How to use 23-tip jet burners with Propane?

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bhambrew

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Greetings everyone. I have been happily using my 23-tip Natural Gas "jet" burners for some time now and couldn't be more pleased with their performance at home.

JB38023.jpg


Our local club is organizing a big brew for national homebrew day, and I was thinking about taking my rig with me to the event. Lots of threads here about using propane burners with NG, but I can't find any information about using NG burners with propane...

Does anyone know if / how I can convert my burners to use propane for our group event? Thanks for the info.
 
Does anyone know if / how I can convert my burners to use propane for our group event? Thanks for the info.

I think you may be out of luck on this. The problem is that each jet orifice is sized specifically for one gas or the other. The air/fuel ratio is also fixed and that could be an issue as well. To make the switch, you would need to replace all of the jets and IMO it would not be worth the trouble or the expense.

You might consider buying propane burners and swapping them out. You can find very inexpensive burners here:

http://www.agrisupply.com/burner-cast-low-presure-multi-hole-/p/40282/cn/5400001/

I run the 6" ring type burners (one at high pressure and one at low pressure) on my system and I like them a lot. The high pressure configuration works really well with a 0-10 psi adjustable regulator. They can be operated at either high or low pressure with the right orifice and regulators. You are probably creative, as most home brewers seem to be, so I would bet that you could come up with a way to make it easy to swap out one type for the other quickly and painlessly.
 
Dragging out an old thread here because I was looking around online, getting ready to pull the trigger on my purchase of some Banjo burners when I stumbled across this: Propane JET Burners

It has been said many times around here that these jet burners are only for natural gas, but unless I am mistaken, Bayou Classic Depot is now offering them for sale as Propane JET Burners...From the image, it looks identical to the jet burner I use with natural gas.

So, maybe these things can be used with propane after all? A different orifice I assume, but if I can convert my "wok" burners to run propane then I can save the expense of some new burners. I did notice that although the image for the NG version looks identical, they spec the NG version at 9 3/4" overall and the propane one at 8 3/4". Anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks :mug:
 
Natural gas (methane) produces 950 - 1150 BTU per cubic foot
Propane produces 2572 BTU per cubic foot

Because of this propane requires much more air per cubic foot and the orifices must be different to burn the same volume of propane gas as natural gas. So, the answer is "NO".

But try it and let us know. I think you'll see lots of yellow flame and not the heat you expect because the burner can't mix enough air with the gas.
 
You have to replace all the brass nozzles to change to propane, one of the reasons this burner is not to good, you are better off with the BG-14's which can be converted in minutes with a $8 valve/orifice part.
 
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