Help with, or suggestion on fryer/burner for melting lead

[JeepsAndGuns]

I found a great source of practical info on propane burners on a blacksmithing page:
https://ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml

The flame lifting from the burner is usually considered a sign of a lean fuel-air mixture. But the Reil pages also describe similar problems due to inadequate mixing, caused by too short of a run between air induction and the ignition point.

My bulk melter has a burner based on the standard Reil burner shown on that website, with the addition of a 90° reducing elbow at the end to direct the flame straight up.

I like that valve in the bottom of that pot! I may have to make something like that when I make a bigger pot for mine. Seems like that would so much easier than scooping it out one ladle at a time, especially with a tall/deep pot with a lot in it.

[JeepsAndGuns]

Ok, after I got home from work today, I took the burner off the stand and took it apart. Found nothing out of place and nothing clogged up.
I was inside my storage building and I hooked it up and fired it up to mess around with it.
I have found setting in there, I can slowly turn the gas knob all the way wide open and it will fire up louder and taller than I have ever been able to get it. Odd I thought.
I open the door to let fresh air in and poof, it blew out. I turn the gas off and let it air out for a min or two and fire it back up. I kept the door closed and turned it back up wide open and with my head about 2-3 feet away, I just blew real hard in a small fast burst of air and was able to blow it out with very little effort. I tried it again with the same result. It is as easy to blow out as a candle on a birthday cake.
I know the wind was blowing it out sometimes so I always put a piece of cardboard up around it to help shield the wind.
It seems the higher I turn it up, the more "fragile" the flame is and it becomes super easy to blow out.
I think this might be my issue, as I turn it up to get more heat, a butterfly fart will blow it out. So I guess I thought it was blowing itself out if I turned it up to high, turns out just the most tiny disturbance in the air will blow it out. Seems the higher up I turn it, the more fragile the flames become.
Should I try and build some type of a sheet metal cylinder around the burner to shield it better from the wind?
How "fragile" is the flames on ya'lls burners? Do they blow out a lot, can you blow it out like I candle?

[ulav8r]

I fooled around with it before making this thread. I completely removed the screws and I can rotate that disc 360 degrees and it makes no difference in the flames. If I just block it off with my fingers, the flames get high but turn orange.

Try taping over 1 or 2 of the openings in the disc. That might help keep it from getting too much in the mix. If that works then you can make a new disc or modify that one in a more permanent manner.

[huntnman]

It looks like your regulater is adjustable lower the preshure. Air in take is adjustable too, losen the two screws turn silver disk to adjust. If flame doesent respond to lowering or raising regulater its bad. Ive used burners of this type, sucessfully. These regulaters are not know to be very dependable. The burrner should not be easy to blow out.

[GregLaROCHE]

How old is it? Do you have any chance of returning it and getting a replacement? Something isn’t right. The regulator could be defective or there is a problem with the gas jet etc. It shouldn’t be so difficult to get it working correctly.

[RogerDat]

I have what looks to be the same burner and probably the same cast iron dutch oven from Harbor Freight. While it does take that big chunk of cast iron a while to get up to temperature the burner does not blow out even with a pretty good breeze flowing through the garage from side door to wide open front door.

You may want to look at how tight the fitting is going onto the tank. The regulator pushes a valve open as you screw it onto the tank. It is possible to have it screwed down enough to open the valve but not open it all the way.

The burner disk is a pretty poor piece of casting and plating. You may notice some benefit to hitting the bottom of the notches with a file if the flame isn't even all the way around. I had a couple that were sort of closed off with sprue and just not open as the others, got a tiny flame out of a few notches.

I added sheet metal plates hanging from the side on three sides, just to help focus the heat up and prevent breeze from blowing my heat away. It would decrease the tendency to blow out the burner but that isn't really a solution to the issue you have. You are not getting enough gas, or the right air gas mix. Although I had the same experience in adjusting that air flow plate, didn't really make a lot of difference, still worth adjusting for optimal flame.

Weed burner such as one from Harbor Freight will really melt some lead, it does blow a pretty big flame out the end so I am reluctant to use it inside any building unless you can clear all flammable materials away for a good distance. I have used it to supplement burner when melting plumbing pipe that sticks way up out of the pot because that is only getting heat at bottom and shedding heat to the air all the way up the pipe. Aim torch at ends of pipe in the dutch oven and things start to collapse and puddle pretty fast.

I think the torch would be better for outside.

I would check to be sure the regulator is fully screwed onto the tank first, then try to swap for a different regulator or look up online how to adjust the regulator you have if it is adjustable. Reason is that flame should be a jet when turned up and not easily blown out. Since it isn't you have an issue that is related to providing gas/air to the burner. I swapped a tank out because it seemed like gas flow was really poor. Turned out I didn't have the regulator fully tightened.

I don't know about these regulators and adjusting them but I know the propane conversion piece for Coleman liquid fuel stoves has a small screw that given a tiny amount of turning can make a world of difference in how the second burner works. Goes from barely enough to heat something to "cooking with gas".

Good luck.

[Rickf1985]

I was working on one of my burners the other day that had had an issue with blowing out. I pulled the hose off the burner and the orifice was a bit clogged with corrosion so I cleaned that out and it would run wide open with no problems at all. BUT, Once I put my pot over it I had the blowing out issue again and I realized right away what it was. I have a skirt on the bottom of my pot to trap heat with holes around the sides and what is happening is it is forcing the flame back down on itself and starving it for air. If I raise the pot up I can run it a bit hotter, raise it higher and I can run even hotter. So keep that in mind when setting your burner up. Make sure it runs full blast in the open first and then if you have problems with a pot over it you know it is NOT a burner adjustment or issue.

[RogerDat]

I was working on one of my burners the other day that had had an issue with blowing out. I pulled the hose off the burner and the orifice was a bit clogged with corrosion so I cleaned that out and it would run wide open with no problems at all. BUT, Once I put my pot over it I had the blowing out issue again and I realized right away what it was. I have a skirt on the bottom of my pot to trap heat with holes around the sides and what is happening is it is forcing the flame back down on itself and starving it for air. If I raise the pot up I can run it a bit hotter, raise it higher and I can run even hotter. So keep that in mind when setting your burner up. Make sure it runs full blast in the open first and then if you have problems with a pot over it you know it is NOT a burner adjustment or issue.

Air starved by wind screens is possibility. When I try lighting a propane torch off the burner it won't stay lit. Also tends to go out over the pot. Not enough air for that torch flame with the burner flame going right under it. I only have wind screen on 3 sides. Open on the front/hose side.

[Rickf1985]

But I will tell you, with that skirt on the pot I do not need to come even close to running flat out. It will melt 40 lbs. of solid and very cold lead in the pot in about 15 minutes and once melted I can turn the flame down to just barely lit and it will maintain 650 degrees all day long. I will get some pics later, I am using it as we speak so I can't get any shots underneath and that is what I need to show how it is made. This was a real quick build just to see if the idea would work, now I know that it works so well I am going to build another using a propane tank and make it a lot neater.

[imashooter2]

Bayou Classic and the Harbor Freight Dutch oven is my rig. Over 100 pound melts no issue. Don’t see why yours shouldn’t do the same. LOCO says it is a 50,000 BTU burner. Here’s the burner in action:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...l=1#post457126

[popper]

Most regulators now have a safety, must have reg off, turn bottle, on then reg. Disk is a mixer so air mix gets to burner. Decrease air and flame goes yellow. Light wind should not blow out the burner. If possible, take it back for a replacement.

[JeepsAndGuns]

I was working on one of my burners the other day that had had an issue with blowing out. I pulled the hose off the burner and the orifice was a bit clogged with corrosion so I cleaned that out and it would run wide open with no problems at all. BUT, Once I put my pot over it I had the blowing out issue again and I realized right away what it was. I have a skirt on the bottom of my pot to trap heat with holes around the sides and what is happening is it is forcing the flame back down on itself and starving it for air. If I raise the pot up I can run it a bit hotter, raise it higher and I can run even hotter. So keep that in mind when setting your burner up. Make sure it runs full blast in the open first and then if you have problems with a pot over it you know it is NOT a burner adjustment or issue.

Interesting.
I may try and remove that silver disc under the burner and see what happens. I will also try raising up the pot a little, if I can find a way to do it.

[JeepsAndGuns]

How old is it? Do you have any chance of returning it and getting a replacement? Something isn’t right. The regulator could be defective or there is a problem with the gas jet etc. It shouldn’t be so difficult to get it working correctly.

Most regulators now have a safety, must have reg off, turn bottle, on then reg. Disk is a mixer so air mix gets to burner. Decrease air and flame goes yellow. Light wind should not blow out the burner. If possible, take it back for a replacement.

I looked back at some pictures from the first time I used to to do some bluing and that was july of 2021. So long past any return window. Plus receipt is long gone.

[Forrest r]

Odd to have a high-pressure regulator on a single 50,xxx burner.

Really don't know a lot about lp gas & regulators but I have been using them for decades. Not only on grills and turkey cooker/smoker stands. I build a lot of my own smokers.

Living in NE Ohio it can get pretty cold along with fighting the wind. When it's +/- 80* out the wind isn't that big of a deal. 40* out and it's game on. I build these portable hog cookers (rotisserie) that also have racks in them. I use propane burners to heat 2/3rd's of the cookers and a 100,000 btu firebox to heat 1/3rd (left side). I can smoke 150# of meat with this setup when it's 20* out and windy (+/- 15mph winds). This setup that has 4 burners has a high-pressure regulator.
[IMG][/IMG]

Any time I see a bbq grill at the curb or someone's giving it away I grab them for spare parts. Whenever I've had an issue with the burner going out or not being able to adjust the flame to a clean burn. Changing out the regulator (that spare parts thing) has always fixed the issue.

No big help with trouble shooting, more of a plug and play solution. But it never hurts to have spare parts laying around.