Soot from propane burners

Why do some propane burners produce so much more "dirty soot" than others? Is this the burner wearing out, the regulator wearing out or just something cheaply made?

 

I think it's the air/fuel ratio, do you get an orange flame or almost all blue?

 

That's what I was gonna say, sounds like incomplete combustion.

 

I have the same problem, and I'm sure it's an issue of incomplete combustion. The trouble is that I have my airflow maxed out, and I still get a pretty orange flame. In my case, the burner is a turkey fryer from Bass Pro, so I think the ultimate answer is "cheaply made hunk of junk". Although, it gets the job done...

 

If they've been used a while, and have crud and corrosion built up in them, they might need tearing apart and cleaning up. I cleaned my double burner setup last weekend after a few years of use, and my flames went from a flickering sooty orange back to a roaring blue.

 

If more fuel flows than the airbox can support, soot is inevitable. A too-large orifice can cause that. It did cause it the only time I ever had soot. A smaller orifice fixed it.

 

No way to turn the gas down so it isn't flowing as fast?

 

Plus one to taking it apart and cleaning. The burners are cast iron and get a lot of rust, scale and crap hiding inside.

A wort boil over will also foul a burner quickly.

 

When you say take apart and clean, please describe your cleaning process. Mine are fine now, but like to have knowledge for future reference. Thanks

 

It is an orange flame. I am trying to fix this for my brew buddy. I have soaked the burner in vinegar and scrubbed as much rust off as possible and then repainted the inside and outside with 2000 F high temperature paint. I have tried using a different regulator as well as a different propane tank. Still get this tall yellow/orange flame on two different brew stands with different amount of wind protection.

 

Is there a way to adjust the air flowing into it? Can you post a picture? Ideally you want an all blue flame, a small amount of yellow is ok but that's what makes the soot.

 

Spiders....... Spiders love to hide in those orifices. Get some pipe cleaner and clean them out once in a while. The webs they spin in there will screw up the gas to air ratio. Depending on the style there can be little holes that draw air into the gas stream. If they are plugged it will really ass things up.