[TheForge] propane forge burners

[Bruce Freeman]

You may be over-thinking this.  Have you used an induction burner?  We
assembled dozens of them on a fairly simple plan.  (See "Bienstock
burner" on Ron Reil's pages.)  I've used two other designs as well.
In every case I have found I can adjust the burner to give a rich, a
balanced, or lean burn.  When rich, the flame shoots out the front of
the forge, indicating there is insufficient oxygen for all the gas -
wasting heat.  Adjust the burner and when the flame first stops
exiting the front of the forge the burn is roughly balanced.  Further
adjusting in the same direction and the burn will be ;ean, or
oxidizing, leading to excessive scaling.

In your case, the air pressure will be less (about 10.9 psi at 8000 ft
vs 14.7 at sea level) so induction can be expected to behave somewhat
differently.  But the range of adjustment of these burners is
sufficient that you should still be able to a useful burn.

My advice is to start cheap -- with plumbing fittings -- and see how
it goes.  That way if you find the burner isn't satisfactory, you've
only wasted a few dollars and little time in assembling the thing, and
you can always move on to something more expensive and allegedly
better.

On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:18 AM, Jim Brattin <jimbrattin at gmail.com> wrote:
> a while ago i asked for opinions about different propane burner designs
> (hybrid/trex, chileforge, zoeller)...
> i'm still looking and am a bit skeptical of some of the claims vs btu
> numbers published
> here are two comparisons that illustrate my dilemma:
>
> Z-burner: nearly 80k btu/hr @ 15psi (http://zoellerforge.com/zburner.html)
> t-rex: between 40-50 btu/hr @ 15psi (
> http://www.hybridburners.com/BTU-charts.html)
>
> both are 3/4" burners.  both use a .035 jet orifice.  is it possible that
> the induction ratio (air/fuel mix correct?) could account for such a
> dramatic difference?
>
> this is from the hybrid (t-rex) website:
> "They generate approximately a 28:1 induction ratio by volume, as compared
> with an 18:1 or 20:1 ratio for other burner types"
>
> zoeller doesn't provide an induction ratio...
>
> according to advertising, the t-rex burner provides much more efficient
> heat in comparison to the ron reil design burner (
> http://ronreil.abana.org/Image1.jpg) which is a predecessor of the
> z-burner.  the t-rex is also significantly more expensive "Although these
> burners will cost you more than building one out of off the shelf plumbing
> parts, you are getting a LOT more burner for your money" (but this
> statement doesn't match the btu charts).
>
> i'm concerned about burner design because i live at around 8000' elevation,
> so i have to assume that given my altitude, a burner that brings in more
> air is going to be better?
> am i missing something here?
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-- 
Bruce
NJ