Soot

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Cheesefood

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I'm getting a lot of soot on my keggle and HLT. It's stained a pair of shorts and a pair of jeans.

What's cauing it, and how can I eliminate it?
 
It sounds like the air to fuel mix is off ... try cutting down on the amount of air entering the burner.
 
I had 2 very similar burners, and one on the keggle caused a lot of soot, and the one on the HLT had none. I never did figure out why, and I replaced the burner since then, so I guess I'm not help.
 
sailman said:
It sounds like the air to fuel mix is off ... try cutting down on the amount of air entering the burner.

I would have guessed the other way - needing more air. I get some soot on the bottom of my keggle, it never seems like I can get enough air in the Banjo to get a clean, blue flame for more than a short while.
 
the_bird said:
I would have guessed the other way - needing more air. I get some soot on the bottom of my keggle, it never seems like I can get enough air in the Banjo to get a clean, blue flame for more than a short while.

Yeah, soot would be the result of incompletely burned hydrocarbons = not enough air. I occasionally get a little soot early in a burn if there's dust and debris in the burner element, too.
 
You're probably running rich. Adjust the valve on the burner to let in more air. The flames should be nice and blue, but back off when they don't stay lit easily.
 
The air port is open all the way. Could it be that I'm pushing through more gas than it can burn? Should I shut the valve some more? I use this burner:

bcbg10_cast_iron_propane_cast_burner.jpg
 
You probably have it mounted too close. The keggle's bottom skirt creates a great place for carbon monoxide build up which snuffs the flame. If you have any orange in the flame, you know it's running oxygen deprived. I'm thinking about drilling a few vents around the skirt for this reason.
 
That's a good idea, Bobby (as always). I've been planning on drilling a couple more holes in the air flow cover piece for the Banjo Cooker, but I might drill a couple holes in the keggle skirt as well. You can't ever really have TOO much air for the flame, can you?
 
I was actually having soot problems with my oil furnace for my house, too much air flow was causing a longer flame and resulting in a small amount of soot clogging the nozzle which was then reducing the amount of gas/oil coming thru and creating even more soot.... It could be either, my opinion is try more or less air and see which helps.
 
Another thing that can create longer/orange flames is air speed. Are you burning outside? Is it commonly windy?
 
I think a partial breeze is benefitial to help keep CO from buliding up which is why I think a few more 1/2" holes in the keggle skirt would help (there are a couple small holes meant for drains in case it's stored upside down but I don't think it's quite enough).

I mounted my burner too close and had like a 1/8" thick layer of soot at the end of the boil. All it took was lowering the burner 1-2" to get an all blue flame. Granted, I use a natural gas ring burner with no air mixture adjustment, but I'm standing by my initial suggestion for now.
 
I have that same burner. I had to drill the **** out of the wind screen and then put two grill grates on it, to get enough air in their.
 
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