Bayou Classic SQ-14 question/problem

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aksea102

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After reading on HBT how great this patio cooker is, I decided to retire my old burner and purchase this one. I was pretty excited about it, free shipping at Amazon too. I got the cooker last evening. YAY!! But to my dismay, when I went to assemble the brass hose connector to the burner, I found I could only tighten it three full turns before it froze...leaving 4 brass threads exposed (i.e. unthreaded). I had to laugh at the directions..."do not over-tighten brass hose connector, the air control disc must be able to easily turn for adjustment of flame quality". There isnt a chance in h-e-double-hockey-sticks I could tighten it down to where the air control disc would be immobile. The hose and the male brass connector looks fine. The female threading inside the burner looks like the problem. I am thinking of disassembling the burner from the stand and sending it back to Bayou Classic. Anyone else had an issue with this burner?
 
Did you find the spring that goes between the gas fitting and the air shutter?, or is it missing. Usually the spring provides the force that keeps the air shutter from moving after it is set as the fitting is not supposed to bottom out in the burner.
 
The brass hose connector has a tapered thread. This type of thread is supposed to have a few threads exposed when properly tightened. The sping that kladue mentioned should have been included and that's what pushes against the damper to hold it in position. If you didn't get a spring, contact the BC people and see if they will send you one. Don't over-tighten the brass fitting. Firmly snugged will do it.
 
Thanks for the replies...
The hose connector does have a tapered thread. No spring though. It's not shown in the diagram, nor included in the parts list. Just two screws to tighten down somewhat, holding the shutter in whichever position desired.
What is the purpose of having a few threads exposed? Hey, what can I say? I'm a chick. This kind of knowledge didnt come pre-packaged in my genes!! :)
If this is meant to be, the exposed threads, then I am thrilled. Absolutely didnt want to go thru the hassle of sending parts back. Plus...I want to brew tomorrow and fire this baby up!
Thanks again-
 
Thanks for the replies...
The hose connector does have a tapered thread. No spring though. It's not shown in the diagram, nor included in the parts list. Just two screws to tighten down somewhat, holding the shutter in whichever position desired.
What is the purpose of having a few threads exposed? Hey, what can I say? I'm a chick. This kind of knowledge didnt come pre-packaged in my genes!! :)
If this is meant to be, the exposed threads, then I am thrilled. Absolutely didnt want to go thru the hassle of sending parts back. Plus...I want to brew tomorrow and fire this baby up!
Thanks again-

A spring may not be a part of the design for the particular unit you have. The specific designs sometimes vary even with burners from the same manufacturer. The two screws in the slotted holes of the damper are probably used instead to keep the damper in position. Tighten these screws so that there is some friction against the damper, but not so tight that you cannot adjust the damper without having to loosen the screws each time. Yep, there's supposed to be a few exposed threads on the brass connector. Tapered pipe threads are designed this way so that they seal against leaks when properly tightened. IOW, no gasket is required as would be the case with straight (non-tapered) threads. Most pipe threads are tapered in this way. There are exceptions, of course, such as compression fittings and such. FYI, this stuff doesn't come to any of us naturally, so there's absolutely no need to feel genetically handicapped. Sharing info is what these forums are all about. You should be good to go! Fire that baby up!
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with your burner. Sounds like the one I got through Amazon. Fire it up and adjust the shutter till you have blue flames with yellow tips and you'll be good to go.
 
The SQ14 has no spring. It is indeed NPT threads.

I've had nothing but good luck with the Bayou burners that I've purchased from Amazon. They're all basically sold directly from the manufacturer, so if there's a problem with it it's certainly not Amazon's fault.
 
You're all good man. Mine was exactly the same way, I freaked too, until I fired it up the first time and had 7 gallons of water boiling in 15 min! W00T!
 
I purchased an SQ-14 burner and assembled it today. I saw some exposed threads on the brass fitting and thought there was a problem and thought I'd really crank down on it. Well I managed to tighten the nut all the way down till it stopped. I was proud of myself, problem is that the burner won't produce a very big flame. This is my first propane burner but I know somethings wrong when the regulator valve isn't even a quarter of the way open and the flame is dying. It seems like it's starving itself. The shutter plate was fully open and my tank was full. Any ideas?
 
This is a very common problem. More than likely you have tripped the safety surge valve. This is a safety device that cuts the gas flow down to a trickle should the supply hose get cut or burned. You can sometimes inadvertently trip this valve if you turn on the tank valve with the appliance valve open. The sudden rush of gas will trip the valve. The valve is inside of the connector to the tank. To reset the valve, simply close the tank vavle and open the appliance valve to relieve any residual pressure in the regulator and hose. Then close the appliance valve and slowly open the tank valve. Lastly, open the appliance valve and light the burner. That should fix the problem.

Regarding the brass fitting. The threads on this fitting are tapered and it is normal to see several exposed threads when it is installed. It's not necessary to crank it down excessibley and doing so could possibly damage the fitting. Hopefully that isn't the case. Well snugged up is tight enough. The this is not a pressurized connection. IOW, the threads are not holding back any pressurized gas at that connection.
 
Cat, thanks for the quick reply. I haven't tripped the safety cut-off and am able to light the stove. This is my first propane stove and I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be able to open the regulator to the stove all the way up or at least half way. I'm currently only able to open the regulator maybe a quarter of the way and then the flame gets blown out. There is a good sized flame with the regulator a quarter open but just thought I'd check and see if it can open more.
 
I doubt you will ever be able to run it with the regulator wide open. The SQ-14 is equipped with a variable pressure regulator (0-10 psi IIRC). Mine operates about the way that you describe, but I have also found that you can open it up more after it's running for a few minutes and the burner heats up some. IMO, running these wide open isn't necessary or even desirable as they will use a lot more fuel and without a commensurate gain in heating the wort. IOW, there's a practical limit to how much heat you can transfer through the kettle bottom to the contents and the excess simply escapes up the sides of the kettle. I have no idea what the optimum would actually be, but I usually run mine at a level where the burner flame does not rise up off of the burner much. When I'm in a hurry or want a faster boil rate, I will goose it up to the point where it gets noisy and the flame rises about an inch off of the burner casting. This does provide a lot more heat, but it's at the expense of using a whole lot more fuel. The best approach is to go with a moderately high flame at the beginning and then back it off to whatever boil intensity you want. I can maintain a roiling boil at a fairly low setting on the regulator. These burners have more than enough power for 6-12 gallon batches and probably more than that.

Also, you may wonder why you cannot open the regulator all the way since you would think that the regulator was specifically designed for use with this burner. It's not. Instead, it's an off the shelf universal type regulator and the Bayou Classic people simply chose it to use with their burner. They don't manufacture the regulator AFAIK. They make the burner and buy the regulators from some other manufacturer. I don't know this as a fact, but it's my best guess.
 
I also just bought this from Amazon. Came with the spring. They changed the design but never changed the directions. I figured it out though and it works great.
 
I just got my sq14 and it came with the spring, but without the 2 screws for the damper. In case anyone else has this problem, the screws are metric thread.
I also saw the threads for the hose fitting in the burner were pretty terrible, and not having NPT taps on hand to clean them up, I used some teflon "pipe dope" to make sure I got the fitting threaded in all the way and sealed well. There was probably a little less than half of the threads still exposed after it was tight.
 
I purchased my SQ14 from Ace Hardware online. It was cheaper than Amazon if you have it shipped to your local Ace. Total was around $56 with tax. My stove didn't come with the two metric screws for the shutter plate either. Without the screws you are able to adjust the air to fuel ratio a bit more. I think the screws are optional and some of the new stoves don't include them. I got the stove running good last night and did a seafood boil with it. Added a couple gallons of water, bottle of white wine, potatoes, corn, onion, shrimp, mussels, crab legs, etc... Worked nicely and now I can justify the stove as truely dual purpose. :mug:
 
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