Brutus Backfire with Hurricane Burners

[rickbyte]

I need some troubleshooting help with my Brutus rig. It has an occassional backfiring problem on flameout after the solenoid valve closes. This some time causes a fire in the Venturi tube at the orifice valve. It does seem to happen more on one burner than the other. I think it is a solenoid valve issue, such as not closing 100% every time. The burners work fine without the solenoid valves. Any Ideas?




[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpC6qLV0GiU]YouTube - Brutus Backfire Problems[/ame]

 

[Clayton]

is that not normal?
the solenoid closes very fast much faster than you can
and it looks like you have the up high.
I cant help but think if you had a ball value as close to the burner as the soloniod and closed it as quickly it would do the same thing becase of the suden stop of gas and the
momentum of the air in the mixing tube , the gas stops but the air keeps going, as a result the air in the tube has a conbustable air to gas mix,and boom.
normaly the mix is to rich to burn till more oxygen is add on the outlet side of the burner.

it has been my xp that all burners cut off very quicky will backfire as thay go out

 

[chillHayze]

There are several possible causes here and things I think you could try.

A common cause is running the burner at too high a pressure or with too much primary air at the mixer face.

How much volume and at what pressure is the area between the valve and burner head? LP being denser than air will pool up in a burner body such as this and burn until it's spent.

Are your valves rated for LP gas? Seals could be leaking causing incomplete shutoff. That would be the preamble to a much worse case scenario. If you are using a standard solenoid valve quickly change it to a fuel gas valve.

You could try swapping the valves and see if the increased flashback occurs on the other burner. Or install manual 1/4 turn ball valves upstream of the solenoids and try shutting off with those - see if you still get flashback.

 

[rickbyte]

I checked with supplier of solenoid valves and they are safe for LP gas as they have "bruna rubber" seals. I took the valves apart and found brass shavings inside preventing the seals from completely sealing. I cleaned them and reassembled the valve and they seem to be working fine now. No longer flaming back into the Venturi tube. I still get the "woosh" at flame out, but that may be because the valves close so fast and disrupt the air/fuel mixture.

 

[DonD13]

I have the same problem occasionally with my burner (same as the ones you have as far as I can tell) which is not on a solenoid, just a ball valve. The ball valve is hard plumbed right on the inlet to the burner, and I've occasionally lost the hair on my arm when I shut it off from exactly the kind of flashback you're having I've come to using a big pair of slip-joint pliers to operate the valve. Not sure what is causing it, but I suppose the valve could be leaking slightly when off.

 

[rickbyte]

I have the same problem occasionally with my burner (same as the ones you have as far as I can tell) which is not on a solenoid, just a ball valve. The ball valve is hard plumbed right on the inlet to the burner, and I've occasionally lost the hair on my arm when I shut it off from exactly the kind of flashback you're having I've come to using a big pair of slip-joint pliers to operate the valve. Not sure what is causing it, but I suppose the valve could be leaking slightly when off.

Do you have an Orifice at the Venturi Tube? I had to buy the Valve /orifice
combo that comes with the "Hurricane" burner in order to get my burners to work properly.

 

[Snake10]

Rickbyte,
I live in Denton and have just finished a Brutus. I had some blow-outs like yours. Scared the sh... out of me. I adjusted the airflow vent to pretty much full open and moved my pilot lights closer to the center of the burner. That seemed to help. Also, it looked like you really dialled in some pressure because your banjos were loud and the flame was huge. Try dialling back the regulator for a less intense flame. If you need to look at another brutus I'm just up the road. PM me. I'm still new with my system with only 3 brews but my rig works well.
Snake10