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Author Topic: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem  (Read 29386 times)

Offline dhacker

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #15 on: August 26, 2010, 05:40:44 pm »
Your regulator should say what the psi rating is.  If the plastic nut that tightens the ACME fitting is black, then it is probably a 1 psi regulator (like for a grill).  If it's green, then it is a high pressure (10-30 psi) regulator, and it should have the rating embossed on it.

Is the flame yellow without the kettle on the burner or yellow after you get the kettle on top?

Excellent line of reasoning, dak. Yeah . . if the kettle is inhibiting the ability to exhaust the combustion gases, there may not be an oxygen rich enough environment at the intake ports at the base of the burner nozzles to get a clean burn.    
« Last Edit: August 26, 2010, 05:43:52 pm by dhacker »
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Offline beerocd

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #16 on: August 26, 2010, 06:59:34 pm »
I'm not sure why a 20 Lbs tank wont work. But on a site where they are sold says the burner wont work properly with a 20 lb tank. It says theses burners use a low pressure regulator . But double check where you order from it might use a high pressure regulator.

As it starts to ice up - you lose pressure. This starts before the visible ice and progressively gets worse. Even if your flame was fine to start with it will degrade as the burn goes on. Buy a 40 - you need it for work anyway and it's tax deductible.  ;) I used to run some kettlekorn stands, big burners. If you get busy you gotta keep swapping out 20's so they can thaw - or go to a 40 and not have that problem.

If you can't crank up the regulator so that the flame blows out - I'd say upgrade the regulator too.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2010, 07:13:10 pm by beerocd »
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #17 on: August 27, 2010, 06:21:19 am »
Thanks for all the help, folks. costco has 80 lb tanks on sale right now and I have been planning on getting a couple. I have my eye on another regulator too.

Offline riverrat

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #18 on: August 27, 2010, 08:43:08 am »
The bigger the tank, the less $/lb the propane will cost you as well (most places).  So if you're buying, buy the biggest you can haul to the filling station.

And the larger the surface area of the fuel (larger diameter tank) the higher the potential evaporation rate (from liquid to gas), even when the liquid gets cold from evaporating.  That's the reason for the pig tanks (laid on their side, tons of exposed area to evaporate).
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2010, 01:23:51 pm »
If the flame is getting yellower over time, I think the problem is not a loss of pressure, which can be compensated by opening your control valve wider reducing the pressure drop across the control valve, but a density problem.  As the propane gets colder, the density of the propane gets higher making the gas mixture at the burner richer in propane. 

I think the most effective way to overcome the cold probably is to put a heat exchanger for the propane between your regulator and burner.  Perhaps a long pipe would work.  Increasing the size of your tanks as suggested by the other posters is helpful.

Offline etbrew

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2010, 02:56:44 pm »
I have two of this style burner (240,000 btu) burning natural gas on fire mixers (for candy making) and they only produce soot when the fuel orifice in the jets become clogged.  I don't know if there's a difference between propane and natural gas with respect to soot formation but I would say if the burner is producing soot there is a problem with the fuel to air mixture.  The stoves I'm using these on are open underneath so fresh air can be pulled in from below. 

I would suspect, as others have said, that either you have the wrong pressure gas entering the burner, or a severe shortage of air to the jets.

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Re: Propane Gas Burner - Major Soot Problem
« Reply #21 on: September 09, 2010, 09:23:02 pm »
I've used the NG 200K burners on my 10 gallon system and have found that sometimes the individual jets get clogged. I've unscrewed them with a small wrench and used strong plastic toothpicks to clean the venturis and that fixed my problems with yellow flames and soot on a few occasions.