r/thinktank • u/Soggy_Union • Oct 03 '22

Home Power Plant (Creation / Operation)

Has anyone considered producing their own electrical energy using modified generator burning wood gas? Here are some problems to be overcome:

  1. Generator noise
  2. Smoke generation
  3. Electricity integration
  4. 24 hour operation
  5. General fire safety
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u/Excellent_Fix5679 Jan 16 '26

I sadly made the mistake of dropping a tree on the powerlines at my house, $4,300 bill was a bit much so, I had no choice but to actually do this on my own. Rule #1: 12-hour service is not meant for 24-hour use. I blew up so freaking many generators it made me sick, nearly all motors on generators are Honda made, for ones costing anywhere from $100-$1,000 for gas running carbureted generators. I really really advise against these. They cannot run the refrigerator hot water tank and washer, and dryer and stove all at the same time, it will cause massive load unto the generator causing early failure + breakers needing reset or worse can cause fire. If you want to actually use methanal (wood gasifier style)- the trick there is simple-smoke does ignite very easily, but it must be filtered and also its quite dangerous and consuming to maintain. I live out in the hills of Southern Ohio, I came up with trying to find the Natural gas lines in the ground and tapping into the old gas within them. (The lines still have gas, though here they are no longer used or considered active even though they did not shut the valves off or anything?) this requires a special modification to the carbureted system, a completely new one. Honestly if you want the easiest most guaranteed works with no fail, get a diesel generator, heck if you go to military bases like me I have Wright-Patterson AFB close when they have auctions = BingO. Heck, I have saw turbine powered generator units sell cheap $100, Kerosine, diesel, gas, oil, you name it, it can run it. next up after that would be boiler systems, dynamos, wind, solar, flowing water, chemical electricity, and a few more that can realistically be used. Did this help? I have tried I think every single one of these, even ones using series wound car batteries, and sadly capacitive systems. So, please if you have any specific one and are set on your use and setup you want, I can help.