# Wood gassifier...any one having easy enough and tested plans to build my own?



## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...

Since Murby brought up this subject in the Solar array subject, i was googling around and found about a ton of things how to do it, but they were all so different, that i was hoping, that someone here uses a diy one and can provide useful tips, plans, tricks or what ever...
Cause it looks like that such a device ends on my to-do list...
Thx in advance

This one here looks pretty doable for non prfessional steel workers:


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Hello...
> 
> Since Murby brought up this subject in the Solar array subject, i was googling around and found about a ton of things how to do it, but they were all so different, that i was hoping, that someone here uses a diy one and can provide useful tips, plans, tricks or what ever...
> Cause it looks like that such a device ends on my to-do list...
> ...


This guy has the right idea... 





But even he isn't doing it correctly.. While his basic design of the burner area is spot on, the rest of his system isn't right.. 

His burner bowl is insulated with refractory cement.. while he's using a DIY blend of plaster and sand, he's on the right track with that part of his build. He also has the air nozzle right.. really nice setup there..

His system fails in only one area so far as I can tell... and that's airflow capacity. The gasses have a lot of tubing and filter media to pass through and the passages need to be bigger to allow unrestricted flow. When he starts running his generator, you'll see that he's using a small hose to hook up to it.. You need a big hose.. as in two inch.. then you pipe down with a reducer. 

You'll notice when he starts his generator and turns the load (lights) on, that it looses RPM's.. while this doesn't affect light bulbs, it will destroy pretty much everything else. If you try to run anything with a motor, it could burn the motor up. When a generator loses RPM's, the voltage and frequency output also drop and this can destroy motors quickly. He needs a larger feed pipe going to this carburetor. The rest of his system is well done and I'll probably build mine similarly with only a few minor changes.

I don't just plan to use it to run a generator though.. I want to compress the gas into large propane tanks to be used for heating water, cooking, and emergency generator fuel for short runs. 500 gallons of propane tank compressed to 150 psi should store quite a bit of gas.

That's the thing with these gasifiers.. you can't just turn them on and turn them off.. Its a process to get them running.. takes a good twenty or thirty minutes to come up to full temperature where the tar is being converted. A lot of these people on youtube aren't converting the tars and when they hook up to an engine, it only runs for a twenty or thirty hours before the valves become gunked up with the tar.. You have to "crack" the tar and that requires 1800°-2000° F.. very very few gasifiers reach that temperature. The guy in the video I linked to does I believe...


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...thx for the answer...I have my generator set to 50 hz (3000rpm insted of 3600rpm for 60 hz) since i use my German Washer with it, so i am aware of HZ and pure sine and modified sine or even generator what ever sine wave smile...
Since i am in the States i learned that Utility Power is not as close to reliable here than in Germany, So i have all my Sensitive Equipment on APC pure sine UPS anyway...so charging Batteries and running the APC's with it would be my Plan anyway.
And heat/cook...but i am surprised about the compression option....does that GAS degrade over time or just sit and burns when needed like normal GAS?
I will take a look into his system you posted...lets see
Just watched the videos...
And i am not so much a fan of his self feeding design...
The angle from the old gas can nearly flattens to straight close to the burning chamber, which leaves material stranded and maybe getting stuck by tar down there...
And i think you are totally right...the Burner concept is great...like the high temp and insulation design...but the gas pass-through is limiting, but should not be an issue, since you are going to compress and use later on your plans...
And i am not so sure if the ash tray and air nozzle down in the burn chamber are withstanding the temps/oxidation for a longer period...but the compact barrel design at the end again is just nice...
I think i will go with this one as well, and check out some changes

Great tip...thx...would not have thought about tar...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

One of the problems with gasifier design is sizing.. if you go too small, you don't produce enough gas.. if you go too big, the air flow through the combustion zone won't have enough velocity to generate the temperatures needed to convert the tars into gas... 

The velocity of the fresh air coming into the combustion zone is critical.. if its too slow, the coals won't get hot enough to burn the tars.. Volume and velocity are key in the design. This is why I want to design one with adjustable or replaceable inserts so I can run a 15KW generator or (quickly and easily) change nozzles to run something much smaller..


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

What do you think of Mr drizzler?




Looks way less work, and the amount of gas looks surprisingly good...and the temps are high as well...and its insulated


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

I'd have to watch the whole thing and see how he constructed it... My first thought is that he has no cooler or filter.. the gas has to be cooled first and it needs to be filtered or its going to screw up your engine in very short order.. 

Cooling the gas is really important because the hotter the gas is, the lower its energy density.. Hot gasses use up more volume per energy unit than cold gasses will.. So if your generator sucks in a cubic foot per minute, you want that gas to be as cold as possible so you get as much energy into that cubic foot as you can squeeze.

Even poorly constructed gasifiers can be made to run clean if you change the feedstock to pre-burned coals. By partially burning wood to produce coals, and then snuffing out the fire, you can then use those coals as a nice clean fuel source for just about any gasifier.. even a poorly constructed one. By pre-burning the coals, say in a 55 gallon drum, I think you're burning off all the tars and dirty gasses. 

I heat my home with a modern wood stove that has stainless after-burning tubes at the top of the firebox.. The stove goes through three stages.. 1) Heating.. which brings the stove up to temperature but also results in the most smoke, 2) Primary Combustion...which generates most of the heat.. and a third stage called clean burn that produces blue flames instead of orange. 

If you load up a gasifier with pre-burned wood coals, it will burn clean.. The problem is that you also remove about 60% of the energy the wood had doing it. There are advantages however.. it means a smaller gasifier with fewer problems to solve.. more portability for short runs that don't require lots of fuel.. of course, the drawback is that there's labor involved in making the coals and a lot of energy is wasted doing it.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

I think i need a welder...i am so up to the project now...i think the rest of the year, as soon i moved into that place, i might no sit still for a minute working on projects...solar panels, garden well, gasifier...oh boy...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> I think i need a welder...i am so up to the project now...i think the rest of the year, as soon i moved into that place,* i might no sit still for a minute working on projects...solar panels, garden well, gasifier...oh boy..*.


Welcome to my life! LOL
I'm always working on some project around here.. and yes, you most certainly need a welder.. its almost as important as a penis...


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

But here in the states pretty much everything is sooo freaking expensive, and with this 110 volt it is not even possible to have a strong Vacuum cleaner...
But it think it is the old saying...if you want to life...rent...if you want to work, own...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> But here in the states pretty much everything is sooo freaking expensive, and with this 110 volt it is not even possible to have a strong Vacuum cleaner...
> But it think it is the old saying...if you want to life...rent...if you want to work, own...


I've always wanted a 3 phase refrigerator and toaster.... I wish my house to be 120/240 and my garage to be 3 phase 480.. 3phase is how you get work done!


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

I loved my regular 220V/16 amp outlets in every room and in the Garage or for the range my 480V
Moving to new Country is not only bringing good surprises...
Not even sure how to hook up a welder here...110/16 might not be strong enough to even turn it on...hahaha


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> I loved my regular 220V/16 amp outlets in every room and in the Garage or for the range my 480V
> Moving to new Country is not only bringing good surprises...
> Not even sure how to hook up a welder here...110/16 might not be strong enough to even turn it on...hahaha


Homes in the USA will regularly use or have 240 volt outlets in various places.. Its common to find them behind electric stoves, clothes driers, swimming pool pumps, well water pumps, electric water heaters, and in a garage... Its not as rare as you might think..


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Found another good one...but it think i like the one you found best...
Will see if they can be somehow combined...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

The one mistake most of these people are making is that their gasifiers are built out of carbon steel... The combustion area needs to be stainless or it won't last very long..


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Following this 101 right now...not sure if you saw it, so maybe beneficial, since i think there are some good tips, like air/fuel preheat etc...




Min 10:30 gets mostly interesting


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Have you seen this here?
http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/page/6123754/How to Build and Run the GEK Gasifier


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Have you seen this here?
> http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/page/6123754/How to Build and Run the GEK Gasifier


Nice system.. very complex.. lots of stuff to go wrong.. I bet it makes a lot of gas.. 

I've formulated my basic requirements.. I'm working on designing a wet scrubber for the gasses as I'm not real enthusiastic about the filtering a lot of folks do.

one of the things none of these gasifier folks show you is how long their engines run for before getting gummed up by the tars.. Everyone can make a pretty flame and they're all proud of it.. but after 300 hours of operation, I'd like to know how many of their engines are still running.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

I am using Ben Peterson's wood gasifier design (wood gasifier plans.com) it is a very solid and versatile design. Reaches high temperatures needed to crack tars and can be sized for small or large engines.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...Did you build your own?
How do you use it? Just to fill bottles with it or constant or just on emergency to run generator?

Thx for details


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Hello...Did you build your own?
> How do you use it? Just to fill bottles with it or constant or just on emergency to run generator?
> 
> Thx for details


Yes, I built mine from the plans. I am also offering to do full builds of this design on a cost+ basis and am selling parts kits for those that want to DIY. My primary use is for our off grid cabin to run the generator for our batteries, although it can also be used for emergency backup power. Storing the gas is not efficient as you can generate the gas any time you need it very quickly. Easier to store the fuel wood. Up here in the NW, from Nov-Mar, we only get a out 10 sunny days a month so even if you use solar, there are a lot of times you will need to run your generator to make up the difference. (http://offgrid48.com)


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

I ran onto a dual fuel boiler that claims to be a gassifier at an auction. It's Danish. The odd aspect is it's built on wheels and with a dolly for the other end, can be moved into place. I'm wondering about running it on cooking oil.


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

Althougj I think Storing syn gas / wood gas for future use is a great idea, doing so in steel tanks is not a great idea. Wood gas is very high in some pretty wicked chemicals that will eat the steel...
A pressure rated fiber glass tank would work better.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

bobp said:


> Althougj I think Storing syn gas / wood gas for future use is a great idea, doing so in steel tanks is not a great idea. Wood gas is very high in some pretty wicked chemicals that will eat the steel...
> A pressure rated fiber glass tank would work better.


Wood gas doesn't liquefy like propane. I wouldn't bother trying to store it in a pressurized tank. For example, a 5 gallon propane tank might run an engine for 5 hours or so, you might only get 1/2 hour out of pressurized wood gas in that same size tank. Wood gas can be generated as needed so there is little need to store the gas. The raw wood material is easier to store and has longer life. If you really need to store the wood gas, I would recommend a commercial bladder, there are several sizes available depending upon how much you wish to store.


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## Prismseed (Sep 14, 2009)

I've heard some people use things like an old air mattress as an interim storage between creation and burn. No idea how safe that is and it probably needs to be good and cool before it gets there.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

I would probably go with such a mattress idea as well...off code is it anyway, so as long away from house...life is good...


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## Prismseed (Sep 14, 2009)

Murby said:


> This guy has the right idea...
> You have to "crack" the tar and that requires 1800°-2000° F


How do you reach that temperature? Googling says a wood fire normally runs 1100


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Prismseed said:


> How do you reach that temperature? Googling says a wood fire normally runs 1100


A "naturally aspirated" and non-insulated fire burns at ~1100.... If you insulate it and blow air into it, wood fires can melt metals.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

Prismseed said:


> How do you reach that temperature? Googling says a wood fire normally runs 1100


There are two types of wood gas; (1) Heating quality (low) and (2) Engine Quality (high). Heating quality is burned to create heat, so it doesn't matter if the gas has tars. Engine quality is very different, those tars can kill your engine. Cracking the tars when making high quality gas is key, and reaching those high temperatures (1500-2000+ degrees) is crucial. This is where the type of gasifier is crucial as those temperatures can melt metal so these science project wood gasifiers you see on YouTube made out of scrap materials won't generate those high temperatures or produce quality gas. While the gasifier unit itself can be made out of mild steel, the internal hearth and reduction zone that reach these high temperatures really should be stainless steel. I've looked at many different plans, and YouTube videos and because I wanted a proven, reliable unit, I went with a proven design and stayed away from the science projects. The science projects are great to learn the basics of Wood Gas, but not for a production unit. I decided to use Ben Peterson's Wood Gasifier Builder's Bible (woodgasifierplans.com). Ben is a Wood Gas expert who has built and sold gasifiers worldwide. I use Ben's Wood Gas design to build my own and now offer to make custom builds and DIY kits using his design. I would highly recommend it. His Ebook sells online for about $37 USD.


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Offgrid48 said:


> There are two types of wood gas; (1) Heating quality (low) and (2) Engine Quality (high). Heating quality is burned to create heat, so it doesn't matter if the gas has tars.


Actually, I'd be careful about even saying that.. If there's too much tar, it can soot up the heating surfaces and cause an insulating effect.. 

But you are correct, its not nearly as critical as putting it through an engine.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

Murby said:


> Actually, I'd be careful about even saying that.. If there's too much tar, it can soot up the heating surfaces and cause an insulating effect..
> 
> But you are correct, its not nearly as critical as putting it through an engine.


Thanks, I should have said that the tars are less critical in a heating application.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

LOTS of Info at Driveonwood.com
The main guy there regularly drives a couple of different trucks that are woodgas powered.
Lots of old heads in the Woodgas community meet up there.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

AmericanStand said:


> LOTS of Info at Driveonwood.com
> The main guy there regularly drives a couple of different trucks that are woodgas powered.
> Lots of old heads in the Woodgas community meet up there.


Driveonwood.com is a great online resource for wood gas but is mostly focused on running vehicles on wood gas, not so much for power generation.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

I think as soon you have a reliable and reusable gasifier, it is not really a problem to change from one to the other...
Hope to find tinker time some day to build one...


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## IndyDave (Jul 17, 2017)

Offgrid48 said:


> Driveonwood.com is a great online resource for wood gas but is mostly focused on running vehicles on wood gas, not so much for power generation.


That shouldn't be too much of a problem. The only difference would be running a stationary engine at a constant 1800 rpm and perhaps fitting a larger engine than normal to a given generator to compensate for the power drop.


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## Offgrid48 (Jul 28, 2016)

IndyDave said:


> That shouldn't be too much of a problem. The only difference would be running a stationary engine at a constant 1800 rpm and perhaps fitting a larger engine than normal to a given generator to compensate for the power drop.


That's why the design you choose is so important. If you want to use the same gasifier for a vehicle engine and a stationary engine (generator), you will need to be a be able to adjust the gas output. A vehicle engine and a 10KW generator are going to have very different fuel consumption rates. This is done by correctly sizing the combustion chamber, reduction tube, fuel size and suction rate. Additionally, a vehicle engine will require more work on the air intake/ fuel ratio, Ben Peterson, the author of the Wood Gasifier Builder's Bible (the design I use) also has a second book focused on building an electronic carburetor for a wood gas fed vehicle engine.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Driving a gas powered vehicle is far more complicated than operating a generator. I think some of the best minds in the wood gas field have come together at Driveonwood.com 
They do seem to explore most applications there. 
Most importantly the prime factor there has developed a very very flexible wood gas unit. 
For anyone with any interest in wood gasification the free portion of the site is invaluable. The hate portion of the site is even more valuable !
It is the only website I have ever paid to join .


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