Has anyone ever heard of a wood fired steam generator?
i live in an area with thick woods near by.

something with a steam turbine would be nicest, even if i need to piece it together.
maybe a steam cooker with a system to replace the water lost as steam?

Sure, the only reason why the steam engines we think of with locomotives burning coal is becuase it burns hotter and has more eficcent in general in terms of BTUs/ton. The trick is making a safe boiler, but there are plenty of plans out there.

OK, turbines use a LOT of water, and are NOT very efficent

What you want (if you can get/build one) is a "corliss" type engine

Getting engines in the 3-5 HP range is NOT all that hard, in fact, I know folks who build them. The problem is the boilers. As Ironraven says, a LOT use coal, although getting wood boilers isn't that bad. You would PROBABLY want a vertical tube boiler. You will be highly dependant upon a reliable source of GOOD water, and learning all about boiler firing, water treatment, and the like

Boilers are complex enough that you have to realize that most industrial/commercial insurance companies came about to inspect/insure boilers

I did some internet research on this a few months ago. It’s a lot more involved and dangerous then you would first think it is. I decided it’s not worth it for me.

I was interested because I have a friend that owns a lumber yard and I get free wood.


Do some searching before you jump.

Some of the biggest Maritime Disasters involved steam engines blowing up.

I would strongly recommend against home-built steam pressure boilers. Pressurized steam contains ENORMOUS amounts of energy. It kills the unwary, the uninformed, and innocent bystanders.

This is roughly the equivalent of filling a vessel with black powder and lighting a fuse of unknown length. Please don't do it.

If you want to convert wood to mechanical energy, set up a gasification system and a piston engine.

From the website of one of the regulators of pressure equipment:

"The boiler explosion at a 2001 county fair in Medina, Ohio,
tragically demonstrates the importance of proper inspection and
maintenance. In that instance, the crown sheets on an antique
steam-tractor boiler had been reduced to 23% of their original
thickness. The mechanical failure of the boiler occurred at a
pressure below that of the installed safety devices, instantaneously releasing an estimated 28,000,000 ft-lbs of force, and lifting the 20-ton steam tractor some twelve feet in the air. Five fatalities and forty-eight injuries resulted from the blast."

Sure to produce steam you need a heat source. It doesn't matter whether it is from wood, coal, oil or natural gas.

As per the proceeding cautions you are on your own. But here are some sites on steam power.

http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/evans/1805/

http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/

http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/basic1.htm

http://www.livesteam.net/

http://www.howstuffworks.com/steam.htm

http://www.steamshow.org/Steam_Info/works.htm

What do you want to do with this bomb???

I will agree with most of the folks (and hence my comment on insurance companies) - running a boiler is "non trivial". The leftovers from that era are operating engineering laws and unions

A high pressure boiler is a bomb, just waiting to go off (the one in your basement if you have steam heat is LOW pressure, maybe a couple of pounds)

Most states require boiler stamps, etc for a reason. There are usually exemtions for "small" boilers (usually under 5hp) and /or certain boiler capacities

That said, even though most of the folks in the live steam hobby are running boilers that would be exempt, and we COULD make out own, we tend to farm that part of the job out to licensed boiler makers. We also tend to spend the YEARS we take to build our own engine learning to run/fire other peoples engines

Just remember, if you do get a boiler. Running out of FUEL is no big deal, the engine stops. Running out of WATER is a HUGE deal. Look up the term "boiler explosion"

My interest in steam power is almost nil, but could a sterling engine be made to generate rotational power to run a generator.




I think wind & solar is a great way to generate power. I’m exploring these.

I have never given steam a lot of time other then a few hours of searching on the net a few months ago and deciding it’s not for me.

Sterling engines were originally developed for exactly this problem - the want NOT to have a boiler. That said, other than for well pumping, sterling engines are not all that useful. They are ULTRA low power unless you use a very high pressure transer medium (aka there are exceptions - see the Swedish Submarine forces)

One of the more successful designs was the Ryder-Ericson Pumping engine

Basically it comes down to - the world went internal combustion for a darned good reason

Sterling engines are much more efficient in theory than in practice.

Though I was doing some googling and it seems there are folks experimenting with solar sterling engines that use the sun to generate the heat that a sterling engine requires.

I've thought about steam before and came to the same conclusion that it seems many posters are making. It's a bomb, it may not go off but there are way too many points of possible failure with far too little inherent safety.

Having said that, looking into steam got me looking into woodgas, which seems like it might do what you want with less potential for fatality

I would very strongly advise against any home made high pressure steam boiler, as others point it would be a potential bomb.

If you are determined to use steam power, then I would advise the purchase of a ready made, tested and certified steam boiler, in the UK these are available as replacements for defective originals in narrow gauge railway locomotives, steam traction engines and the like.The purchase of an old, but tested and certified boiler, is worth considering, but such is likely to require more maintenance and repair, and to have a shorter working life than a new unit.
Remember that in most places, even a privately owned steam boiler will require regular formal testing and inspection, even if this is not a legal requirement, it should still be done to avoid risk of explosion.
Slightly O/T but I believe that the tragic boiler explosion reffered to above, was in one of the few States that did NOT require any formal inspection of steam boilers used only for hobby or leisure use.

If you have plenty of wood, and a safe boiler, steam power can be used to generate electricity, run a saw bench, pump water and many other purposes.

duplicate deleted, sorry