2 replies to this topic

[machinist22]

So, I heard about this whole "wood gasifier" thing from my brother a while back and so I decided to do a little looking around.  This site, by far, has the best information and from what I can see, more information than anyone else out there.  Kudos for that!  I am a machinist and my brother is a welder so we are planning to build one of these to generate electricity for my place first as I am already off the grid and heat with wood every year.  I am assuming that the left overs from wood cutting would work fine (limbs, branches, etc.) chipped up.

I feel as though my plans for home electricity is taken care of, but now with the impending doom on the horizon of this country, I would really like to see about building a unit for a vehicle.  I understand that a good many vehicles ran on this "technology" during WWII so it shouldn't be too difficult.  I know also that buses have and do run on this technology so the size of the vehicle shouldn't be a problem either.  All "alternative energy" vehicles that I see online that have been built seem to revolve around the small econoboxes like the Geo Metro and other tiny little pointless cars.  I have yet to see someone build something around a truck like mine, four wheel drive, long bed, crew cab, you know an actual WORK TRUCK.

Also, I did download the FEMA document that was put out during war time for those so inclined to build their own units.  Other than that I do not have any other documents that contain actual diagrams detailing the parts, their function and some theory behind why they are there and what they do.  I have a fair amount of design experience so, for me, it is very helpful to see diagrams of this kind to understand how things work.

Any help would be awesome!  Keep up the good work!

Oh, one more thing, are there rules and laws about running a vehicle, powered by wood gas, on the road?

Thanks very much.  I look forward to hearing from others more knowledgeable than myself about some of these topics.

Machinist22
jbuntingmachine@yahoo.com

[jimmason]

mr machinist.

glad we pass muster.  thank you for noticing the giant trench of information around these parts.  someday we even get it organized and tolerable to find more than once.

we do not currently have a worked out design for a large truck.  you could upsize the gek using the traditional imbert charts on your own.  i really should finally do this too.  i've promised a rough draft set to several at this point, but have yet to finish them.  

we have a project currently underway to do a 100kw gasifier-genset in a shipping container, so drawings will have to appear out of this soon.  thus if you want to wait, there will be some soon.

but still, i'd suggest you start with the smaller ones.  there is much to learn about operation, best learned on engines less valuable.  if you build one gasifier, you will most likely build two.  it is difficult to stop.  somewhat like collecting interesting broken engines.

the number of interesting broken engines you have around your place is a likely indicator of the number of gasifiers  you will likely build going forward.  use that for your own self-assessment.  plan your path forward accordingly. . .


jim

[oohilove]

Keep up the good work !!