[BiggKidd]

When I walked away a little while ago the temperature of the plate was about 220f. Gotta remember I’m heating just about 1,300lbs of mass so I knew it was going to take awhile. To be honest I’ll probably redesign the burn chamber. But I want to find some better / drier wood to work with. The crap I’ve been burning today I believe was lightening struck and it’s wet too, neither of which burns worth a damn!

[BiggKidd]

Forgot to mention it DOES pull the heat out even better than I had hoped. The exhaust where the gasses leave the stove was only 50f hotter than the aluminum plate where the modules will be. So that part works at least!

[BiggKidd]

Woohoo it holds he heat well too! I just managed to drag my sore and worn out self out to check. The temperature is still over 200f. It does however have tons of moisture in it. A little rain got on the top but the insulation inside is soaked from the moisture cooking out of gravel and sand.
My daughter brought me a pack of disposable batteries for the camera so I can try videoing again the next time I fire it up. I don’t think that will be today though, I’m hurting and have tons of other stuff I need to do as well. Although I’m not sure how much if any of that I can do today the way I feel and after all the rain we had last night.

[BiggKidd]

I burned the stove pretty much all day trying to drive all the moisture out. When I checked the temperature just now it was just pushing up against 500f. I’m beat and calling it a night.

[BiggKidd]

Going stir crazy today. I had planned to get the lifters made and installed on the module plate so I could do some active testing. The weather is doing everything but cooperate! Before I mount the modules I want to see the plates lift and settle and try and workout the temperature that happens to about 250f. Once I can get that done then I should be ready to mount the modules and see if this pig makes power. I still have to figure out how I’m going to bore the 3/4-1 inch holes for the lifters to fit in. I’m not sure exactly what size the OD of 3/4 ID copper pipe is. I also know that when drilling large holes they seldom come out round, more triangular in my opinion. This needs to be perfectly round since it needs 100% heat transfer it should also be a press fit. Making those kinds of tolerances is new to me, as in I have never made anything that required a press fit. Anyone have any tips?

[BiggKidd]

When I checked a little while ago the temp was still around 200f. Kind of disappointing if you ask me. It lost a little over 300f in 42ish hours. It has been really windy the whole time though and that may have some effect.

Back to a waiting game again, thanks to my lack of foresight. I had to order a 24mm hole saw and adjustable hand ream to fit the lifters in the plate properly. They need to be press fit and since aluminum expands about twice what copper does when heated it’s going to need to be a tight fit. I have the gut feeling this is also going to require changing the dimensions of the lifters some to account for more and better heat transfer the additional contact area will give.

[BiggKidd]

Looks like the hole saw and reamer won’t be here until next week. I can’t believe I hadn’t prepared for this. I must have been thinking my hole saw set would work but nothing I already owned was the correct size. Either a shade to large or a good bit to small, neither option was viable.

Debating fooling with the burner although I’d really like to see the system in action as it is before I go making changes. The burner itself actually works better than expected it’s feeding the beast that’s the issue. It needs a larger fuel hopper / chute. It’s only 3×4 inches and needs to be larger, a LOT larger! Problem is it’s feeding a burn chamber that’s only 2×3 inches.

[BiggKidd]

So guys I’m thinking about redisigning the feed chute. Basically just making it larger, it’s such a pain to feed and keep burning well. Granted it does a supurb job of pulling the heat out of the fire in to the mass of the stove so I think the burn chamber and all that will stay as is. It actually works better than I had thought possible in collecting and storing the heat considering the exhaust pipe where it leaves the stove is roughly 140f cooler than the stove top with the stove top up around 500f.

What would you guys do? Would you try it out as is with the modules first or go ahead and redo the feed chute first?

Thanks

Any thoughts on how much bigger to make it? I don’t want to over feed and run rich not burning all the fuel completely either.

[BiggKidd]

I’ve been back working on this project again finally. Made a little progress on the stove part been getting the old parts out and crafting a firebox. It’s rough and ugly but longs as it works that’s all I care. lol Still haven’t even started on the modules yet. The stove needs to function right first…

Spent the afternoon playing with the firebox rebuild. If the weather holds and I feel half decent it should be done tomorrow. Got all the old stuff out of the way and got the connector made. Just have to weld a return / diverter plate in the top of the firebox and the adaptor to the very top then cart everything down here and weld it all together and test the stove again. Crap just remembered I still need a way to fasten the door. I’m not driving 40 miles for a pair of hinges!

[BiggKidd]

Managed to drag my sorry old arse out and get the firebox installed. It’s all welded in and up and burning. It’s burning dirty though / incomplete combustion. Not at all happy about that. It could be the wet wood or partially the wet wood. Anyway the front of the firebox is up over 1000F and the exhaust is down around 130F. I’m hoping the burn will clean up once the heat exchanger is up to temp. If that’s the case then it’s just a cold start issue and the dirty burn will not really be an issue as once this thing is in use it will stay up above 200f inside.

[BiggKidd]

The exhaust has cleaned up a fair amount. It was completely clean until I added another load of wood then again all my wood is wet so….. The top is up just over 200F the exhaust is just below that temperature wise. Tomorrow I will attempt to start putting the module plates together. The last load of wood I just put in will be the last load for today I expect that will push the temperature of the top north of 250f and maybe even past 300f. The new firebox may not burn as clean or completely but it’s working quite well regardless. It’s dang sure easier to keep burning and doesn’t require babysitting! This is just a prototype / proof of concept anyway so I really have nothing to complain about.

[BiggKidd]

Waited a half hour and went and checked it again and the exhaust gas is 100% clean and clear! That’s a relief, I thought it might go ahead and clean up once it got up to temperature. I also ran across part of the problem. My dumb self forgot to install the firebricks in the firebox, I wouldn’t have noticed except I just knocked them over when I was carrying wood in the house for the night. Oops! Guess it’s a good thing I’m clumsy! LMAO There’s still a WHOLE lot to be done with this project but I think I’m close enough to try putting the module plate together to test that much and then maybe just maybe I can install and hook up the modules. I just want to make sure the lifters for the module plate work as they should before I go installing the modules and possibly fry them. I think they are going to play a key roll in how well this works or if it works at all as a set and forget system… I’m looking for the module plate to lift anywhere between 250 and 275 praying I get lucky and my redneck engineering comes out correctly! LoL

[BiggKidd]

Just sort of shut it down for the night. I pulled the fan that draws the air through. Stove temp is up over 300f inside that’s a LOT of stored heat considering the 12-1300lbs of mass there! I expect that will still climb a fair amount as there are a ton of coals still in the firebox, probably 2-3 gallons worth. They should burn okay without the aid of the fan and without it forcing cold air through 50 more degrees wouldn’t surprise me a bit. I will however be surprised if the temp isn’t still near or above 300f in the morning. I do need to figure out an automatic way for the air inlet and outlet to close once the temps drop to a certain point so it’s not cooling itself off after the fire dies.

[BiggKidd]

Got the lifter tubes and actuators pressed in today. They pressed in to easy so I also epoxied the tubes to the plate with JB Weld. Now that has to cure 24 hours.

[BiggKidd]

Hoping to make an initial test run today on the lift system for the module plate. Also to make sure these modules can handle the heat, I never was able to find any specs on these particular modules. So I’m putting two modules on the plate when I test the lifters to test the modules at the same time.