Honeywell gas valves: VR8200 or VR8300

[devils4ever]

I'm still looking at putting together my gas-fired HERMS setup and I have a question on the Honeywell valves. Most people seem to use the VR8200A2132, but the VR8300A3500 seems to have more output: 30-300 CFH vs 20-200 CFH. Wouldn't the larger one be better? They're both close in price.

 

[RileyJA]

I guess the question is how many burners and their BTU consumption.
The VR8200 is good for up to 200,000 BTU. Why send more money?
You can go to www.customer.honeywell.com to get all the technical info
that you need.

 

[devils4ever]

I plan on using on one Blickmann burner. So, I guess the VR8200 is more than enough.

 

[devils4ever]

Got my valve. Now, how to mount it? I see no way of mounting this thing to the platform truck. Does the black pipe support it?

 

[devils4ever]

Okay. I have my brewstand done and I'm having a little issue with the burners. I have two Blichmann burners attached to the same manifold. One is connected to the Honeywell valve and the other isn't. The one connected to the Honeywell valve seems to pulse a little. I see the flame getting bigger and smaller over a few seconds. The one directly connected to the manifold doesn't do this. So, I have to conclude it's the Honeywell valve causing this. I know there is a pressure regulator in the valve. Is this causing this?

I did convert the valve to LP and I'm using the Blichmann supplied LP regulator feeding the manifold. This regulator is not a low pressure one. Do I need to use a low pressure regulator to eliminate this problem?

I also notice when the Auber PID controller turns on the valve, if I have the regulator turned up too much, it will not light, Pressure too high?

I'm afraid if I switch to a low pressure regulator, I won't get enough BTUs.

Thanks for any help.

 

[jcav]

If you post a picture we can better help you. Anyway you HAVE to use a low pressure regulator with the Honeywell valve. They only are designed to run on low pressure around .5 psi, or 11 inches of water column. The regulator inside the Honeywell valve is not sufficient enough to take the high pressure from your propane tank and convert it to low pressure. If you run the valve with high pressure you will damage the seals and ruin your valve. You have to also use a low pressure orifice in the burner with the Honeywell valve. You can run the other burner with high pressure propane for lets say the boil kettle and a high pressure orifice for quicker boil times. You can use the high pressure regulator on the tank which will allow high pressure propane into the manifold, and then a low pressure regulator before the Honeywell valve. Or you can use two propane tanks each with it's own regulator (one high pressure, one low pressure) for each different burner.

John

 

[devils4ever]

Okay, here's pic of my setup. I talked to someone at Tejas Smokers and they recommended this low-pressure (#108053P) regulator along with these orifices (#48-6B-61) which they are drilling out bigger.

Hopefully, this will solve my issues. I know this will make the Honeywell valve happy, I'm just hoping I get enough output. The Blichmann burners are designed to be run at both LP high-pressure and NG low-pressure, so they should be good to go.

 

[jcav]

Nice system you got there! Tejas Smokers is an excellent company. They know their stuff and they made me a custom regulator for my propane rig awhile ago and it worked great. I now am going electric and am in the middle of converting my rig. Many people use low pressure to control the MLT and HLT with a pilot valve and they either stay with low pressure for the boil kettle or use high pressure. Your right the low pressure propane is not the same as firing up the burners when you use high pressure and there is a trade off. It does take longer to heat up liquid using low pressure compared to high pressure but using the right low pressure regulator makes all the difference too. Tejas Smokers will make you a regulator that allows the optimum amount of low pressure gas to get to your burners supplying the correct low pressure btu's. They will also make a hose that goes on the regulator that is 3/8 inches in diameter or larger and not 1/4 inch like most regulator hoses. This makes a huge difference in how your burners operate. You need oxygen in the burners also so try and keep your dial shield by the orifice as close to wide open with the holes or slots open as possible, while still maintaining a blue flame with just yellow tips. This little valve orifice combo works great for controlling flame height when dialing in your burners.
https://www.brewershardware.com/Valve-and-LPG-Orifice-for-BURN10.html
Good luck!

John

 

[devils4ever]

Nice system you got there! Tejas Smokers is an excellent company. They know their stuff and they made me a custom regulator for my propane rig awhile ago and it worked great. I now am going electric and am in the middle of converting my rig. Many people use low pressure to control the MLT and HLT with a pilot valve and they either stay with low pressure for the boil kettle or use high pressure. Your right the low pressure propane is not the same as firing up the burners when you use high pressure and there is a trade off. It does take longer to heat up liquid using low pressure compared to high pressure but using the right low pressure regulator makes all the difference too. Tejas Smokers will make you a regulator that allows the optimum amount of low pressure gas to get to your burners supplying the correct low pressure btu's. They will also make a hose that goes on the regulator that is 3/8 inches in diameter or larger and not 1/4 inch like most regulator hoses. This makes a huge difference in how your burners operate. You need oxygen in the burners also so try and keep your dial shield by the orifice as close to wide open with the holes or slots open as possible, while still maintaining a blue flame with just yellow tips. This little valve orifice combo works great for controlling flame height when dialing in your burners.
https://www.brewershardware.com/Valve-and-LPG-Orifice-for-BURN10.html
Good luck!

John

Thanks.

I got my regulator and orifices from Tejas Smokers. It definitely solved my problem. The burner isn't pulsing anymore. The only downside I see is less output from the burners. It's hard to judge, but I think it should be okay the way it is. I'll have to do another batch to really tell. Hopefully, the reduced output isn't too much.

The other option would be to use the low-pressure regulator for the HLT and keep the high--pressure one for the BK. It would require me to rip apart the gas manifold and place the low-pressure regulator inline with the HLT.

 

[jcav]

I'm glad it worked out for you! At least with low pressure propane you can use the Honeywell valves and a pid, to better control temps and have it more automatic than manually turning on the burners. When you do it manually its easy to over shoot your temps and you have to really watch it as the temps approach the target mash temp, hlt temp, etc. and then you have to shut off the burner and then light them again later. You will like this much better with the valves. It will just take a little longer reaching your target temps. You can always go manually on the boil kettle like many people do. That's what's so cool about these rigs we have. They are always evolving as time goes on and the finances allow for upgrades. Have fun brewing!

John