I have an old propane burner I got off craigslist a while ago and when I use it, the flame is blue on the bottom and otherwise mostly yellow. I took it apart and cleaned it, but no luck. Could it be a problem with the regulator? Any ideas?
Yellow Flame Propane Burner
- Thread starter mew
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You need to adjust the air intake baffle.
The yellow flame indicates that it's burning too rich. IOW, the air/fuel ratio isn't right. Typically, there is an air damper that allows you to adjust the mixture for the optimum burn. The damper is usually a simple disc mounted where the gas hose is attached to the burner. You can rotate the disc to increase the combustion air opening. There is also the possibility that the burner orifice is designed for natural gas rather than propane. A natural gas orifice is much larger than a propane one and this will cause the mixture to be overly rich. A missing or damaged orifice could also cause this problem. I doubt that the regulator is the problem as they usually either work well or not at all and they are quite reliable generally. I would check the orifice first. It is usually a brass fitting with a very small hole that screws into the burner casting right at the damper. There is also the possibility that someone tried to modify the orifice by drilling it out larger hoping to increase the burner performance. You should be able to find a replacement orifice fitting if that turns out to be the problem. I'm not sure what the orifice diameter should be, but someone else on here knows what it is.
slimer
Well-Known Member
I get a yellow flame when my propane tank is low.
samc
Well-Known Member
Agree with all of the above. It could also be a low pressure propane orifice. Air shutter sounds like culprit. However one other thought is opening the valve too fast can trigger your propane tanks safety mechanism and result in a yellow not very hot flame.
If it is a burner designed for 10, 20 or 30 psi and you use a regular BBQ -1 psi regulator you will never get a proper flame.
Post a picture of the equipment.
If it is a burner designed for 10, 20 or 30 psi and you use a regular BBQ -1 psi regulator you will never get a proper flame.
Post a picture of the equipment.
Thanks for all you suggestions. I've tried messing with the air intake disc and the flame gets better as it opens more, but it's as if it never lets quite enough air in.
I'm away from the burner right now, and this is the best pic I could find of it:
I'm away from the burner right now, and this is the best pic I could find of it:
If I had to guess, I'd agree that there's something wrong with the air/fuel mixture.
I doubt that it was designed for natural gas, It's a King Kooker meant for boiling crabs. I looked at what I think it the orifice as I was cleaning everything out, and it did not look tampered with, but I did have a hard time cleaning that little hole and may not have done a good job of it.
So I fiddled with it some more and it seemed as though the more air that got in the better, so I took the air intake disc off. It runs much much better now (though the tips of the flames are still a bit on the yellow side) but sometimes when I turn off the gas I get a bit of a flame persisting where the orifice shoots the propane into the burner assembly. This strikes me as bad. Should I be worried about an explosion and the death of myself or injury to others around me?
NC Hopper
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2/7/21: I lost the orifice on my Turkey fryer and looked everywhere locally for a replacement. No luck. Ended up buying a $30 replacement valve and hose assembly, which included the orifice.
