V10 Woodgas Truck, First Drive into Work and Draining Condensations from the System

[@willlittle9230]

Yes do a awesome videos alway great to watch and learn about gasificers love it 😀

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

Glad you like them and plenty more to come, i do hope to someday get into a charcoal gas build that will use all the cleanout char from my 2 raw wood trucks as fuel

[@nhhbbyloggr5022]

Bottom line, you made it to work. There is always the gasoline back up, but man, she's alive. You gotta be proud. I'm sure you were probably adjusting A/F ratio on the way to get a feel for the beast. With our stationary gasifier running an engine we added an Arduino program / servo motor to an O2 sensor to keep things in check before we heard the engine cough.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

Since I am more or less using damper valves that don't actually seal, I am seeing it is hard to get a perfect mixture going according to the afm. I think I may block off one air filter for the drive home today and see if that improves the ability to set a good mixture. As it sits with both valves closed off completely I cant get it to go full rich, just right on the edge of the gauge lean. Interestingly that is where my Toyota makes peak power, but the dodge does not, at least not with its current timing tables un modified

[@nhhbbyloggr5022]

@@BigBeavrSlayer That's a good idea, closing off one side of the air filter

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@nhhbbyloggr5022 on the toyota I only use one air valve to set the mixture, but it really needs both air filters for gasoline running. Makes sense the dodge would be the same way, but without a valve that seals off its not as easily set for a mixture

[@gloriouspeanut]

This seems like the kind of thing you could knock together a "woodgas ecu" for relatively simply, no?

[@jerryweaver2247]

Once the timing is sorted the hills may get a bit flatter . Your craftsmanship is very very nice.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

Got a couple things I'm working on with the timing, 10° btdc just doesn't cut it for woodgas. And this Era of truck was striving for emissions standards and is programed to pull timing to reduce nox so its time to work around that. More timing is articificially raising the compression ratio of the engine, which the more compression the better for woodgas performance

[@jerryweaver2247]

@@BigBeavrSlayer What are we looking for with timing? 25 degrees ATDC ?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@jerryweaver2247 my toyota is running 36° base timing, maxes out at about 1/4 throttle at 45° that's as far as you can push a v8 distributor before running into spark jump. That's one reason I really wanted to play with a no distributor tunable engine, there is no max timing except what is programmed allowable by the pcm which for the dodge looks like it's 70° btdc. I dont think I will need to push it nearly that far, but that door is open with the v10

[@darthgbc363]

Awesome. Would a second hay filter be any help?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

There are a lot of option when it comes to filters, hay filter does the job ok if your willing to deal with some soot buildup in the throttle body and intake manifold. This is cleaned out later with burning out the intake which I have not had to do yet. I am thinking I will add some more filtration inside the hay filter later in, but I’ll drive it a while and get the minor bugs worked out before I start making internal changes

[@fraid5508]

Very nice video as usual. I was wondering what would happen if you live in a place where the temperature goes below 0 C and the condensate freeze in the tank?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

As long as you drain at the end of every run it really isn't a problem. Several guys in the frozen armpit of the north in Canada use woodgas regularly with no issues. The condensates does take a little extra cold to freeze from what I'm told

[@lukeFugate]

You said the timing gets pulled back when you get into the throttle. I wonder if putting a varible resistor in the throttle position sensor circuit would improve things. Maybe fool the computer into thinking you arent into the throttle as much. Could have a switch on the dash for when you want to run on gasoline. I'm probably wrong, but just curious.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

I'm working on a cure for it, but last night I made some big improvements to performance, ill probably have a video tomorrow on it

[@greatnorthernadventures570]

How warm is the liquid when you drain? I’m just wondering if freezing would be an issue for up here in Alaska but if it’s warm then as long as it’s all drained before it cools it should be good

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@greatnorthernadventures570 yep drain it just after shut down and it’s like warm water, the tar drain tank is steal so just in case it’s cold and can give it a few licks with the map gas torch to get it draining which Iv already done last winter

[@stevew1851]

Want to stop splashy? Drape an old towel over your bucket and push the center down a few inches.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

Good idea, but I think the soot would clog it pretty quickly

[@dancurrier374]

First i have seen your video very nice set up you do great work. Would you be willing to provide a system drawing of how you designed your vehicle/ gasifier unit?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

You can buy the book with full plans from Wayne Keith he is the designer of the system the book is called "have wood will travel" that's how I got the plans and it's the same system on both my woodgas trucks, slightly changed since one is a full size dodge and the other a Toyota minitruck

[@joecambodia1326]

Get a serpentine belt that’s a 1/4 inch shorter and that squeal will go away. I’ve had a bunch of Dodge trucks, a genius turned me onto that fix. Not claiming it as my own. Work on working clean, personal words of wisdom.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

I had heard of guys doing that on the diesel trucks, but this is a new belt new tensioner, new water pump and has had the belt chirp since I put it on there for some reason. Ill give that a go after a few tanks of fuel money are saved, then buy a good quality shorter belt and keep this one under the back seat for a spare

[@joecambodia1326]

I did the same thing. Kept changing belts spraying it w silicone, new tensioners. Thought for sure it was the bearing in the alternator. Dude told me to get a shorter belt, prob solved.

[@SkidSteerCowboy-zz6xd]

Is that water good for anything? Could you use that in your garden? Is it mineral rich?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@SkidSteerCowboy-zz6xd yes very much so. Is usually dump hopper condensates on the driveway it acts as a all natural weed killer. the rear tank, hay filter and sling shot filter waters are basically distilled water with soot, doesn’t do much of anything that I’m aware of

[@fireandforge]

Been following you for a while and researching wood gas for a year now. Is this a viable option for a small 3.5 V8? Don't want to build one if it's not viable.

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

it absolutely is, any engine can be run on woodgas, just some are more difficult then others. Single cylinder engines have a pulse that creates problems with low rpm gas delivery, but most any multi cylinder engine will work. The more timing adjustment you can give it or raise the compression ratio the better, it makes peak power much better doing both of these. My toyota has both and reacts very well to woodgas, where as currently the dodge needs the timing adjustment to make better power since I know I am making very good quality gas in this system. For new guys I recommend a engine that has a distributor so the timing adjustments is much easier. If you really want to dive into woodgas I cannot highly recommend enough joining the driveonwood.com forum, that is where I learned everything I know

[@fireandforge]

@@BigBeavrSlayer thanks. Appreciate it. Will have a look at the forum

[@WTLHunter]

Does this only work on diesel trucks? Or would it be viable in a 4 cylinder ranger?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@WTLHunter works on any internal combustion engine this truck is a v10 my other truck is a v8 and I know a guy that did a 4 cylinder ranger

[@WTLHunter]

@@BigBeavrSlayer this is all very cool! It is amazing to see this and wonder how self reliant we can actually get while still maintaining certain luxuries

[@WTLHunter]

@@BigBeavrSlayer have you thought about doing a generator to see what kind of power you can get out of it?

[@BigBeavrSlayer]

@@WTLHunter yes I have and plan too soon, it’s pretty much the same as with a truck you lose about 25-30% overall power so I’m just searching for the right generator something in the 10k range

[@WTLHunter]

@@BigBeavrSlayer maybe also look into heat to energy conversions as well? Really see what you can juice it for haha