[Gasification] eBay MEN gasifier plans

[Westcoastminisplitter.com]

Jim,

Thank you for that comment.  I though I was going nuts not being able to
find DIY info.

Pat

Message: 7
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:52:33 -0800
From: "jim mason" <jimmason at whatiamupto.com>
Subject: Re: [Gasification] eBay MEN gasifier plans
To: gasification at listserv.repp.org
Message-ID:
    <31a4f6f00702052152s32974a7cn1b9d6207c69ace13 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

just so everyone knows, you can still buy these plans direct from
mother earth news.  i think they are 19.95.  they send you big printed
blue line drawings of mind numbing detail, all in fabulous late 70s
graphic style.  along with the BEF books, they are the only actual
build a gasifier plans i've ever found.

the MEN design is interesting, especially how they did the carburetor,
which is what inspired the one i built.  their carburetor work i think
is their best contribution.  otherwise most will probably find their
design extremely complicated.  unnecessarily so.  the tuyere
arrangement along would be about 300 dollars in plumbing parts.  the
huge copper roll based heat exchanger even more so.  and  the double
hooka water filter about the same.  i think the materials alone to
build their design would be well over $1000.

but they did work with this design for months/years, and got it to
drive across the nation in the end, which none of us have yet to do,
so not sure what rights i have for naysaying . . .

nonetheless, i think it is much easier to start with a stratified
downdraft, like described in the BEF book "constructing a simplified
downdraft generator for a petroleum emergency", or something like
that.  it is the book that harry lafontaine wrote on a FEMA grant.

or at the end of the "lost art of driving on wood", there are detailed
drawings for an imbert type.

or on doug william's site, there are drawings for his pioneer class
scale gasifier.  not sure if the rest of the system (filter, cooler,
etc) is there or not.

those four are the only complete plans for small scale gasifiers i
know of out in the world.

so given this, getting the MEN designs is worth it just to see how
someone else solved the same set of issues we all face building these.

why are their so few designs for these out there?  one shouldn't have
to read half the BEF library before knowing how to design their own
from scratch.

this is a poor way to enable DIY, open source, alt energy hacking
through the fabulous arts of gasification.

j