Howdee fellow woodgas addict, It is nice to see how your beast is progressing :) . The issue you are seeing with soot blockages does not seem to be limited to the types of pipes you are using, as I am seeing similar issues with mine. Mine uses larger, square section, smooth walled piping, and I still get buildups of soot at certain points in them - after about 60 hours of generator runtime. I found a simple fix for this problem however. Since soot burns, you can take advantage of this to literally burn the blockages out. Vacuum, applied at the right parts of the system, will pull a flame from your torch into the pipework. Once the burn starts, you take the vacuum pump off, and use it to blow air into the point where you set fire to it. The plumbing will duly become very hot, which will be most welcome in the cold weather you are experiencing right now :) . By putting pipe caps in the problem areas, you will gain access for cleaning the plumbing. Mine never had these to begin with, so I placed them in carefully chosen areas, along with vacuum / pressure ports for flame cleaning. This process takes about 20 minutes to complete, versus the many hours that it can take for a teardown / rebuild. Here's hoping this helps :) .
You can get bent sections like that in the electrical department in home improvement stores and they're completely smooth, none of those accordion folds.
I must agree with tritowns. You are not cracking the tar compounds sufficiently enough. You need to get your combustion temps higher. You want all that stuff in your filters.
tritowns absolutely I have to watch for co. By some of the newer videos I have made I have done some changes. She works like a dream now. restrictions is a little bigger as well as the nozzle. I find always start these things with charcoal now I have no more problems. : )
I agree starting a wood gasifier with charcoal is pretty much a must. I can see upping your nozzle size some to make it run hotter as long as too much air isn't making it down past the reduction zone. pulling harder on it make it run hotter as well, or a smaller restriction. I aways start our systems with a cheap shop vac we get from canadian tire. if it has blower capabilities you can then run hose out the blower side and add a flaring tube to flare from. wood gas tractor project on youtube is where you'll see my work
Howdee fellow woodgas addict,
It is nice to see how your beast is progressing :) .
The issue you are seeing with soot blockages does not seem to be limited to the types of pipes you are using, as I am seeing similar issues with mine.
Mine uses larger, square section, smooth walled piping, and I still get buildups of soot at certain points in them - after about 60 hours of generator runtime.
I found a simple fix for this problem however.
Since soot burns, you can take advantage of this to literally burn the blockages out.
Vacuum, applied at the right parts of the system, will pull a flame from your torch into the pipework.
Once the burn starts, you take the vacuum pump off, and use it to blow air into the point where you set fire to it.
The plumbing will duly become very hot, which will be most welcome in the cold weather you are experiencing right now :) .
By putting pipe caps in the problem areas, you will gain access for cleaning the plumbing.
Mine never had these to begin with, so I placed them in carefully chosen areas, along with vacuum / pressure ports for flame cleaning.
This process takes about 20 minutes to complete, versus the many hours that it can take for a teardown / rebuild.
Here's hoping this helps :) .
absolutely what a great idea I will certainly try this thanks for the tip bud, I really appreciate it : )
*****
You are welcome.
It will save you a lot of time, and it will heat your workshop for you during the cleanout process :) .
Those sink baskets are a good idea to use in your filters
Rusty Glovebox glad to have helped man
You can get bent sections like that in the electrical department in home improvement stores and they're completely smooth, none of those accordion folds.
Thanks bud
I must agree with tritowns. You are not cracking the tar compounds sufficiently enough. You need to get your combustion temps higher. You want all that stuff in your filters.
how bid of a restriction? how many nozzles and what size are their opening? Your system isn't running hot enough by the looks of it.
tritowns absolutely I have to watch for co. By some of the newer videos I have made I have done some changes. She works like a dream now. restrictions is a little bigger as well as the nozzle. I find always start these things with charcoal now I have no more problems. : )
I agree starting a wood gasifier with charcoal is pretty much a must. I can see upping your nozzle size some to make it run hotter as long as too much air isn't making it down past the reduction zone. pulling harder on it make it run hotter as well, or a smaller restriction. I aways start our systems with a cheap shop vac we get from canadian tire. if it has blower capabilities you can then run hose out the blower side and add a flaring tube to flare from. wood gas tractor project on youtube is where you'll see my work