Auger feed for wood-gas stove

[sven]

I have been trying the following wood-gas stove:

http://www.woodgas.com/Unlinked/Woodgas%20stove.pdf

It works pretty good, I tried it just for fun, but I would like to make an easier design to refill the stove.

The article mentions an auger feed, after a lot of searching on the web, I think I know how it works, but haven't found any plans detailing an auger feed.

I was wondering if any of you have already designed anything using an auger feed, and if so, could you point me in the right direction to design my own system.  

I have no idea of the possible pitfalls, the dos and do nots, or even if there are any alternatives to auger feeds.



Any help at all would be greatly appreciated



Sven

[Norm]

I've thought of the possibility this design is oriented toward 3rd world countries if you're ?? fortunate?? not to be in that category a stokerfed furnace/stove is in my opinion is all that is necessary the fire is fed from underneath and small chunks of coal, sawdust, wood chips, etc. the stoker should be able to be adjusted.

   Building an auger could be quite simple...look at the auger of a 2stage snowblower and you'll see what I mean, for a stoker the old ones had timers that turned the maybe 4inch auger(the last one I remember really getting a good look at was our neighbors back in '41 ), that makes 1 or 2 turns once every 20 minutes or even a lot less....

   Your question has intrigued me guess I'll have to do a Google search about stokers.

               ( :>) Norm.

[sven]

The thing about this design is that it hardly produces any smoke and can even be used inside.  The only problem is that the fire starts at the top, and moves downwards.  

So if you want to continously feed it new fuel, you need to feed at the bottom.  

Am I wrong in thinking a stoker is some kind of conveyor belt?  My english isn't my native language, and I've had to search for a while before I figured out what an "auger" actually was (still not 100% sure about what it is)

If it is somekind of conveyor belt, I wouldn't know how to use it to feed the bottom of the stack.

Anything you find on google, I would be more than intrested to know.

Sven

[alcul8r]

I looked at that stove a while back, and it looks like a cute cooker.  Waiting for some coffee or #10 cans so I can build one.

Just due to the small size of the unit I think it would be impractical to add an auger.  In addition, you would be trying to force new fuel in at the bottom while your ash is on top, inhibiting burning.

I would like to try adding an auger to my downdraft wood stove, but it is made of barrels and burns form the bottom so the ash will fall out.  I'll post a picture after I get it working, right now I'm waiting for the furnace cement to dry so I can see if I have enough draft to burn it indoors.  

The auger is a screw which pushes the wood chips in, not a conveyor belt.

[sven]

After some chatting on IRC, I think it would be better to leave it that way for cooking (very handy when going camping), and not try to make a feeding system for this.  It wouldn't be feasible for this size.

[Norm]

  That is exactly what you were asking about ....a stoker uses an auger feed, it feeds from the bottom it burns slowly and continuously adding more fuel from the bottom as it rises into the flame it has reached combustion temperature once the fire is started and the air is properly adjusted combustion is complete...no smoke the ash is pushed to the outside in a ring...in fact with coal a hard ring of ash...a klinker we used to call them...pick them out about 2 or 3 times a week like picking a donut up with a stick.

    Having a hard time finding out anything about them on google if you word it right you can probably buy one on E-Bay or get a description/

                  ( :>) Norm

[mkseps]

You can do a search of 'coal stokers'

You can also take a look at:

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Engineering/Bigwood/Bigwood1.htm

Gene