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Good Afternoon Readers,
I was just out running the Gas Station Lite and her 4kW. I have been thinking about how open the air mixer was in my video and it dawned on me that I might be able to go with smaller nozzles, increase the blast rate, and get more power. I reduced the nozzles from .25 to .188. That may not sound like much but it almost doubled the blast rate and drastically improved the performance. It was easily holding 500W and held 1500W for almost a minute before the fuel/air ratio went off and everything tanked. Not bad considering that the timing has not been advanced.
The only down side was that there was more sooting, but I would expect that with a high blast rate. Strangely enough she ran with the mixer in just about the same position. I suspect there was more reduction and water gas shift resulting in more gas volume.
Back to work!
Stephen
Northern Self Reliance 
Stephen, I read your info with a lot of interest, but didn’t get your meanings in this post. When you say you increase the blast rate, what does that mean, and/or how do you control it? And why does it make the generator run more powerfully? I’m trying to get educated… almost have one of your no-weld units online, but have too many real-work things to do firstly… Thanks !
Hi Bob,
Here is the scoop…”blast rate” is a slang term for the air flow rate through the nozzle. If your engine needs a certain amount of gas, then reducing the nozzle diameter will mean the air has to rush in faster. This faster flow rate blows harder on the local charcoal, raises the temperature at the nozzle tip, and makes more energy available to power the reduction process. This makes a gas with more combustibles in it and therefore faster burning so the engine can make more power.
The downside is that the gasifier has more pressure drop across it, it soots more, and the puff lid starts to leak more. It’s a balancing act.
Stephen