Generator question wood fired

KTurner · Nov 7, 2012

MossRoad said:
Buying that gekgasifier system is $20,000.00 for a 10KW unit.

You can build a gasifier out of junk too, if you have the right junk laying around.

Keith

dodge man · Nov 7, 2012

Just me thinking out loud, but I'd think a steam engine would be the route to go. You see them at tractor shows and such all the time. The problem would be the way the engine would be loaded, its not going to be able to handle a load change as well as a tractor would powering a PTO gen set. It seems like the best route would be to have some kind of battery storage system and inverter that would "buffer" the load usage. But that would also get into more money.

Larry Caldwell · Nov 7, 2012

The governors on steam engines work very well, and the flywheel stores enough momentum to handle starting surges.

The problem is maintenance. Steam engines rust. Building one out of stainless would be expensive.

forgeblast · Nov 7, 2012

Pole Shift Survival Information
a whole lot of gasifier info

http://www.woodgas.net/files/Home_made_generator(12v).pdf

MossRoad · Nov 7, 2012

MossRoad said:
Here's a pretty neat article and company. Good read....

Is steam power in your future? by Skip Goebel Issue #43

Reading this link that I posted to earlier, the guy brings up some excellent points...

1st, a gallon of water contains a stick of dynamite..... yikes! Steam is dangerous.
2nd, he did a lot of math and concludes you'll need about 30 pounds of wood an hour for a 10k generator.... that's a lot of wood. I heat my house for half a day with that much wood.
3rd, he says if you have a steam boiler to run a steam engine, you will have to be there watching it full time, constantly monitoring it..... that doesn't sound too fun in a power outage.

I'd seriously consider large diesel fuel storage options over wood gasification or steam to power an electrical generator long term, now that I've looked at it for a bit.

newbury · Nov 8, 2012

If a SHTF event occurs you'll need really large diesel tanks to survive long term (months) and a big investment in diesel. Wood powered is a good niche if you have wood, and many of us have acres of growing woods. I agree that a few jugs of diesel are handy. But even 600 gallons won't last long.

MossRoad · Nov 8, 2012

newbury said:
If a SHTF event occurs you'll need really large diesel tanks to survive long term (months) and a big investment in diesel. Wood powered is a good niche if you have wood, and many of us have acres of growing woods. I agree that a few jugs of diesel are handy. But even 600 gallons won't last long.

Sure it will. You just have to not run the generator 24/7. I can get by with my little gas generator on about 2 gallons a day just to run my freezer, refridgerator and well pump. We heat with wood and sleep when its dark. 600 gallons of gas would last me 200-300 days.

charlz · Nov 8, 2012

Thanks MossRoad that was a interesting read. He did say that if you want to generate your own power you would need to monitor it full time. On the other hand he also discussed just running it long enoug to recharge your batteries etc. maybe a few hours a day. If you are already off the grid with a solar/battery set up and use a generator once in a while when the batteries need a recharge and the sun isn't going to do it this might be a solution. He also mentioned that steam power tends to appeal to retired machinists.... I think we need 3RRL to build a steam power generator to supplement his solar/diesel setup and let us know how it works

I could go for another long and incredibly interesting 3RRL thread myself