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?
The yellow flame indicates that it's burning too rich. IOW, the air/fuel ratio isn't right.
There is also the possibility that the burner orifice is designed for natural gas rather than propane.
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.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.
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