Lighting Propane Burner without a lighter - time delay relays?

Since the beginning of my all grain career I have seriously disliked lighting propane burners with a lighter - primarily because I am lazy, secondarily because automation is cool.

I'm in the midst of putting together a direct fired mash system with Honeywell furnace valves/standing pilots but am stuck on the design of the boil kettle burner.

I do not want to use the Honeywell set up for the boil kettle - it's unnecessary as the burner will either be on or off and I don't want to have to deal with the pilot.

I do want to be able to simply turn a switch and have the burner come on. I have both a hot surface igniter and a solenoid valve in my spare parts pile. After a lot of internet surfing I stumbled upon the idea of a delay relay and think this is the ticket.

I understand that that there are control modules to do this - I want to use such as a last resort. They take up more room and cost more than I believe a couple of relays will. I also understand that this method would not be safe in an automated fashion because there is no flame sensing. The other 2 burners will run with a safety system - turning the boil kettle on without a lighter is simply a convenience and cool factor.

The process would work as follows:

1. Turn Burner Switch to On Position
2. HSI begins warming up
3. Delay On Relay Closes and gas solenoid valve opens
4. Propane ignites - burner lit
5. Interval On Relay Opens and HSI goes out

Can you more experienced electrical guys provide a sanity check on this concept pretty Please?

Assuming this is a reasonable method do you know where to purchase said relays? I've looked the internet over but quickly get confused with many of the technical terms.

Just a thought, I automated my BK so I have the option of heating strike water, etc. while HLT is set to mash temp for recirc. Also have a HOA switch so I can just switch it on for boil.

Todd

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amias1axj5c[/ame]

After completely reading your post I realize it's not what you're looking for but I'll leave it up.

If I understand it, you are looking looking.to make two timed circults.

HSI: instant on - time period - off
Gas valve: time period - on

I expect you will have to do some dynamic testing to determine the optimum time periods


I can think of a couple ways to get the time.periods you are looking for.

One is a basic electronics RC time delay circuit. The basic components can be as simple as 1 resistor, 1 capacitor and 1 transistor. The time period will be determined by the value of resistor and capacitor used, so you would end up purchasing more than one of each as you experiment towards a solution. if you wanted the luxury of being able to adjust the time delays with a knob, then a potentiometer is what you want.

The second solution is using a 555 timer. An IC that has been around for ever. Radio Shack sells them for a buck or two. Application notes are readily available. This is a more complicated circuit than the RC solution. Once you build it, you can make adjustments quite easily. You can have the 555 turn on or off a transistor that turns on or off you HSi and gas valve as you like.

orangehero said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amias1axj5c

After completely reading your post I realize it's not what you're looking for but I'll leave it up.

Click to expand...

This looks like what I am trying to do. I want:

1 button to turn in a gas valve
1 button to start spark igniter

Any details how the sparker in the video gets triggered?

The piezo kit is probably the cheaper solution.

I believe the one in my original video is powered by a 9v battery, you just hit the small button and it fires several times from the battery.

I suppose you could get a NC solenoid valve for the gas powered off the same 9v battery (don't know how much power the solenoids draw, might drain a 9v battery too fast), but I'm not sure what the point would be. It's just as easy to install a ball valve.

odorf said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhLTSFApjk0

Click to expand...

Thanks.

In the first video, you do not clearly see him reaching over and touching the project box mounted on the stand. I believe that is what he is doing.

I am looking for a spark maker that is triggered by a button that is physically separate from the burner, i.e. mounted on a control panel.