Wood Gasifier Builder's Workshop

By Steven Honkus

Discover the hidden potential of wood gas, also known as Syngas (synthetic gas), a fuel with a history spanning over 200 years. From illuminating streetlights to powering vehicles during WWII fuel shortages, wood gas has been a lifesaver in times of crisis. Yet, it remains largely unknown to most people today. The tide is turning as more individuals realize the manifold benefits of wood gas as a clean alternative fuel source for cooking, heating, power generation, and vehicle propulsion.

A wood gasifier is the key to unlocking this valuable, clean fuel. By burning wood or other biomass in a high-heat, low-oxygen environment, it transforms readily available resources into an energy solution. However, finding a production-level wood gasifier isn't as simple as visiting your local appliance store. They are either small-scale "science project" models or prohibitively expensive commercial-grade units costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Enter the Wood Gasifier Builder's Workshop, where you'll find comprehensive, detailed, step-by-step instructions to construct a high-quality, production-level wood gasifier suitable for residential use. With this book as your guide, you'll gain access to a sustainable energy source that will empower you to live off-grid or as a more self-sufficient and independent individual, whether you're in a remote wilderness or a suburban neighborhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350929171

Book preview

Introduction

Comprehensive guide to building a high quality production wood gasifier

Welcome to the wood gasifier builder’s workshop. The use of wood as a renewable fuel source has been a practice that dates back centuries, and with the growing concern about climate change and sustainable energy, it has become an increasingly popular alternative to fossil fuels. Wood gasification is a technology that allows for the conversion of wood into a gas that can be used for heating, cooking, power generation and even powering vehicles.

Despite the benefits of wood gasification, many people are still hesitant to embrace this technology because of the perceived difficulty and cost of building and operating a wood gasifier. This is where the Wood Gasifier Builder’s Workshop comes in - a comprehensive guide that aims to demystify the process of building a wood gasifier and make it accessible to everyone.

Written by an experienced wood gasifier builder, this book provides step-by-step instructions, illustrations, assembly drawings and much more to guide readers through the entire process of building a high quality downdraft wood gasifier from start to finish. From choosing the right materials and tools to troubleshooting common issues, the Wood Gasifier Builder’s Workshop is the ultimate resource for anyone looking to build their own wood gasifier and embrace sustainable energy.

Whether you are an experienced welder, fabricator, home hobbyist or just someone with strong interest in building a quality wood gasifier, this book will provide you with tools needed, dimensioned parts, processes, material types and sources, and associated build times for the sourcing, cutting, welding, fabrication and assembly required to complete this wood gasifier build. Although this wood gasifier design is based upon the popular book by Ben Peterson as published in the Wood Gasifier Builder’s Bible (Originally published in 2014), this workshop and original content has many improvements and enhancements to the design and build process. These design modifications allow for the optimization of the wood gas production to provide a production level system that produces consistent high quality wood gas suitable for running a generator or for use in a residential scale operation. In providing hands-on training, YouTube videos, parts and complete DIY build kits for this gasifier for the past eight years, I have made many improvements, enhancements to both the gasifier and build process that make this gasifier more available, safer and functional than ever before.

MY JOURNEY INTO WOOD GASIFICATION

Like many of you, my journey into the world of wood gasification started with acquiring and studying several reference materials like those from FEMA, Mother Earth News (MEN), the Wood Gasifier Builder’s Bible, and others. Rather than start from scratch, experimenting and having to reinvent what others have already discovered, I decided to build a wood gasifier starting with a proven design that I could use as a base platform and add my own improvements and optimization to meet my needs. I decided to build the gasifier from the plans I purchased from the 2014 Wood Gasifier Builder’s Bible.

My interest in wood gasification was primarily to provide a fuel for power generation for our off grid property in northern Idaho, in which we had 40 acres of timber that could be utilized as a fuel source for the gasifier. The build process as detailed in the book was intimidating and complex and far more difficult than the book indicated.

My FIRST WOOD GASIFIER - A 600LB. PAPERWEIGHT

Prior to starting the build on my 1st gasifier, I had no welding or fabrication experience. My professional background was in sales and business development in the geospatial technology industry for a multi-billion dollar, global geospatial technology company. I have also owned and operated several businesses throughout my career. I was confident that in following the instructions in the book, acquiring all of the required tools and taking my time to learn to use them properly I would have a successful build and a fully functional wood gasifier. I spent about $3,000 (USD) and over six (6) months of time working on my first build. The result of this first attempt is what I fondly refer to as my 600 lb. Paperweight. It did not meet my need to provide high quality wood gas for my off grid cabin. I do not consider it a successful build for numerous reasons. You can see a YouTube video I created on this build from the following link: [ https://youtu.be/Y_itf4YZcKs ].

My first wood gasifier gasifier build.

Even though I do not consider my 1st build to be successful, it was functional. This was an expensive but very worthwhile learning experience for me. I followed every step-by-step reference in the book, I made every part by hand (except for the off-the-shelf components), and I learned every detail of every part and function of the wood gasifier. It was this experience that led me to develop the proper way to build this gasifier and to create a business to develop instructions and documentation to teach others how to successfully build a residential scale gasifier. I worked to provide ready-made parts and offer complete OffGrid48° DIY parts kits and complete assemblies to others who might be in the same position as I was when I started; someone who wanted a highly functional, production level gasifier but may not have the time, tools or skills to complete a successful