Simple biochar making gasifier

[henchman99942]

That is NOT a gasifier. THAT is an overly elaborate and inefficient wood burning stove.

Youtube search this:

MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar

THAT is a gasifier. THAT makes charcoal.

I built a retort stove based on the Hirst design that uses an old water heater tank for the INNER drum. This makes about enough charcoal to fill two 5 gallon buckets per burn. And the charcoal is insanely light and crumbly.

Don't youtube unless you have to.

[nden85]

so you should wait until the flames go out by themselves? i built one just early and it worked sweet, but i put the flames out myself. 

[theoriginalSkooby]

@nden85 You can put it out when the flames stop or slightly before.

[nden85]

@theoriginalSkooby thanks for the response. do you use water or suffocate it?

[theoriginalSkooby]

@nden85 I use water.

[lannyplans]

Thanks for sharing, I set my microwave on fire drying chips. It has been two years and my wife will still will not let me live it down!

[WDW888]

i made one from a 20 gallon oil drum and a 6'' stove pipe, but im getting a lot of smoke and i get no flame from the holes at the top of the stove pipe. do i need to vent more?

[theoriginalSkooby]

Do you have a lot of ventilation at the bottom? It is hard to say without seeing it. My larger barrel also doesn't run right unless I power feed air at the bottom. Check out my Biochar 2 video and see if it is doing the same thing.

[AmericansSexualPreds]

the ratio between hight and wiht have to be almost close not to tall and small u know and lots of ventilation

[flaviusicafsz]

i am in the same situation as you, i can`t get flamable gas. can you help me? project it is in my videos

[evifj]

@WDW888 put a blower on the bottom to help push air thru the gasifier

[mryellow123]

@evifj or you could just get the ratio of holes right so there is a natural draft and skip the blower.

[TogieTung]

Thx for the tip, I already made one from a dog food can & a bigger coco powder can according to your instruction & it worked like a charm. Now I'm making my first small batch of biochar..

[theoriginalSkooby]

Awesome. It is easy to get started. If you keep adding some your soil will improve over the years.

[TogieTung]

How do you make the hole for the smaller can to be inserted without welding the cans? Could you make a tutorial video on how the two cans are put together?

[theoriginalSkooby]

Trace the top of the inner can on the lid and then just cut it shy about 1/16 of an inch. Then push the can through and it should give a decent seal.

[ThunderPreacher]

Hi! Is there a working drawing available for this? Would be nice to reproduce this right.

[theoriginalSkooby]

Well you can find variations. The best thing is to get the concept down and then you can make one out of cans. You can make this one with two new paint cans. Larger one is a gallon(3.79l). The smaller one is a quart. There are various drawings if you search for them.

[4Mengineering]

very nice work!