Homemade Tarm/Econoburn?

[deerefanatic]

HI all, just making an update here..... I've got this unit almost put together....... I need to get the last few firebrick installed in the secondary chamber and then pour the refractory floor for the primary chamber........ Then just finish the bypass dampers and air flow jackets, etc........

Will post pictures and more details later when the unit is operational......

 

[Nofossil]

There haven't been many attempts at homemade gasifiers - good to see another one coming online. Definitely keep us posted.

 

[deerefanatic]

I can see why too!! They're definitely more than one figures on at first glance!

Definitely not something I want to do again, but also don't regret giving it a try!

 

[steam man]

Ok, does anybody know what CFM of blower I should look for to use on this puppy?

I'm shooting for 500,000 btu/hr out of it. I was going to use an old leaf vacuum, but it's going to be wayy too noisy........

So, what should I look for? 200 cfm, 400? I was going to use a draft induction style blower where the blower was drawing air out of the stove, but now I think I'm going to go the opposite route and force air into the stove.......


How about this unit? http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2008050721460283&item=16-1158&catname=electric

The ratings of any fan is based on having a certain back pressure. The size of the gas nozzles is going to ba a big part of the back pressure in order to convert pressure to velocity. My guess is the gas velocity needed is around the flame speed of wood gas. My gut feeling tells me that the size of the firebox, fan capacity and nozzle size are all in a happy balance. You'll probably end up experimenting with fan flow rate/nozzle size to get the correct velocity. A variable speed fan may be helpful for tweaking things. Though I like an induction fan for keeping smoke minimal when the door is open it has to deal with being in the hot exhaust pass whereas a forced draft fan will probably be cheaper to use. The output of your first gassifier is really high-I'd look at a fan with the capacity of what something like a Garn is using. You'll be tweaking for awhile. Hopefully you'll get it. Good luck and keep us posted.

Mike

 

[deerefanatic]

Well, I've stepped the size of the stove down quite a bit now.... I'm now shooting for 320,000. Thanks to Nofossil for getting me down from my severely oversized perspective on things!

I'm using this blower here now and speed controlling with a DC circuit: http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2008091523143941&item=16-1258&catname=electric