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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by CG on March 29, 2026, 12:43:18 pm »
If you have a mercury thermometer you could use that. You have to take two measurements of temperature one with the plain mercury thermometer and one with the same thermometer with the tip covered in a cotton sock that's wet. Swing the wet bulb one around to evaporative cool the tip then read the temperature. Use this on line calculator .


https://www.1728.org/relhum.htm
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by ROB25038072 on March 29, 2026, 11:18:35 am »
The high humidity might be a big part of the 3d printing problems you mentioned.  I run a dehumidifier in the room where I do my 3d printing and try to keep the relative humidity below 50%.

I have mine set up in the garage (aka the lab) it’s pretty cool in there so I’m assuming the humidity would be pretty low too but it’s probably worth getting a little humidity meter.
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by fluitc on March 29, 2026, 10:58:00 am »
The high humidity might be a big part of the 3d printing problems you mentioned.  I run a dehumidifier in the room where I do my 3d printing and try to keep the relative humidity below 50%. 
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by ROB25038072 on March 29, 2026, 04:27:19 am »
Rob
I can see why you're into wind and not solar. Do you ever get a clear sunny day?

We had one yesterday but not all day. So far this year I believe we’ve had around six full 24hr periods of no rain.

That said I’ve got 8 panels on the roof and they have been feeding into grid the despite the cloud cover. So the light is definitely more reliable than the wind. The rain helps wash the seagull crap off to, so there’s pros and cons.

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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by CG on March 28, 2026, 01:53:13 pm »
Rob
I can see why you're into wind and not solar. Do you ever get a clear sunny day?
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by ROB25038072 on March 28, 2026, 03:18:18 am »
Well, I was impressed.  No oil well and pump plus refinery needed, or a medium pressure boiler including a condenser and feed water system (and all the rules and regulations for operating one).  It does require some firewood for making charcoal.

That’s probably the only real down side. I have a wood burning stove and it’s a pretty labour intensive investment - it keeps the utility bills down but takes a lot of effort and preparation to keep it going in the winter months.
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by fluitc on March 27, 2026, 05:54:51 pm »
Well, I was impressed.  No oil well and pump plus refinery needed, or a medium pressure boiler including a condenser and feed water system (and all the rules and regulations for operating one).  It does require some firewood for making charcoal.
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by CG on March 27, 2026, 04:21:29 pm »
Or you could bypass the engine and the gasifier and use a steam turbine to run the axial alternator like Marcus aka  Lynx steam, aka Lynx wind did.
https://youtu.be/BGtbyFwPjJw
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Heat Engines / Re: Putting it all together
« Last post by ROB25038072 on March 27, 2026, 04:12:14 pm »
That’s a pretty big modular project though I think his engine could do with a silencer/muffler or the neighbours would go berserk.
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Heat Engines / Putting it all together
« Last post by fluitc on March 27, 2026, 02:43:22 pm »
This guy has put a huge amount of effort to get this system to this point.  He has a couple of videos showing the build and testing of the alternator.  Every part seems to be developed enough to put it together as a working system.  With more testing and time on the system it will be interesting to see the cleaned-up version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjBlfd3s4g
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