Burner Safety/Efficiency

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Dylock

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I have a pretty cheap turkey fryer burner that I got from Bass Pro a few years back. I brew in my garage with the door open and sometime setup a fan to circulate air. The two times I've brewed I noticed that there was some high levels of carbon monoxide (it prompted it to move the burner more towards the opening and it fixed the problem). One thing is the burner was not "burning blue". I managed to do a test last week and got a full blue flame, will doing this decrease the CO hazard in the future?
 
blue flame = more complete combustion. sounds better, but I'm not a smog-ologist.
 
What indication did you have that the CO levels were high? Are you using a CO detector? Insuring that there is plenty of oxygen available to the burner will help reduce the CO. Yes, a blue flame generally indicates a cleaner burn and it's a good idea to keep the garage door open. The fan will also help insure a good supply of fresh air. I would not use propane indoors without a good CO detector. I like the digital ones that have an LED readout. It will warn you long before dangerous levels of CO are reached, but to take advantage of this you need to glance at it occasionally and see if it is registering a reading. IIRC, the alarm will trigger at 200 ppm CO, but it will also register much lower CO levels on the read out. OTOH, these units can fail I suppose, so it's prudent to ensure that you have adequate ventilation. Your life may depend on it.
 

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