power due to a
> bad storm here in Florida.
Look into APL and the Gasifier Experimenter's Kit modern open-sourced
mostly-automated wood gasifiers they are building, selling, and for
which you can get the plans for free if you want to go that way. There
is a lot of depth of practical problems found and addressed in that body
of work.
http://www.gekgasifier.com
Note that while you can (if you have the scratch) get a fully functional
power-pallet integrated system dropped off ready to go, you still need
to sort fuel supply, and fuel supply is a non-trivial issue - it's
sensitive to size (both too large and too small), moisture content
(though several of the improvements in the GEK over time have had to do
with fuel drying from process heat), etc.
It's microprocessor controlled/monitored...
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.
Posted by Jim Rojas on July 15, 2014, 3:58 pm
On 7/15/2014 10:09 AM, Ecnerwal wrote:
>
>> Has anyone here made one yet? I am building a scaled down version to run
>> a 5hp engine for emergencies. I once went 2 weeks without power due to a
>> bad storm here in Florida.
>
> Look into APL and the Gasifier Experimenter's Kit modern open-sourced
> mostly-automated wood gasifiers they are building, selling, and for
> which you can get the plans for free if you want to go that way. There
> is a lot of depth of practical problems found and addressed in that body
> of work.
>
> http://www.gekgasifier.com
>
> Note that while you can (if you have the scratch) get a fully functional
> power-pallet integrated system dropped off ready to go, you still need
> to sort fuel supply, and fuel supply is a non-trivial issue - it's
> sensitive to size (both too large and too small), moisture content
> (though several of the improvements in the GEK over time have had to do
> with fuel drying from process heat), etc.
>
> It's microprocessor controlled/monitored...
>
Though it would be nice to buy one of these pricey ready made systems,
the point of the entire project is to be self reliant, and not shift
money from the utility company to a vendor. For the price of this ready
made unit, I can pay my electric bill for 7 years. We intend to use
nothing but off the shelf items. No microprocessors will be acceptable.
Yard waste & mulch is free here from our local county recycling center,
and from tree service companies looking not to pay $0+ per load dumping
fees. Many of these tree companies advertise free drop off service on
Craigslist. I also own a business that would supply 2+ tons of cardboard
& paper weekly. My entire neighborhood is surrounded by trees, leaves,
pine cones, bamboo, etc...all free for anyone to use. Since this is a
carbon neutral system, our local county approves it as long as I don't
produce any more the 5KW per generator. No permit is required.
--
Jim Rojas
Posted by Ecnerwal on July 16, 2014, 2:43 pm
> Though it would be nice to buy one of these pricey ready made systems,
> the point of the entire project is to be self reliant, and not shift
> money from the utility company to a vendor.
As noted when I first mentioned it, the GEK is completely free to get
plans for and fabricate yourself. As for the odds of getting a usable
result out of your feedstock as described, you might be better off
trying a methane digester. Good luck with it, and prepare for a
significant learning curve...
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.
>a 5hp engine for emergencies. I once went 2 weeks without power due to a
>bad storm here in Florida.