Hurricane Burner isn't cutting the mustard

The hurricane burner I have is mounted on a homemade stand and sits about 3-3.5 inches below the keggle. I spoke with a gent at Hurricane and have drilled out the orifice for NG use.

I boiled 5 gallons with no problem. With 10 gallons in the pot it barely gets to a boil w/ outside temps at about 50-55 deg. My last batch was off a bit as the boil off was not any where near where it should be.

Anyone else have any problems with 10 gallons and the hurricane?

 

A question for you, is the air shutter all the way open yet, are the tips of the flames yellow?. If the burner air shutter is not all the way open you can increase the drill size for the jet until the flame tips start to turn yellow with the air shutter fully open. That should be the maximum the burner will do, if you need the drill sizes there are a number of orifice sizing charts on the web. Out of curiousity what size drill bit did they suggest?.

 

1/8 bit.

Actually, the air shutter I believe was most of the way closed. It was hard to see during the day, but it looked like when it was opened more there were more yellow bursts. I'll have to fire it up in the dark and see what it looks like.

 

I have not altered mine at all. I can do 15 gallon batches with no problem. Hope that helps

 

I found the Kings Kooker to be much more efficient for my 10 gallon setup. The hurricane burners I used to have used twice as much fuel to heat the same amount of liquid. I found them here

 

The burner you suggest is useless for the Original Poster because he is using natural gas.

 

If you propane is low, you might have that problem.

 

Here is an orifice size chart that covers NG and propane http://www.joppaglass.com/burner/lowp_chrt.html, 1/8" would probably be right for 7" Ng but with lower pressure NG you should use a 5/32 bit. The target is about 60K Btu's for these burners on low pressure gas, the limit is when the air shutter is full open to get yellow tipped blue flames. If the air shutter on your burner is mostly closed the jet opening is too small, drill it out in small steps and test fire to set air shutter.

 

No, really, there are replacement orifices for this burner for natural gas. Sorry, I missed that, but I also know that the orifices can be replaced. That I do not have a link for though.

 

Here is a link to the northern brewer site with the NG valve http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/burners/natural-gas-valve-for-hurricane-burner.html

 

kladue,

Ask him about the size of his supply line and the length of the run from the meter. You can explain it better than I ever could, but that might have something to do with his problem. These could be an issue with the low pressure NG. i'm just guessing here.

 

Good suggestion, supply line size and length might be a reason for the low burner output that he is experiencing. You can compensate for supply line pressure drop with increased jet size up to the point that the air shutter is fully opened. It sounds like the jet size is less than the maximum as the air shutter was mostly closed though, the jet could be opened up a bit to bump up the burner output.

 

Am I missing something? That burner is 225 bucks and is 50k btu.. the hurricane is higher BTU and way cheaper. Sure, higher gas usage, but gas is pretty darn cheap.

http://www.agrisupply.com/product.asp?pn=64494&bhcd2=1257269252

 

kLadue - Thanks for a ton of input. I never got around to measuring the line pressure but I'll have to do that. The line actually comes up out of the middle of my patio so I'm not sure what size the pipe is from the house to the outlet. I also need to get it fired up at night so I can get a better idea of whats going on.

If I'm reading this correctly, I should fire it up with the air shutter all of the way open. If I don't get constant yellow tiped flames, I need to drill the oriface out more (which I'll also diagnose after measuring the line pressure.) If i do have constant yellow tipped flames, its fine and I need to look elsewhere.

I was a tad concerned because after speaking with someone at NB & hurricane, it sounded like they were telling me "we'll, its not designed for that and it just might not be able to handle the job".

 

It would be better if you went up 1 drill bit size on the jet, fired the burner and note the air shutter position to get yellow tip flames. If the air shutter is not fully opened then step the jet size up and repeat firing test, this way you can stop when there is still a little bit of air shutter adjustment left. Raising the burner closer to the bottom of the keg will help compensate for the reduced output at lower gas pressure also. Try not to get the inner light blue portion of the flame any closer than 1/2" from the bottom of the keg so combustion can complete and CO and soot wont form. you will probably find that placing the burner closer to the bottom and turning the flame down so the heat stays under the keg will work better than a ripping flame and fire halfway up the side of the keg.

 

"The line actually comes up out of the middle of my patio so I'm not sure what size the pipe is from the house to the outlet."

If you continue to have problems I would suggest checking out that supply line to be sure is is not collapsed, or partially collasped under the patio slab. A shifting slab, freeze thaw cycles and/or improper installation could cause this. Is the line always pressurized? If so, a leak would probably soon be discovered, but if not it could go unnoticed. Odds are these are not the problem, but could be.

 

Anyone know if the link from Agrisupply above is the same as a Hurricane minus the correct NG valve? I have a 3/8" QD hose/ball valve coming directly off the gas meter next to my garage and want to do 10 gallon batches. There doesn't seem to be a lot of good info to go by when it comes to running NG, perhaps due to the lack of people using it.