Making a pipe burner...

LP, NG, gas burners of all types. Wood, coal or Steam equipment.

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335Guy
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Making a pipe burner...

Post by 335Guy »

After messing around w/ my new boiler, and my wife not wanting me to use the kitchen stove for my hobby, I decided to build a natural gas pipe burner. There were a couple of things going on here in terms of this decision. The first was that I wanted to keep the boiler in the horizontal position rather than vertical due to some headroom issues. Secondly, I didn't really want to go w/ multiple banjo or jet style burners (and 'cause I'm a cheap bastard and didn't want to shell out a bunch of money on those burners...). I wanted the NG over LP because I'll be using this in my basement and NG is cheaper. I have some decent ventilation in the basement room I'll be using (a full size man-door and two full windows). After doing a bunch of reading of old threads on here and AD, I figured the horizontal boiler and NG pipe burner would work. Since the Queen Bee's kitchen stove worked pretty well, I decided to use information from the stove's burners. Each opening on the burners was 1/16" X 1/4". The large stove burner, which ended up under the still head, had 30 openings. The smaller burner had 22 openings, for a total of 52 openings between the two burners. So I wanted at least that much burner area. The 1/16 X 1/4 rectangles had an area of .015". a 1/8" drill bit gave me .012" of area - pretty close. However, hand drilling 1/8" holes left the opening a little larger than I wanted, and I wanted more openings along the pipe to get more heat most of the length of the boiler. I decided to go w/ 3/32" hole size (bit) over 22" in two rows. W/ a 3/8" spacing (roughly the same as the spacing on the stove) that gave me 60 holes per row. The 22" dimension came from the between cinder block spacing that the boiler will be resting on. I did this on some 3/4" black pipe that I had laying around the garage.

Here's the layout and center punching...
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pipe layout & punch.jpg
pipe lo & punch 2.jpg
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

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After I got the lay-out and center punching done, I used some "titanium" 3/32" Dewalt bits in a cordless drill and went to town. Use lots of cutting oil. I got them all drilled w/ only breaking one bit. I'll keep you posted on progress as I figure out the oriface/venturi configuration...
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pipe drilled close-up.jpg
pipe drilled.jpg
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Tater
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by Tater »

looking forward to seeing your progress.
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

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OK, a little more progress. After you drill all those holes, you need to de-burr the inside of the pipe. I used a length of 1/2" round stock. I just kept shoving it down keeping it pressed toward the line of holes I drilled. I did this from both directions. I also ran a piece of 3/32" weld rod back through the holes, because the 1/2" round stock pushed some of the burrs back into the hole. After a little time, everything seemed pretty burr-free.

I put a 3/4" cap on one end of the pipe. I drilled a 1/2" hole in another cap to receive the orifice. Most of the stuff I've been reading here and on some other forums says to drill out propane orifices to 1/8". This made a nice place to start. I picked up a 1/4" male thread by 1/8" barbed brass fitting. The 1/8" barbed end would be on the inside of the cap and would serve as the gas orifice. The treads would go through the cap. The OD of the 1/4" male thread was 1/2". W/ the 1/2" hole drilled in the 3/4" cap, it was a nice snug fit. I also picked up a 1/4" female by 1/2" male bushing-type brass fitting. This would lock the barbed fitting into the cap and allow me to put on a 1/2" gas cock (valve). I used a little high-temp RTV silicone at the base of the 1/4" threads where it went through the cap. I probably didn't need it, as I want to pull air in to mix w/ the gas, but I'd rather pull from the air vents to not get some kind of weird turbulence.

So here's where I'm at...
Attachments
cap & oriface.jpg
cap assemb.jpg
inside cap.jpg
oriface & rtv.jpg
valve.jpg
valve & oriface.jpg
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S-Cackalacky
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Looks good - hope it works out well for you. Please keep giving us progress reports.
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goose eye
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by goose eye »

I'd be thinking about how long it is. If you have a
likker fire you ain't gonna be able to get to that gate
Ole boys have another closer to the regulator. They
used a hack saw to make one. Looks good

So I'm tole
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S-Cackalacky
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by S-Cackalacky »

+1 on what goose said. Maybe put a brass ball valve close to your gas source so you can shut it down with a 1/4 turn.
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by 335Guy »

S-Cackalacky wrote:+1 on what goose said. Maybe put a brass ball valve close to your gas source so you can shut it down with a 1/4 turn.
The valve shown that will be attached to the burner is more of a control valve than a shut-off. There is another valve (same kind - 1/4 turn gas cock shut-off) on the hard piped gas line that is above and to the left of the still area within easy reach if something goes wrong. Plus there is an additional shut-off in the room adjacent to the room I'll be stillin' in. If something goes that wrong that I need to run, that valve is on the escape route. You can never have enough safeties in this hobby.

Thanks for the cautionary statements so that I could clarify what I'm doing.
goose eye
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by goose eye »

Ole boys would be wieldin some stops on it so
It locks onto blocks. In case you kickit or somethin.
you getting 5v tin for wind brake. Just cut a slot for
braided ss gas hose from burn to go thru. Take black
paint to take the shine off if you in the woods. You doin it on wood floor
make a sandbox to set it in. Ole boys seen em save
a barn or to.


So I'm tole
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by 335Guy »

goose eye wrote:Ole boys would be wieldin some stops on it so
It locks onto blocks. In case you kickit or somethin.
you getting 5v tin for wind brake. Just cut a slot for
braided ss gas hose from burn to go thru. Take black
paint to take the shine off if you in the woods. You doin it on wood floor
make a sandbox to set it in. Ole boys seen em save
a barn or to.


So I'm tole
Good points. I still need to weld/add something to it to keep everything stable. At this point I was going to wedge it into the openings on cinder blocks, but before I actually use it, I will have something to better secure it.

Here is the "control valve" section attached to the burner w/ the air intakes drilled for the venturi. I did two 3/8" holes, one on each side. I can add more or restrict the amount of air as needed once I fire 'er up and see what I have in a test burn.
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Venturi Air intake.jpg
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

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Here a couple of picks of the burner under a test fire. I still need to weld something underneath each end to keep it from rolling in case of a bump, etc.. Having the flex line hooked up to it keeps it pretty secure, but I want something much more stable.
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burner wide low.jpg
On fairly low...
On fairly low...
On full blast...
On full blast...
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hamshine
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by hamshine »

iv been waiting to see this. IMHO that sir is slick as shit NIce Work
ETOH.... yes plz
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

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Thanks, Hamshine!

I got to use it today on a 20+ gallon sweetfeed run (my first gen of sweetfeed). From first drips to shutting it off at 35ABV was a little less than four hours. I ran it on high until I got a steady stream (this was about a half hour), and then I backed it off. It ran pretty smooth w/ minimal adjustment. Not counting fores, I collected a little over four gallons in pint jars. I got 'em airing out under coffee filters.

I'm pretty happy w/ how the burner turned out.

Here it is set pretty low under the boiler...
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under the boiler.jpg
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S-Cackalacky
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Slicker'n snot on a hot stove.
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goose eye
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by goose eye »

Is that from a burr. You gonna use a cradle for
your kettle. Make one out of angle iron. Cut a slot
in the angle an on either end where it sits on the cradle make a mark
on either end pick it up an pull it out an take a 6 inch piece
of number 8 rebate an braze it on that burner at them
marks. Them legs will lock it in where you gotta lift it
up out of the slot in the angle iron an the legs will sit in
the flat piece of angle you didn't cut.
Looks good.

So I'm tole
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335Guy
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Re: Making a pipe burner...

Post by 335Guy »

Thanks, Goose Eye. Will do.

Another thing I didn't notice until I did my clean-up was that there was no soot or anything on the bottom of the boiler. I don't know if that was just from it being NG instead of LP, or if I just got lucky w/ my air intakes...
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