Possible Improvement for Propane Heat Source.

[GregLaROCHE]

I have a very old propane burner. It is solid cast iron including the four inch and a half legs. It has three rings each with it’s own regulating valve. It works great!

Normally, I use it on a metal table, The other day I rearranged stuff and put it on a Formica covered wooden table. I week later, without thinking, I lit it. Long before any lead stared to melt, it had burned a ten inch round hole completely through the inch and a quater table top.

The point I’m trying to make is how much heat comes from below the burner. I quickly added some steel and aluminum sheets to protect the rest of the table. Maybe mounting an aluminum heat reflector just under the burner, would focus more heat energy to the melting pot instead of just being lost. Especially if you have a burner mounted higher up like most big fryers

What do others think?

[kevin c]

I want to visualize this right: the bottom of the burner rings are 4 1/2" above the ends of the legs, and burned a ring through the table top directly below it?

[GregLaROCHE]

I want to visualize this right: the bottom of the burner rings are 4 1/2" above the ends of the legs, and burned a ring through the table top directly below it?

No. The legs on this very old burner are only 1.5 inches long. My point is at that distance there is a lot of heat that is normally dissipated. A piece of aluminum just under modern burners that are higher up, could reflect the heat towards the pot instead of it being dissipated and lost.

[Rich/WIS]

With so little clearance anything you put under the burner is going to get HOT! Not sure of what would work to protect the surface from heat transfer from a steel or aluminum plate, perhaps fire brick?

[jaguarxk120]

Fire brick is the best idea.

[Camper64]

The point I think the OP is trying to make is there is a lot of heat loss going out the bottom of the burner and putting some type of heat shield below the burner to direct it back up to make it more efficient.

[country gent]

With that small clearance a reflector may limit oxygen getting into the burner restricting it. An old steel pan with side deep enough that it can set down in might make a good reflector guard

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'm not sure how readily available cement blocks (or similar) are in your area, but that's what I'd suggest...heat issues as well as weight of a Pot full of lead.
...as country gent mentioned, you need a certain amount of air flow to the burners.

[gwpercle]

Might want to go back to a metal table .

In Louisiana we set our propane rigs outdoors on a concrete driveway ... they going to get hot under there and concrete doesn't catch on fire too easily .
Gary

[Conditor22]

Not so much protecting underneath a burner but cut a coffee can to fit around the burner slotting the open end around the rest our pot sits on. this will protect from wind and help direct the heat where you want it

[ryan28]

Not so much protecting underneath a burner but cut a coffee can to fit around the burner slotting the open end around the rest our pot sits on. this will protect from wind and help direct the heat where you want it

That's what I do, and I have gone to a steel melting pot too. Cast Iron takes too long to heat up, in my experience.