[mdlug] Automotive technical info wanted (only slightly off topic)

[allen]

Drew wrote:
> * In any event I'd like to get away from having to *buy* the fuel, or 
> at least instead switch to buying
>    from someone who doesn't know what they've got and will charge 
> considerably less per BTU.
>
> ----
>
> - Drew.
>   
If I understand you correctly, you're interested in an automotive wood 
gas generator. If that's the case, I can relate some second-hand 
experience from my father and a couple of other relatives who went 
through World War II in eastern Europe.

The subject came up during a previous spike in gasoline prices and 
without exception they dismissed the idea of going back to wood gas as 
ridiculous. The major shortcoming of wood gas is its expense if you 
figure your time has any value.

Wood gas generators require a fair amount of maintenance to operate 
efficiently and require endless adjustment.

The maintenance requirements stem from their relatively small size. You 
can't put a large generator on a car so the small generator you can put 
on a car has to be cleaned out much more frequently. Fail to keep the 
generator cleared out and it just stops working until you do clear it out.

The finickiness of wood gas generators comes from the varying energy 
content and flammability of wood, qualities that can vary over the 
duration of a single loading of the generator. The quality of the 
generated gas can also vary between firings as well as during a firing 
and that has to be compensated for. Every time you fire up the generator 
you have to fiddle with the carburetor and and air inlets.

Much of that variability can be squeezed out of the wood by converting 
it to charcoal and, of course, coal is much less variable in it's energy 
content and burning characteristics then wood.

The general reception the idea got was that it was ridiculous and that 
gasoline would have to go to ten dollars per gallon, back when it was 
around a buck a gallon - before they, my father and relatives - would 
even consider using a wood gas generator.

Your mileage, so to write, may vary but that's what some of the folks 
who had day-to-day experience with the gadgets thought of them.

Allen