3 ring burner issues

[yossarian22]

So I finally opted to go for a propane burner and give my wife back her stovetop. The problem is that I don't seem to get a decent flame off the burner. It's basically one of the standard 'triple gas ring' burners that I purchased here:
http://thecampingoutlet.co.nz/gas/stoves.php

 

When I first hooked it up, I only got flames out of 2 rings. I took it apart and cleaned the gunk (grease) that had clogged one of the nozzles. After that, all 3 rings give me a flame but it seems to be very low pressure. When I have all 3 rings going (fully open) the flame is very minimal and frequently goes out if there is any wind in the vicinity. I basically was only able to run the inner 2 rings, and even then it seems quite weak. I'm only getting a blue flame about 1 cm in height no matter how I adjust the air screw. It's definitely not my tank, as the same tank/regulator hooked up to my BBQ gets all 4 burners going with great flames. This burner doesn't make any mention of requiring a high pressure regulator, so not sure what might be happening. Anyone had any similar issues?

 

Thanks!

 

[DP]

Hmmm, if you've played around with the air intake and eliminated the regulator and gas bottle then it must be further blockages. Perhaps you should take it back and see if they can get it to work in the shop?

[JackoNZ]

Hey mate, I think you definitely need a high pressure regulator (can pick them up from mitre10/bunnings). My 3 ring was the same with the reg off the bbq but much better with the high pressure one. Don't ask me how it works coz like you my bbq has 3 double rings which get a much bigger flame out on the low pressure reg! Where in nz are you, someone can probably lend you their reg to confirm.

[warra48]

I use two of these, one under the HLT, and one under the Kettle. However, I run mine with a medium pressure adjustable regulator.  They work fine for me.

 

I totally dismantled mine, and also cleaned out any gunk I could find. I also went around all the holes in each of the 3 rings with an appropriate sized drill bit in my Dremel, and cleaned all of those out. It was surprising how much gunk dropped out after I finished.

 

The only other thing I can suggest is the little brass jets where the gas enters the burner may perhaps be partially blocked. They have a very fine pin hole, but be aware they are different for each of the rings. Obviously, the smallest for the inner ring and so on. You may need a very fine drill to clean them out (I also do very fine scale modelling, so I have drills down to .3 mm). You may need a needle or something similar to see if that's the case, or try blowing them through with compressed air.

 

If you use a burner outside, which I presume you may be from your comment about wind, I'd suggest building some sort of shield around the nurner to minimise the influence of the wind. Wind will rapidly disperse your gas and reduce your flame. I use mine in my garage, so my set up is sheltered from the wind.

 

 

[yossarian22]

Yep, I did take mine completely apart (all the way down to removing the brass jets and cleaning the pin holes). The only thing I didn't do was clean the actual holes in the rings where the flame emits. I'll give that a go too. Regarding the wind, I was using it in my garage as well but it opens to the North and we've had a lovely Northerly here in Wellington the last couple days. Even with the door almost all the way down it didn't take much to disturb the flames since they were so small.

 

Regarding a high pressure regulator, I thought that might be the case but was confused since this burner didn't specify one was needed and I got such great flames on the BBQ. Will pick one up and see if it makes any difference. Thanks for the advice all!

[JackoNZ]

If you're in Welly feel free to borrow my regulator first if you want. I'm in Kingston and work in town.

[warra48]

I don't think a high pressure regulator is recommended for these, I use a medium pressure one, and really only use it on low adjustment.

However, if you don't crank it too far, I'm sure it will still work.

 

Yeah, I know all about the Wellington wind. I went to Rongotai College, and it could howl along there like there was no tomorrow. I lived in Island Bay, and it wasn't exactly well sheltered from the Southerlies!

[JackoNZ]

You're probably right Warra, I say high pressure but in fact it's probably not. It has no adjustment capability but it is rated higher than a standard bbq reg. Looking at Damians post below those numbers ring a bell, I'll check mine tonight.

[DP]

I have a four-ring burner and use the regulator that came with it and my flame is fine (it's probably 2-3cm standing on its own but with a shield it works a treat and licks up the side of the kettle a bit).

The numbers on my regulator are:

Max inlet pressure 1750kPa
2kg/h LPG
2.8 kPa

(if that's any use)

[yossarian22]

Hmm, not sure if it makes any difference, but the numbers on my regulator are the same as those with the exception of the second one. In that case, mine says "1.5 kg/h". Again though, this same regulator gets my BBQ roaring nicely.

 

I'll try cleaning the casting tonight as Patrick recommends below. The clean up job I did was only for the valves/nozzles for the separate piece that comes off of the main cast rings section. Thanks everyone.

[Patrick]

Take the thing apart and put some compressed air thru it - mine had all sorts of crap inside the casting.

[Tim Stewart]

I have just brought one too but I have a high pressure regulator it works great

[yossarian22]

Just a heads up on this in case anyone runs into this in the future. My 3 ring burner is now working properly after the purchase of a new low pressure regulator. The only difference is that the regulator from my BBQ was rated 1.5 kg/h and the new one is rated 2 kg/h. Though technically both are low-pressure, the new one works much, much better. I still don't understand why my original one works so well for 4 burners on my BBQ, but at least I'm up and running again. Thanks everyone for the ideas.