Burner too big or pot too small?

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Stew8
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Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

My gas burner was a camp stove and I thought I’d upgrade. The boiler is a stainless 5 gal milk churn.
Flames coming up the sides is not ideal and that’s only turned on about 3/4
Burner too big or pot too small?
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Old and the new
Old and the new
The new burner
The new burner
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Fiddleford
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Fiddleford »

I'm going to guess you cant control the amount of gas going to your burner very well, you really don't need much flame from propane to make a run. I have a 58,000 BTU burner which I never even had to use half its power for to heat up the still. heats it up in a half hour then I run it really low. Low enough that the flame gets rather bright instead of large.
Rye whisky rye whisky oh dont let me down
Gunna have me a drink then gambol around
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

When it’s low it’s very yellow rather than blue and is easy to control.
The best lab is to compare against the “wee” one.
I’ll also keep an eye out for a larger diameter boiler, Something like a 55us/44uk gal drum is a tad big
Thanks for the prompt help
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Fiddleford
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Fiddleford »

whats the max BTU range for your burner? just curious
Rye whisky rye whisky oh dont let me down
Gunna have me a drink then gambol around
Here's some fiddle music
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Fiddleford
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Fiddleford »

Dunno what you mean by the large drum capacity but I suggest you embellish it to mach the forum rules, My keg still had a diameter of 4 inches and its plenty big enough for a turkey fryer burner
Rye whisky rye whisky oh dont let me down
Gunna have me a drink then gambol around
Here's some fiddle music
Pt1
Pt2
The Baker
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by The Baker »

Those electric cables look pretty close to that conflagration!

Geoff
The Baker
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

Thanks for all the help and yes I’ve just moved the electric cables. :thumbup:
The btu is around 27500 / 8kw.
What I meant by the size of the boiler keep it around 5gal but change it’s shape to be shorter and fatter. No ideas how to manage 55gal....

More photos to follow with a bit more data. :D
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

Mea culpa. User error
There is a silver metal ring with the specs and approvals just at the gas control that blocks the airflow
By blocking the airflow the flames are yellow and all over the place
When unblocked have a hot blue flame at the same rate of gas flow
Perfect !

The burner is ideal
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Unblocked with blue flame
Unblocked with blue flame
Blocked air vent
Blocked air vent
MtRainier
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by MtRainier »

Was just typing up reply to say you should adjust fresh air flow. I was trying to find the user manual for your viper gas cooker online to see where it was.

Looks like you solved it, though. It looks perfect once adjusted correctly.
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

The new gas ring has more halved my warmup time.
I think the burners with three gas controls rather than one offer more control when you’re at temp
This is a stripping run and the photos shows the temps
89.9 is top of column started at 70% 50ml/min
91.6 is top of boiler not the liquid but the gas at the bottom of the column
21.8 is ambient.
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

Thanks again for the comments, advice and help
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Skipper1953
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Skipper1953 »

The Baker wrote:Those electric cables look pretty close to that conflagration!

Geoff
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to move away from the walls as well.
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Stew8
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by Stew8 »

:thumbup: thanks
esxman
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by esxman »

You also should have a gas valve at the end of the burner , so you can turn the wick down , you may need to readjust the metal sleeve to get less air into the mix .Make sure you have good ventilation , leave a door and window open .My burner says should not be run indoors ,( produces a lot of CO2) , which can be deadly in a confined space ... just sayin ! esxman
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still_stirrin
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Re: Burner too big or pot too small?

Post by still_stirrin »

esxman wrote:...My burner says should not be run indoors...(produces a lot of CO2) , which can be deadly in a confined space ... just sayin ! esxman
Gotta’ correct you here, for safety’s sake...incomplete combustion, from running a burner inside, can produce carbon “mon”oxide (CO), which is odorless and colorless and quite lethal. If it is complete combustion, that is with adequate oxygen like outdoors, it produces carbon “di”oxide (CO2), also colorless and odorless, but not near as lethal because we expire CO2 with every breath.

So, it’s CO you’ve got to worry about, not CO2.

Stay safe.
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