Weak orange flame on my burner

I've been out of the game for a while, but I dug out my equipment today in preparation for brewing a couple batches for Christmas. However, my burner is not working correctly. Instead of a tight blue flame, it's gushing out this big billowy orange flame:



Any ideas as to what could cause that? Would an almost empty propane tank cause that, perhaps from low pressure? Or could the burner itself be damaged? It has been sitting in my covered storage in the back yard for more than a year now. Thanks for any help!

looks like alot of cob webs, or obstruction/rust of some kind in the orfice or burner itself, take it off and shoot some compressed air that should help, also make sure your tank is full enough!!!

It could be a bad regulator. What PSI is it rated for?

Definitely looks like a classic case of a spider nest in the venturi horn...

Cheers!

Thanks for the tips. I scrubbed the burner with a bristle brush, and removed some garbage clogging the air intake, but it didn't help. But while I was messing around with it the gas ran out! So I'm guessing that was the problem. About to go exchange my empty tanks.

Well, the new tank didn't make much difference. I also blew it out with some compressed air but it was already pretty clean inside. I'm thinking it is a bad regulator now. I said screw it for now and my brew session is going fine. Just a very black brew pot.

Those tiny spiders are sometimes common.. but, before taking things apart to clean out the orifice, look at that silver colored damper where the hose connects to the burner. It really looks like you need to open that (turn it) so more air flows in to create the correct air/gas mixture. Yours really looks like it's closed too much.

Oh yeah, we did spin that every which way and try to get as much air in there as possible. It didn't seem to make any difference. I really do want to get this fixed or get a new line/regulator, if that's what it takes. The brew pot was a disgusting carbon-coated mess and no fun to deal with after the boil.

Low gas in the tank will cause that - until the flame goes out entirely. Try it with a new tank.

I am not sure if you have dirt dobbers in Texas but if you do that could be the culprit. They have plugged my burner before. Compressed air some times will not break up the nest they built. Shove a piece of wire in there to break the nest up and then blow it out. Minus some type of obstruction it would have to be the regulator.

Yes, after the old tank ran out of fuel, which I suspected was the problem, I got a replacement and it made no real difference. It seemed like the tube might still be obstructed though, since the airflow seemed weak no matter how we adjusted the air intake mix. I think I'll try putting a wire through the tube and see if I can find anything in there.

First, if this is a cone style burner, I would take it apart and take a wire brush to the cone and disk, paying close attention to the vanes.

If this makes no difference that I suspect a FUSSY regulator. I have one cooker with this issue. The cure is in the careful lighting procedure. I start by disconnecting the regulator from the tank. Now open the regulator valve to relieve any pressure in the gas line. Close the regulator valve and reattach the assembly to the tank. Now open the tank valve and WAIT about 30 seconds. Now open the regulator valve and light. Apparently with some regulators, if you don't let the pressure equilibrate with the tank before opening the valve it doesn't function properly and you will get real low gas flow.

I was about ready to chuck this burner until I read the above tip online from folks having the same problem with the model (XYZ outdoor cooker). Some times I'll forget to close the regulator valve after bleeding it, and will have to start the whole process over again. I've seen this on some gas grills as well, and again waiting to light makes a difference. This problem is also worse with full tanks.

I have been using this same burner for about four years now, on and off, mostly off lately. I was going to just buy a new piece, but I'll give your re-pressurization suggestion a try first.

EDIT: Just went out and tried it, and it totally fixed it! Thanks!

This was driving me nuts on my one burner. I use this burner for cooking, not brewing. I had about given up on it before I read that tip online. With my other burner this has never been an issue. It seems to be specific to certain regulators.