[TheForge] burner question

[Dave Brown]

At 08:11 12/01/03, you wrote:

>I guess the question (is a reducer needed?) is answered by the fact that 
>this burner works. Why did everyone use a reducer? (me too)

Bob,

I believe that the Venturi effect works whether you have the bell reducer 
or not.  The stream of fast moving propane will drag air along with it 
regardless of whether there is a reducer there or not.  But I've always 
been under the impression that the bell reducer improved the flow of the 
entrainment air so that it actually dragged in more air that way.  The bell 
reducer also provides a convenient support for the gas jet, be it straight 
in or simply an orifice drilled in the side of a 1/8" iron pipe.

Maybe it works, but I can't help but wonder if the commercially produced 
burners (look in your gas furnace at home, or gas water heater, or gas 
stove) know something that Jerry Hoffman doesn't know.  There's got to be a 
reason that they use the bell shape on the inlet side of the burners.

Dave Brown

"It ain't what we know that causes all the confusion.
It's what we know but ain't so that does the damage." -unknown