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Comment by Steve Armeros on May 12, 2014 at 8:00am

JIm   must leave now, maybe later I can e-mail u a picture

Comment by Steve Armeros on May 12, 2014 at 7:59am

Jim,,,    I have a 1 1/2 pipe going to the bottom  of the FT with holes at the bottom in a cap.  At the top I have a T with the top open to take the overflow and then t to a swirl filter and then to a holding tank, to the grow beds and back to the FT. I have 2 grow beds that empty  into the FT.  I also have another pipe with holes a little higher than the siphon into the holding tank in case the siphon can't handle both G B  dump at the same time.  Hopefully I did everything right.  If not, I would appreciate your comments.

Comment by Jim Fisk on May 12, 2014 at 7:48am

Hi aquaman, I do sell a cheap cd with my stove plans at our Ebay store under "fiskfarm" along with AP parts but I also have a bunch of pics of my latest build on here and a piss poor but educational slide show also on here of that GH stove build. (I have next to no patience with trying to video when I am in a build mode so slide shows are about it for now) I am currently building a newer version that should be done in the Fall as we need it to heat this monster of a house we bought and are in the process of finishing. That will have about 600g of water storage. The more I build and observe on gasifiers (and especially with all the new gasifier boilers and stoves out there nowadays) the more I realize just how many ways one can skin this cat. Of course water heat storage is always best and in AP we have water!

Comment by aquaman on May 12, 2014 at 7:31am

Hi Jim is it possible to get that design on the gasifier from you? My family has been trying to get one built and running now several months with not a lot of success!! Maybe you could recommend a site that we could go to or help us through it?

Comment by Jim Fisk on May 12, 2014 at 7:30am

Steve, one more thing that I believe caused the confusion and I quote you:"even though the siphon is at the bottom" ?? Not sure what u meant here. There should NEVER be any sort of siphon when referring to the FT. If anything fails your FT water will all siphon out and BELIEVE ME things like power will fail, and you will loose all your fish. (another reason I went with 5 FT that are all independent of each other. Safety in numbers and BU systems like that T are crucial to avoid disasters.)

I use a"T" at the top exit to avoid any possibility of siphoning. I also cut a 3/8" slot right at the top water level on the back side of said T to act as a skimmer (like a pool skimmer) and that allows any floater, oils, etc. to exit the FT off the surface. Sinkers are not the only thing that builds up in the FTs. You almost have to set it up first and then mark the exact operational water level to determine the location of that skimmer slot.

Also the top opening of the T acts as a safety should something clog up down below. The water only has to rise a couple of inches before it again flows over the top of the T. That has been a saving grace more than once while we got the slots right on the SLO system. In the beginning they were too small and would clog up with waste. No longer. But at least the water never rose over the top of the IBC thanks to that T overflow BU. Nothing like coming in in the morning and finding you have lost 2000 gal of water overnite

Comment by Steve Armeros on May 12, 2014 at 7:22am

Jim,  Thank You for the info on the tote FT bottom.  I believe that is my problem since I put a inch or so river pebbles on the bottom of the tote and obviously the waste can be taken out with the siphon tube into the swirl filter.

I will start lowering the water , take out the rocks and refill with clean well water today..

Thanks agn.

Comment by Jim Fisk on May 12, 2014 at 6:49am

Phillip, while wood gasifier stoves (often referred to as Syn-gas generators) are best and most efficient (rocket stoves being just one of them) I would not refer to wood gases going up the flue as "firebombs". If that were the case humans would have blown themselves up long ago. The real problem is creosote build up and that will burn at 1800 to 2000F once caught on fire, and any flammables better be well out of the way for sure. I have been studying and building and using wood gasifiers (a Ben Franklin invention) for over 40 years (since the early 70's) and other than experiments burning sawdust (that was a hoot), I have never seen any explosions. Perhaps a bit over stated there on your part.

My problem with "rocket stoves" is the extremely small batches of wood that must be hand fed constantly during operation. Fine for a small GH but my GH and 2000+gals of system water, need some serious BTUs and must run on its own for 12hrs at a time heating air AND water and I have yet to see a "rocket stove" design that would begin to do that. There are many, many gasifier designs that will however. Unfortunately most are in the $10-12k realm and so we build our own for about 200.00 and a couple of wknds worth of sweat (read FUN).

Comment by Jim Fisk on May 12, 2014 at 6:26am

Steve, IF you are referring to your FT(s) and not the GBs and I assume you are, we do not put any gravel in the bottom of the FTs unlike an aquarium where said gravel is part of the bio-filter system.

Many of us who are NOT running commercial systems DO put odd sections of 3" and 4" pipes and elbows simply to give our fish a life. They love playing in the pipes and IMHO deserve to have some fun. We do the same for our goats, sheep and chickens in the form of rock piles, etc. even tho they are also destined for the freezer as they too deserve a life.

Due to our unique SLO design where the rising air draws the solids to the outflow pipes (see my pics HERE) our FTs stay very clear of waste on the bottom but when we do use the siphon hose to clean the bottom like before a harvest (no not the algae off the sides ever) the pipes are easy to move out of the way. River stone on the bottom would become a problem. When you do a cleaning I suggest you capture the waste water and use it in your dirt garden (assuming you have one) and not flush it down the drain. Your garden will thank you.

I don't believe you mentioned any algae on the GH walls. That would be a whole nuther problem. I think there is some misunderstandings of your question here.

Comment by Phillip R. 'Cloudpiler' Landis on May 11, 2014 at 3:39pm

Steve,

Don't put anything on the bottom of the totes.  You want free-flow without interruption.  Algae and fish are about all one wants to see in the tank.  Yes, I said algae.  This is a sure sign of environmental health.  I can't tell you the thousands of dollars I just flushed down the drain by keeping the system too "clean."  I had to learn that algae is not dirt. 

If it's in the gravel, it means that you are allowing your water level to go above the "grade."  In other words, you need at least an inch of airspace at the top layer of your beds, and that space should never be wet. 

Algae on the inside of the greenhouse walls means that you have no air circulation at all.  Bad environmental standard for plant health, not to mention yours.  Get some ventilation going.  Then buy a squeegee and keep your walls clear. 

Algae on the floor, again, system way to wet.  You need ventilation.

Comment by Phillip R. 'Cloudpiler' Landis on May 11, 2014 at 3:32pm

I have a rocket stove heat system that I have used to keep a water tank at 75 degrees, even though it was completely exposed to -15 degrees and a steady windchill.  My secondary burn chamber burns the production gas, but by the time the exhaust is halfway down the pipe the BTUs have all but completely transferred to the thermal mass collector (cob bench). 

I can't think of any application that would allow for exposed ducting like the one I see in the photo.  I transfer every bit of heat to thermal mass (cob bench upon which the tank is situated) and the minimum thickness is eight inches from any burnable surface.  The system works well, and the final exhaust is about 80 degrees F., with only a puff of water vapor to even indicate that anything is leaving the system at all.  That said, exposed ducting is nothing but a fire waiting to happen.  Additionally, if production gasses are not completely and efficiently burned before they reach the exhaust ducting, as the duct heats up (and the BTUs do not transfer into fireproof thermal mass), they can become explosive inside the duct.  Firebomb.  If that doesn't happen, there is still the poisonous gasses that could escape an unsealed system right into the closed environment of the greenhouse.

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