Anvil burner weak after winter hibernation

[Kent88]

Today was my first attempt at brewing after a winter hiatus. I had trouble with my burner, though (I think it's this one, but it looks like there are a couple models that look a lot alike). It didn't want to stay lit. At first I thought it was just because my part of the world was windy, but when I moved into the garage I cranked it up, got it to stay lit, but this was the best it could do:

Despite leaving 5 gallons of wort on that burner for a couple of hours, it never really boiled.

This is a fairly new burner (last year) that I used successfully a few times. Those times the burner had much more impressive flames that I could hear and I had to turn down. Today I had it on full blast and the flame was hardly noticeable.

Any idea what happened? Any recommendations for how to get it working properly?

 

[day_trippr]

If you were running that burner using a propane cylinder it looks like you tripped the EFP ("Excess Flow Prevention") valve inside the plastic ACME nut that screws onto the cylinder valve. It's a spring-loaded ball type check valve that is intended to prevent a huge flow of gas in the event a hose or coupling were to separate.

And indeed if the ball gets pinned against the end of its bore it results in greatly reduced flow - typically barely enough to keep a burner lit, if that. Having a gas regulator open provides enough of a path on start-up to potentially trip the EFP, and it can be avoided by never opening the regulator before slowly opening the cylinder valve. Give that a try and see if you get the expected flame height...

Cheers!

 

[nebjamin]

Not directly related to your original post would OP would welcome your input on this thread I just posted: Power differences in gas burners between US and EU/limited availability of high power gas burners in UK

 

[Kent88]

And indeed if the ball gets pinned against the end of its bore it results in greatly reduced flow - typically barely enough to keep a burner lit, if that. Having a gas regulator open provides enough of a path on start-up to potentially trip the EFP, and it can be avoided by never opening the regulator before slowly opening the cylinder valve. Give that a try and see if you get the expected flame height...

Cheers!

So, close everything, open the tank, then slowly open the knob on the burner's gas line, then light it?

Well that sounds simple enough.

The instructions on the manual for this read: "Place kettle on burner and ensure it’s at least partially full of liquid. Place a lit long nose lighter into round ignition hole on burner wind screen. Turn valve on your propane tank and light. If ignition does not occur in 5 seconds, turn the propane off, wait 5 minutes, and repeat the lighting process. " It makes no mention of their control knob, so I had assumed it should just be completely open, and I only needed to mess with the tank knob until I got it lit. I seemed to remember that it (or perhaps my old turkey frier?) usually started on HIGH and then had to be adjusted after it stayed lit for a minute or two.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I was thinking the same thing as @day_trippr . I've had that happen to me, so I got in the habit of shutting off flow with the regulator before closing the tank valve. Then, open the tank valve, and then open the regulator to light.

That's most likely the problem. You can also end up with a spider nest block gas flow in a key spot as well.

 

[Kent88]

Just tried it out by starting with both knobs off, then I opened the tank knob, then I slowly opened the regulator, then applied the lighter. It fired right up, and it wasn't wimpy at all.

 

[day_trippr]

There ya go!

 

[bobbycheetah]

Hi. I wanted to stay in this topic, rather than post a new thread. (BTW, did I see in another post that Blichmann is the mfg of the Anvil burner?)

I've had my Anvil burner for what will be 4 years this coming Feb. About a year ago, I had to replace the original regulator hose. The original did not have the red knob at the end by the tank side, but I found that the newer models do come with that type of hose. I had to replace the original hose with one like that. I just discovered that the main burner section - the piece that the actual flames comes out of, seems to be "leaking"? because I can see blue flames around the spokes that connect to the frame. Kinda hard to explain, and a video would be better to show what I'm talking about. I've had it at the highest setting, and while I can still get 6.5-7 gallons to a boil, it is not very rigorous. The way it used to work, is that I always had to back it off b/c of being too rigorous. Out of curiosity, I followed the instructions about turning everything off; turn on the knob at the tank; turn on the burner to the ignite position; turn on the regulator, and light the burner. All of the holes on the burner have a strong blue flame. As i increase the regulator knob, the flames go higher, but start to get more orange flames, so i back it off to just strong blue flames, with only hints of orange. It seems to be ok and pretty strong. However, I noticed that around the arms of the burner - that connect to the frame, i saw blue flames as well. If the burner has been compromised, it seems like that could be enough to keep the output from being as strong as it should be. I will post a pic (or video) if possible later. I'm thinking if it is compromised, then I just have to buy another burner (thinking of the Blichmann Hellfire). Thanks for the time to read all this and any replies are appreciated. Cheers!