Any new small charcoal retorts out there?

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

Something portable so can be moved between woodlands? I would like to also collect and use pitch.

[Woodworks]

Something portable so can be moved between woodlands? I would like to also collect and use pitch.

 

Easily portable yes but sadly wont be able to collect pitch in mine.

[beachbum73]

I spotted a charcoal retort made from oil drums, seemed to work well and portable enough for a car to use ! Googled it and it popped up on YouTube!

 

 

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[Woodworks]

Having a natter with a mate in discussing the retort he threw up an awkward question.

 

How do you get CE mark or at least have your back covered in case of an injury caused through use? So distracted with developing it rather overlooked this side of things.

 

At the end of the day playing with fire is dangerous and changing charges involves basically lifting the lid on a furnace, removing a barrel of hot charcoal and putting a cool one back in

Edited April 29, 2017 by Woodworks

[openspaceman]

How do you get CE mark or at least have your back covered in case of an injury caused through use? So distracted with developing it rather overlooked this side of things.

 

You don't need a CE mark unless you place the equipment on the market or provide it for others to use in some way. To be able to CE mark something you need to get a make a declaration of conformity showing that it conforms to all the relevant directives, not an easy task as it gets quite involved. There are firms which will do it for one of you arms and legs.

 

At the end of the day playing with fire is dangerous and changing charges involves basically lifting the lid on a furnace, removing a barrel of hot charcoal and putting a cool one back in

 

How does that compare with pouring a few tonnes of molten steel into a ladle and then into moulds? The point is you assess the hazard and come up with an engineering solution and risk assessment. The rules aren't there to prevent trading but to make things as safe as practicable plus benefit the hoards of ambulance chasers and holier then thou safety experts if you get it wrong

[Woodworks]

You don't need a CE mark unless you place the equipment on the market or provide it for others to use in some way.

 

But thats what I was aiming at.

 

It's fine now for our own production but liked the idea of developing it into a product for sale. Don't want to waste any more money developing it if there is huge pile of insurmountable bureaucracy waiting up the road

[openspaceman]

But thats what I was aiming at.

 

It's fine now for our own production but liked the idea of developing it into a product for sale. Don't want to waste any more money developing it if there is huge pile of insurmountable bureaucracy waiting up the road

 

It almost certainly not insurmountable, I was trying to show an example of something similar that is in use.

 

Some things are insurmountable, an example being my non-patented stump burner from the mid 70s, it worked, was uninsurable and overtaken by more stump grinders available which were considerably faster.

 

The thing to consider is what size of market you expect. We confidently expected to place 16 wood drying kilns into the firewood industry but we only managed one, others came later to the market and did far better.

[QJW]

You can get more details about the Hookway retort at their website hookwayretort.co.uk

[Woodworks]

Just a little update.

 

Not had much time to tinker with MK1.2 but it's working well enough just not as cleanly as hoped. Converted 0.8 of a cube yesterday from 08.30- 17.00 Could have got it up to a cube if not had something on in the evening so a pretty productive little retort. The first burn is the smokiest so guess thats down to the fact the firebox is currently sitting on bare earth so water getting driven off.

[SteveA]

Just a little update.

 

Not had much time to tinker with MK1.2 but it's working well enough just not as cleanly as hoped. Converted 0.8 of a cube yesterday from 08.30- 17.00 Could have got it up to a cube if not had something on in the evening so a pretty productive little retort. The first burn is the smokiest so guess thats down to the fact the firebox is currently sitting on bare earth so water getting driven off.

 

Looks great. Any problems with warping or signs of any metal overheating?... the barrels still look in good shape.

 

What burn ratio did you get with those 3x burns?

cheers, Steve