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Showing posts with label Wood-gas Generator to Power Your Truck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wood-gas Generator to Power Your Truck. Show all posts

5.15.2019

Off Grid in the City



Blog Series Off-Grid StLouis Style

This blog post will highlight how it all works together for getting Off-Grid StLouis Style without scrimping on the Must Haves of Hot Water, Heat, and Electricity.
Highlighted in a few prior blog posts- burning wood can produce Hot Water From Your Wood Stove for Blazing Hot Showers (which works off the Stove Pipe of the Wood Burning Stove or fireplace). As well as how to Turn a wood stove into a fuel source for creating a propane type fuel source that will operate gasoline engines such as a generator (Gasifier). 

Must Have 1] Hot Water

    This hot water heating system produces hot water that will stay warm up to 48 hours!
    • Article Link:  Three years ago, we were sitting in our cabins wondering how we could satisfy our addictions for hot baths and showers, without paying ridiculous prices for disappearing reserves of fossil fuels. Putting our talents together (one of us is a mechanical wizard and the other a Ph.D. chemist), we devised a homestead alternate energy system — based on the use of otherwise-wasted stovepipe heat — that's allowed us to take those hot baths. We call our system the Blazing Showers Stovepipe Hot Water Heater. See Build Tips here: https://stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com/2010/02/hot-water-from-your-woodstove.html



    Must Have 2] Heat Wood Stove 




    Must Have 3] Electricity
    • Options
      • Connected to the Grid
      • Photovoltaic Solar System

      • Gas or Gasifier Generator
        • Energy Source: Biomass - Firewood Donated by the neighbor tree trimmers and upcycled from job sites.  

    How to build a "Wood Gasifier" from propane tanks, to power a "Tiny House"!


    How to build a "Wood Gasifier" from propane tanks, to power a "Tiny House"!

    This is how to build your own Wood Gas producing wood stove that can be used to run a vehicle or generator, this works for replacing propane in most standard propane appliances. This simple unit was made from three small propane tanks and scrap material.



    We have also upgraded to 12volt LED wiring and lighting setup in a few spots of the home!  A complete LED lighting system would reduce Electricity needs by 50%.  

    In upcoming blog posts, I will share how this process and system all work together and allows the Homeowner to live 

    Off-Grid StLouis Style!










    Thank You for stopping by the Green Blog. If additional information in needed or you have a question let me know by posting a question or comment. Together we can make a difference and create a future that will benefit everyone.

    5.16.2010

    Wood-gas Generator to Power Your Truck

    If you have an older-model truck, a ready supply of firewood and a little ingenuity, you can build a wood-gas generator to run your truck.

    I initially became interested in wood-powered vehicles as a kid when I saw an old World War II movie in which the hero escaped from invading Japanese forces in an old school bus powered by coconut shells. After that, if I came across any references to wood-powered vehicles, I read them. I even remember reading an article in MOTHER EARTH NEWS quite some time ago. (See the 1981 article, Wood Gas! Wood Gasification Powers this Truck.)

    A couple of years ago, I bought a 1968 Chevrolet three-quarter-ton 4-wheel-drive pickup, along with a 1969 GMC three-quarter-ton 2-wheel-drive truck for parts. The GMC had a six-cylinder engine that was somewhat rusty, but still seemed to run OK. I thought, given the simplicity of its construction plus the generous engine compartment, it would be ideal for a wood-gas project.

    Willie Hackett, the son of a friend of mine, did a small wood-gasifier project and put me in contact with Mike LaRosa through a wood-gas builder’s website. I built my gasifier based on one of Mike’s designs and was successful. The wood fuel is 2-inch-diameter lengths of hardwood limbs I gather in my woods and cut up with an old table saw. I dry the wood in the sun for a couple of weeks in a wheelbarrow with an old storm window on top of it. I also have used softwood scraps with similar effectiveness.

    I have probably put about 500 miles on the truck running on wood. I have commuted 20 miles to work with it a number of times and taken many 10-mile trips.

    I still am working out some bugs, such as reducing the amount of soot captured in the engine air cleaner, and eliminating a surging condition that is probably due to an air leak I haven’t found yet. The truck doesn’t have as much power with wood gas as it does with gasoline, but it will cruise at highway speeds and climb steep hills as long as I keep it revved up.

    Rick Bates
    Tully, New York

    Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information

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