Has anyone ever seen any plans for a wood powered car? I know they have been made. With the gas going up and up and up, I am ready to start building one. I got plenty of dead trees, thus wood on my farm. If you have some plans, please post what you got, and if there is a way to get them in digital format. Or, is there a website? All that Google is offering are useless blogs (as usual, that seems to be about the only thing google finds lately).
Thanks
Mark
Google "Stanley Steamer". :-)
It was done in Europe in ww2, google it, you are looking for the energy-gas in the smoke.
Your choices:
The wood gasification setups during the war were 'useable' but the vehicles had very low power. It would get you there but in its own sweet time. M.E.N. had a series of articles on how to build one back in the 60s before they went yuppie. You might try googling them.
Harry K
I doubt you'll find any plans. The most practical way to power a car by burning wood I can think of would we an electric car charged by a stationary steam powered generator. You could be driving on one set of batteries while another is being charged. For direct burning of wood you might be able to use a steam or Stirling cycle engine, but you'd have the problem how to stoke the engine while driving, problems with starting and stopping it for typical practical trips, and problems controlling emissions. Small steam engines don't seem to be commercially available (I've looked for solar projects) and making your own that's reliable would be a major engineering and machining effort.
Might be cheaper/easier to convert your house over to wood and use the savings to buy gasoline (or better yet, diesel or get a hybrid)
snipped-for-privacy@UNLISTED.com wrote:
woods a lot of work, cut the tree down, cut theb tree up, haul the logs to wherever your going to use them, split the logs stack the logs, allow the logs to dry, haul the logs, burn the logs, now dispose of the ashes.
get a job at a mini mart its probably more cost effective and a lot less work.
Years ago I knew a fellow who heated his home with wood and was proud of it.
I asked about how many hours it took his family for all the work vs the money saved.
he would of done far better at minimum wage:(
The look on his face was priceless...........
You left out the opportunity cost of the exercise vs. no exercise vs. paying for membership in a club vs. buying home equipment. Value of ash as source of K for garden and as a way to keep the pH up. Value of being able to cook and stay warm during 4 days without any electricity due to ice storm. Actual cost of alternative heat source -- electric resistance, heat pump, oil fueled, natural gas fueled, geothermal, making more babies, huddling with dogs in a heap on the bed...
-- A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. See Also: MBA.
I considerd converting some farm amchinery a while ago.
Read about it on wikipedia:
Mother Earth News wood smoke truck Description:
Reasonable plans for a handy person:
Parts, hardware, and complete burner units: Cloidal Cam Engineering Inc., POB 244, Prior Lake, MN 55377 ESMCO, 5555 Boon Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55428
Let me know if the sites are gone. I have most of this stuff archived if I can find it.
Hope this helps
-RT
[....]
M.E.N. What's that ???????????
Mother Earth News
If your going to consider distilates of wood... whatever.
Then why not just tow a low pressure vessel filled with steer manure and a little water.
The methane that is produced should get your car going a little ways down the road.
Just get an old golf cart. If you can plug it in at work the gas is free. It will go as fast as anything I have seen here.
Back in the days when fuel oil was $0.17 a gallon, I can see that working out. Nowadays, I doubt that very much, unless he was in absolutely lousy physical condition. Wood is my primary heat source, and I don't spend much time putting up wood. Three or four days a year is all, call it a couple weekends, and my labor is tax free. The payback is worth several hundred dollars, plus tax. That's pretty good pay.
Do a google on the Stanley Steamer. I've only ever seen one of these in the flesh but it was magnificent - a huge sports model.
Oh hell, I did one for you:
proud
Good grief! Don't most people on farms still do that?
Not too many as far as I can tell. I don't see a lot of woodpiles in the yards. I think wood burning stoves make insurance companies nervous. Propane and natural gas are probably the most common in my area. One of the local farm stores started selling corn burning stoves last year. I've thought about it. I don't know if it would be allowed in my neighborhood due to the storage.
Dean
Nervous? Nervous!!! Gives 'em palpitations at the mere thought that they might have to pay out a claim. Just ask the people in the areas of Queens and Long Island who are getting their homeowners insurance canceled on the chance that sometime in the next 10 years or so a Cat 3+ hurricane might wander up the NJ coast and flood those areas. Bloody insurance companies make stockbrokers look like choirboys.
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