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.