Problem with Banjo burner

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baer19d

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I've just about had it with both of the Banjo burners that I have on my system. I've been using them for about 2 years now and they continue to give me trouble. Either the flame is too low or the burners go out with a violent mini exposion (for lack of a better term) and blow out the pilot light. I've tried different valves and nothing seems to work. Has anyone else had any similar problems? I think I'm going to replace them with a couple of basic turkey fryer burners. Any thoughts? Thanks, Mike
 
I've had similar issues. You need to make sure you have a banjo vs a hurricane burner. They look identical, but the orifice you need to make them work differs. Northernbrewer.com was very helpful in getting the right accessories to make my system run correctly.
 
Which fuel are you using? NG, Propane, how high are the flames at full open on the valve?. It sounds like you have been given the wrong jets (too small) or the system pressure on Propane is to low, the other item that could cause problems is the air shutter is opened too much for correct fuel/air mix. Most of the jets/ valves sold for NG have too small an opening for the gas and the flames are usually about 1/2" or less, this can be fixed with a drill bit and about 5 - 10 minutes effort.
 
I've used two different size valves that I ordered from Northern Brewer and the larger one allowes way too much propane to the burner because the flame is more like a ghostly blue fog than a proper flame. I've also tried adjusting the fuel/air mixture and thats not the problem neither. The flames are about a half inch or so high when everything is working fine. but they wont stay that way. At some point the flames will shrink to about 1/8 inch.
 
Is the tank freezing up? I remember people having issues with the standard size tank not being able to keep up with some of the high pressure propane burners. Could also be a faulty regulator or the safety valve is kicking in since it appears that the burner works and then stops performing correctly.
 
I would look at the regulator. Sounds like the culprit to me. High PSI system tend to be a bit of a pain if the tank gets about 3/4 low as well. does this happen when the tank is full and on a hot day?
 
I'm not sure if it does it with the tank full or not, but the weather doesn't seem to be an issue. I'll try another regulator and see if thats the problem.
 
Well, I tried a new regulator and that fixed the problem. Thanks for all the advice, Mike
 
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