Thanks for that reply.
I think my problem with gas technology is that regulations don't allow the average Joe to install or maintain it. I also am phobic about it being explosive, but steam is gas, and highly volatile itself. Dry steam occupies sixteen hundred times the volume of the same weight of water at atmospheric pressure! There's more than enough steam explosions recorded...
Why I think steam is overlooked is having heard my Father bemoan ever moving away from steam. He always maintained diesel engines had 'no grunt' and were poor imitations of steam.
I've been reading...
"Engines of this type (steam) turn fairly slowly. 600 rpm is not an unusual or "slow" turning speed. Don’t let the speed mislead you. 600 rpm in a steam engine isn’t comparable to 600 rpm in a gasoline engine. 600 rpm in a gas engine is an "idle speed" that produces very little torque (or twisting force). A steam engine can produce maximum torque at almost 0 rpm. If you have ever seen an old 10 to 16 horsepower steam tractor at a "tractor pull" pulling against our modern 400+ horsepower gas engines, you will understand. The steam tractor always wins."
Torque is cheap
Steam never left industry. It just became immobile.
"Steam engines are cheaper, simpler, quieter, and more reliable than many other kinds of engine. But a steam engine needs large quantities of water, in addition to fuel and all the parts it has in common with a gas-powered engine. As a result the power-to-weight ratio of steam engines (plus supplies) is low. That's why we rarely see steam engines used in applications where the weight matters"
No steam jets
But then I see this....
http://www.tinypower.com/images/products/air.jpg
Half model of an early 1900s three-cylinder airplane steam engine in the Warner Robins Air Force Museum in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Anyhoo, for stationary applications, I think steam has much merit, and was another industry, like the wood chemical industry, overshadowed by the arrival of petrochemicals.
I will be talking to practising steam engineers in the near future and see what they make of it.
I'm also interested in seeing how simply a woodgas unit could be made, ie gas you can use safely without corroding parts - clean....
How much equipment needed to use this for fuel, wouldn't every wood have different chemicals that may need addressing/scrubbing?
