Is it the burner or the tank?

I bought a Bayou Classic KA4B burner from amazon last week, brought it home and hooked it up to a newly filled propane tank, went to fire it up and... nothing. No gas is flowing from the tank through the regulator.

I disconnected and reconnected several times, re-read the manual in excruciating detail following the steps and order of opening the valves repeatedly with no luck.

I got on a chat with Bayou Classic support and he had me try a couple of things (mainly smacking the regulator around a bit) and no dice. He asked me to send a pic and the receipt and he would send a new regulator. Being impatient and knowing Amazon is the much quicker alternative, I returned the first one and they shipped me a brand new one.

Well, I'm having the same exact issue now. The thing is, the tank works just fine with my weber grill, so the tank itself isn't bad, right?

Steps:

• Turn off Tank and Burner valves
• Connect Burner Hose to Tank
• Slowly turn on Tank Valve (this is where it gets interesting, as every time I turn the valve on when connected to the burner, there is a very loud "click"inside the tank valve, like a spring firing into place. Doesn't happen with the grill)
• Slowly turn on Burner Valve
• Nothing happens. No gas whatsoever is flowing to the burner

When I disconnect the hose from the tank, there is the typical release of gas pressure.

I recently got this tank at one of those tank exchange places (no one near me fills them anymore...) So am I stuck waiting to burn through the gas on this one with the grill so I can try a different tank? Anything else I can try here?

 

I am totally guessing here but it sounds like something in the tank is out of spec and the design of the tank valve on the burner is not opening the safety valve on the tank. Once upon a time if you opened a propane valve, propane just sprayed out. Now they use something that prevents this unless the hose is screwed on. It seems to me that the hose end on the burner regulator is not long enough or something? Also I have had regulators that need to be connected to a gas source for several minutes with the delivery valve off before they allow gas to flow. Some sort of safety valve inside. Try connecting it for a bit with the delivery valve off and then try it later.

This is all speaking from a total layman's ideas. I just don't see what else it could be.

 

I have had this happen with my propane burner when I forget to turn off the burner. The sudden pressure drop triggers the valve in the tank, preventing it from just venting all the propane if it isn't hooked up to something. Since you are confirming that the burner valve is completely closed when you are turning the propane on, I am not sure what is causing that. Maybe a leak between the tank and the hose to the burner? Maybe simply a faulty safety valve in that tank. You could get another tank and try that on your burner, see if it has the same issues. You could also try turning the tank on with the burner valve slightly on, or on various amounts, to see if there is a difference. Good luck!

 

^^ Ya. This makes sense. Also found this and it explains the last part of my idea better. This is off a gas grill website but it is what I was trying to explain.

"The regulator on a gas grill the piece that is screwed onto the propane tank to regulate the flow of gas. It contains a safety mechanism called a bypass. This is a small piece of plastic that is inside of the regulator and automatically shuts off the gas supply if there is no back pressure in the hose. This often happens when there is a leak. The bypass valve also can inadvertently be tripped if the gas tank is turned on while one of the grill burners is also turned to "On" position. Turn off all burners and the gas tank. Turn on the gas tank and wait a few moments before turning on one of the burners and attempting to ignite it."

 

What kind of regulator do you have? Is it adjustable? This happens with mine every time and I use an adjustable (0-30 psi) regulator. I've found that I have to back the pressure all the way down, then turn the tank valve on slowly, open the burner needle valve, then slowly increase the pressure until I hear gas flow and light it. When it makes the click sound, I shut off the tank valve, then release the pressure in the hose between regulator and burner which releases the safety valve in the tank.

If you're not using an adjustable regulator, this probably won't help. Another trick that I discovered is to only open the tank valve like 1/4 turn. I'm not sure why this helps, but I used to do that regularly when running large commercial catering grills.

 

I had the same problem with my smoker. I was using the returnable propane and for some reason it was not opening the regulator. Bought my own tank and it works. Some one told me the returnable people have found a way to make them harder to refill so they have to be returned

 

Its the tank, 100%. It happens sometimes with the "exchange" tanks. Sometimes it can be fixed by flipping the tank upside down and opening the valve (as it will reposition the safety inside and sometimes cause it to "re-seat" correctly). Often times the tank has to be exchanged, because the only practical and safe way to get it working again is to refill. I have moved to buying my own tanks and then getting them refilled, as I found that the quality of the tanks (valves specifically) I was getting with exchanges was not great. Also, it saves me a ton of money.

 

As a side note, when getting an exchange tank, you're only getting 15 lbs of propane (says it right on the blue rhino label), vs getting it filled and actually getting 20 lbs. For me, an exchange is about $16 and a refill is about the same cost, but you're getting a full tank rather than 75% of a tank.

 

Are you sure about that? At the place where I get my tanks refilled, there's a great big sign stating that under provincial law, it is illegal to fill any propane tank beyond 80% of it's stated capacity. 80% of a 20 lb tank is 16 lbs, or roughly the same as your Blue Rhino tanks. I'd be quite surprised if your propane vendor was actually imparting a full 20 lbs of propane into your 20 lb tank.

 

Thanks for the responses. It's an adjustable valve on the burner, so I'll try some of the methods suggested above for getting the gas to flow.

Long term it will probably be resolved when I get a replacement tank. I'd exchange it now, but I just go it refilled which is kind of a waste. It's the last time I will go to that particular location though. They switched from Blue Rhino to some off brand. I had to return the first tank I got from them, as it would start spewing gas when I would turn the tank valve on with any sort of burner connected (burner valves closed, like always). Clearly a second rate operation, and not worth the safety risk. On second thought maybe I should just ditch that tank now before it becomes an issue.

I owned my own tank and had it refilled for 10+ years with no problems, until the last local place that did refills stopped providing the service. I was very sad to trade in "my" tank for another tank when that happened. We had been through so much together.

 

Well, I'm relatively sure about it. 2 different guys at 2 completely separate places that have filled my propane have told me that. I've never weighed them, but the tanks feel heavier when I get them filled then when I exchange them. The current place that I go charges by the gallon and if the tank is completely empty, it's usually around 4.5 gallons to fill it. A quick search shows me that propane weighs 4.24 lb per gallon which puts me at about 19 lbs if the tank takes 4.5 gallons.

 

Great Success! I bought a new tank at home Depot and had it filled. Brought it home, connected it up and got it lit on the first try. Time to brew!!!

 

The exchangeable tanks are rated for 20#. To cheat customers they started under filling them and eventually got sued because the labels still said they contain 20#. Instead of going back to full 20# fills, they opted to change the labels instead. The place I go to refill sits the tank on a tared scale and has a flow meter as well. I get a full 20# and it's always right around 4.6 gals to get me there.

 

20 lbs is the safe capacity.

 

Try a different tank?

 

Hmmm.... if propane works on the grill then I would think it must be something with the burner. But, you could always GET a NEW tank and then have 2. I actually suggest doing this eventually anyway as it really sucks on brew day to run out of propane mid-boil. I'm lucky. There is a place near my house that fills propane tanks for $11 if you tell them you're a customer from the LHBS. And, as an added bonus, I brought both of my tanks there last time and the guy couldn't ring it up right, so he just charged me $11 to fill both! Good luck with your propane issue. I only use propane for brewing. I'm all about CHARCOAL for grilling! It gives you time to sip a homebrew while you wait for the coals to gray!

 

I've used natural gas with no issues, but now I am trying to hook my KAB4 up to propane. I have the 0-30 psi regulator. It seems it runs and then all of the sudden there are no flames, so something is cutting off the gas flow. I assume I just need to slowly open the valve until I get to my desired setting and leave it. Is that what you do?

Also, I swear I feel like there might be a leak somewhere but I put leak detector fluid all over and didn't find one. I'm strongly considering buying a different regulator for peace of mind. I feel like I hear gas and smell it at the tank connection, but could not detect one. Anyone had success with a different regulator?

 

The thing I noticed about this regulator is that there is a lot of play in the regulator wheel, before it actually engages and starts opening the valve. Meaning 2-3 full turns of the knob where there is no resistance, before you actually feel it start opening the valve. Once I realized this, things have been working fine, along with the replacement tank.

 

Yes, I noticed that too. Curious why the flame would cut off randomly. I've read some others have that issue. I would hate to deal with that mid-brew. Are you able to crank your gas up and down with no problems? I would assume with this burner we wouldn't need to really crank it to get a boil going.

 

Once I got the damper adjusted properly and got it lit, I had no trouble adjusting the flame up and down as needed over the course of my one brew session.

 

Any way to keep the burners clean? Mine sits outside, and it's starting to get rusty.