Hybrid Propane Burner

This website is not about propane hybrid burner, it is about the new DVD dual format burner. But a lot of people visit this site by mistake thinking this is a propane burner site. The real propane burner site is called hybridburners.com maintained by Rex Price, the following comes that site:

Safety Warning

Although these burners are made of the finest materials available, and with the most exacting and careful fabrication processes, I can not be responsible for misuse or abuse of these tools once they leave my shop. Although I guarantee the quality of materials and workmanship, the buyer assumes all liability for any injuries received, or damages caused, through the use or abuse of these burners. These burners generate extreme temperatures, and have all the potential to cause injury or death that any such devices possess in untrained hands. In inexperienced hands these burners can create an explosion hazard, or can create lethal conditions due to carbon monoxide emissions, see the Nighthawk CO & explosive gas detector paragraph on Ron's page. There are additional hazards associated with these burners due to the extreme temperatures they achieve. Please read the special safety warning on Ron's Forge Design Page regarding UV radiation created by the Mongo and T-Rex series burners. You are responsible to learn how to operate and maintain these burners safely. If you have any questions, please contact me, or a knowledgeable blacksmith who uses similar tools.

An additional safety issue needs to be addressed. If you mount any of the Rex series burners, or any other kind of burner, in a forge or furnace, start up the forge or furnace, and then ignore it while it warms up, you may create an explosion hazard. These burners have no safety feature built into them to shut off the gas flow if the flame goes out, that's the job of a "UV detector" in a commercial forge or furnace, or heat detectors in other devices. Once the temperature in the forge or furnace chamber is above the flash point of the fuel gas, the flame can't go out, and this is no longer an issue. Until the flash temperature has been exceeded in the chamber, you should pay close attention to the fire to insure it remains burning. I know of no burner design that incorporates "flame-out" protection in the burner itself. Flame-out protection can be provided by installing UV detection hardware in your forge or furnace, if you feel that this kind of protection is necessary in your particular application. I do not market UV detectors, but I do know where you may purchase one. Contact me if you want further information. Thank you.

Forward

This page shows the results of my work with two other metal workers, Ron Reil and Mike Porter. Our work has resulted in the design and creation of a very special family of high efficiency, hybrid, propane gas burners. Although the following description of these burners indicates a particular intended use for each burner, they can be used for any application which requires a high intensity burner of a given size and output. Most of the burners have not been formally tested for BTU output, but the "BTU Output Calculator" that is available on Ron Reil's Forge and Burner Design Page will provide a close approximation of the output of each burner at a specified operating pressure. You will need to enter the jet diameter, and your intended operating pressure, into the calculator to obtain the BTU output. Because the output varies with changes in operating pressure, and each burner can operate over a broad range of input gas pressures, no BTU values will be provided here. I will provide only the jet diameter and most economical operating pressure range here. Please use the BTU calculator if you are selecting a burner for your own particular application. Note that these jet tips are TWECO contact tips used in MIG welders, and will measure slightly larger than the quoted size below, perhaps one to two thousandths greater. Thank you.

These burners are the result of many months of intense design and testing, in order to produce the maximum BTU output, temperature, efficiency, and economy, possible in a burner of this type. These are "naturally aspirated," jet ejector burners, meaning they do not require any external blowers or compressed air supply. They generate approximately a 28:1 induction ratio, as compared with an 18:1 or 20:1 ratio for other burner types, such as the "Reil or EZ burners." They are self contained, which makes their use simple and clean, as compared to old fashioned inefficient plumbing systems where gas and compressed air are fed into a mixer tube, and the resultant gas mixture fed into a forge or furnace chamber where the burn takes place. This commonly used method has several drawbacks. First it is complicated to set up and operate, and needs an external power source. The operator has to adjust the gas flow and air input carefully to achieve the best possible mixture in order to achieve the slightly reducing atmosphere needed in the chamber. This is not very effective due to the presence of free oxygen in any "chamber burn" system. Also, the injection of cold gases into the forge chamber results in a decrease in the chamber temperature.

A superior system utilizes a nozzle initiated burn, and completes the burn within a few inches of the mouth of the burner. This prevents the introduction of free oxygen into the forge or furnace, which can unite with the hot metal and cause scaling of the iron, or degradation of any metal in a liquid state. Free oxygen will also decrease the life of the chamber, and any crucibles or tooling exposed to it at high temperatures. The burners I offer here provide a "win-win" solution to these problems. Only completely burned gases are circulating around inside the forge or furnace chamber, resulting in less scaling of the iron, less degradation of equipment, and an increase in chamber temperatures. This also increases the fuel efficiency of the system, and results in better economy of operation, more bang for the buck, an important consideration considering the high fuel prices presently found in most locations.

Another benefit of this burner design is the highly efficient choke system it utilizes. The burner is designed to operate at a slightly oxidizing mixture across its entire operating range. The choke is intended to allow instant and very easy adjustment of the flame to a neutral or reducing mixture as needed in your particular application. How do you know when you have the right gas/air setting you ask? You only have to look at the flame characteristics image on Ron's Forge and Burner Design Page to be able to instantly adjust your burner to its optimum setting. The color change from green to blue is the indicator that you use to judge your setting.

The burners I offer are not made of off the shelf plumbing parts screwed together to produce a cheap, but less effective burner. The tuned burner intake chamber is turned and milled from solid 1018 steel stock. The jet alignment is axially true to the burner bore, and a long orifice jet is used to create an almost perfect laminar flow, high velocity, gas injection stream, resulting in a tremendous Venturi suction being created. These are also "hybrid" burners. They employ the air intake and mixing chamber of a larger burner, and combine that with a small burner tube, resulting in a "super burner" of sorts. It will fit into a much smaller burner mounting, but provide the output of a much larger burner. Because of the tremendous Venturi vacuum that is created, these burners generate a significantly greater injection pressure. This allows the burner to be used as a carburetor to feed a supply manifold for multi nozzle injection, while having the actual burner remote to the forge or furnace. The increased injection pressure also makes this burner design less susceptible to "back-pressure" problems in the forge or furnace, which can result lower chamber temperatures, and the dangerous production of CO.

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. I am able to keep the prices of these burners relatively low through the use of jigs and mass production techniques. Each burner design is the result of thousands of dollars invested in building and testing many prototypes in order to refine the design to the absolute peak of efficiency and output. When you buy one of these burners you can be assured you are getting the highest quality and most efficient burner currently available today to the private shop or small business.

Miscellaneous Supplies

In an attempt to meet your needs to a greater extent, I have expanded to carry some of the "more difficult to locate" supplies you may need when building a forge or furnace. I expect this section will expand with time. The listing below is all I presently have to offer. If there is something specific that you would like to see listed here, please contact me with the information. Thank you.

1) International Technical Ceramics (ITC-100): This IR reflective coating is used to dramatically increase the efficiency and temperature of your forge or furnace. One pint should be enough for a four burner forge, with some left over. Apply with paint brush using a "dabbing" motion. Be sure to pre-moisten all chamber surfaces with water using a spray bottle prior to applying this product.

Please e-mail me for current price.

2) UV detectors: I do not presently carry UV detectors, but I can provide a source to you if you feel you need one on your forge or furnace. Please e-mail me for more information.

Rex

Currently Available Burners (Note: These burners are listed in order of size, from smallest to largest.)

Warning - Possible Hazard!

It has come to my attention, by having it happen to me, that these burners, or any burner with which you have full intake air flow control, have a hidden danger that can spring up and surprise you. If you light the burner, especially the bigger ones, while the choke is fully closed, you will get a very big flare of low temperature flame that can be a big surprise. It can also burn all the hair off your arm in an instant. Be sure the choke is open a small amount when you light it. Also, do not close the choke prior to turning the gas off when you are shutting down. Turn the gas off, and then quickly close the choke to prevent the burner from becoming a chimney to vent the ultra hot gases in the chamber. This intense heat will damage the burner over time. The "flare hazard" is not a serious problem, but it could be a danger to handlebar mustaches and beards. Forewarned is forearmed.

A Note about Operating Pressure Although I list the pressure range for these burners topping out at 30 psi, they can be run considerably higher than that, but running any burner above 10 psi is a bad idea at best. These burners are certainly capable of operating safely at extreme pressures, but the same can not be said for your propane supply plumbing. If you are going to exceed 10 psi, you should use only solid steel or copper gas supply lines. Do not include any soft hoses in the system, even to the propane tank. Having a hose fail in your shop at 10 psi would be a grim event at best, at 30 psi, it will almost certainly be catastrophic. Burners are very inexpensive compared to the costs of a catastrophic gas system failure. Your life may well depend on your choice between more burners or using higher gas pressures. Add another burner and play it safe.

Special Note about Chokes

I have made one change in what I offer. I have now done enough testing of the burner and choke combinations that is has become clear that the "slider" design of choke is superior, due to the symmetrical and balanced intake air flow it affords, as compared to the swirling and off-side air flow the "revolving" choke causes. I am therefore no longer offering the revolving choke as a regularly stocked option. I can still make one for you, if you want this kind of choke, but you will need to contact me for a price quote for custom work. It will require special set-up and milling, so will not be cheap. All burners now come standard with sliding chokes.

3/8" Rocket Hand Torch

(The elbow, valve, and quick disconnect, do not come with the burner.) Quick Disconnects: Because all quick disconnects leak to a some degree, it is best to mount them some distance from the fire zone, not as shown above on my test jig. The McMaster Carr quick disconnect page for minimal leakage couplers is http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=242. Look at part numbers 53645K52 and 5315K46, and use good judgment. I recommend you discuss your application with the quick disconnect vendor to ensure safety.

The "Rocket Hand Torch" is a very compact little 3/8" bore burner. Its output is not as great as the other burners listed here, as is to be expected due to its smaller jet orifice and burner tube, but the flame is very intense, and would be an excellent tool for preheating, brazing, silver soldering, temper coloring, or heat treating. The output is much greater then might be expected from such a small burner, and is many times that of a hardware store disposable cylinder propane torch. There is just no comparison between the two. The "Rocket Hand Torch" is particularly useful for bench-top hand held applications, and is shown above set up for such use with a valve and male quick disconnect. Although it is not designed to be a forge burner, it certainly has the capability to heat a small forge to welding heat. The sliding choke and tuned nozzle give it a very broad, and very smoothly adjustable, output range of 0-60 psi. Used as a hand held torch, it will quickly pay for itself in the savings realized by not having to buy those expensive disposable propane cylinders for your hardware store torch any longer.

Gas Pressure Range: 0 to 30 psi Turned cast iron nozzle

Please see the Burner Price Sheet for current options, prices, and shipping.

1/2" Shorty Burner

This is the second smallest burner I have available. The bore is 1/2" nominal diameter, but it has an output equivalent to, or exceeding, a standard 3/4" Reil or EZ burner. This burner is very useful for hand held "torch" operations, especially brazing, and is only 9" long, not counting the jet tube and its compression fitting. It was initially designed to be used with Ron Reil's Freon Tank Mini-Forge, as it completes the overall miniaturized package to produce a very portable but highly functional little forge. It should serve well in pipe forges up to 9" in diameter. This burner is recommended for any applications where compact size and big output are called for. It comes with its own specially designed stainless steel nozzle already installed. For more information on this burner please refer to the Shorty Page on Ron's web site.

Gas Pressure Range: 0 to 30 psi

Please see the Burner Price Sheet for current options, prices, and shipping.

3/4" T-Rex Burner

T-Rex with sliding choke.

The "T-Rex" is my standard sized burner. It has a 3/4" diameter burner tube, so will fit any forge that is designed to be used with the Reil or EZ burners. It is the "workhorse" of my family of burners. Its length is 12" from tip of nozzle to back of intake chamber, not counting the jet tube or its compression fitting. The reason for designing the "Shorty Burner," listed above, was because the T-Rex burner was too hot for use in the Mini-Forge. It will damage the small chamber and shell over time. The T-Rex burner is most suited for a standard sized pipe forge, designed to use one or more Reil or EZ burners. You may discover that you can replace two Reil burners on your existing forge with one T-Rex burner, depending on the chamber volume you are heating. There is no question about achieving welding heat with this burner. The T-Rex, like all of this family of burners, has spectacular flame and temperature control, from a tiny candle flame output, to a roaring jet engine output. The T-Rex would also be a good choice to heat a small foundry furnace, or a gas fired heat treating oven, due to its exceptional temperature controllability. Contact Ron at (208) 462-4028 for heat treating oven information if you are interested in this kind of an application. For further information regarding the T-Rex burner please visit The T-Rex Page on Ron's site. Please visit the "Forge Welding - Jesus Hernandez Style" Web page to see what this burner is capable of.

Gas Pressure Range: 0 to 30 psi

Please see the Burner Price Sheet for current options, prices, and shipping.

1" Forge & Foundry Burner

1" burner image

This is a unique burner, in that is has remarkable flame controllability. All of the burners are excellent in controllability, but the combination of dimensions in this particular burner model has resulted in a superbly controllable high output heating device. This burner is a little more noisy than the others above, but this is to be expected as its output is significantly greater also. This burner is recommended for large forges, or medium sized melting furnaces where melts of cast iron, brass, or bronze will not exceed a quart and a half in volume. For cast iron, probably a quart would be a better volume to insure reasonable melt times. The burner tube is 1" nominal, although the one I just measured was 1-1/16" in diameter. It is 16-1/2" long including nozzle. The gas pressure range is only limited by its ability to draw in enough air to balance the gas volume so a neutral fame can be obtained. The choke is a slider design, and the nozzle has a 1:12 tapered flare. Although this information describes the output of a 3/4" T-Rex, it applies to this burner as well, but at a significantly higher output level. Please visit the "Forge Welding - Jesus Hernandez Style" Web page.

Chamber Volume For a 1" Diameter Burner Forge

I am often asked how large a forge chamber can be effectively heated using the 1" diameter Forge and Foundry Burner. At best I can only provide a rough approximation of the cubic volume it will heat due to a great many factors that are out of my control. A few of the factors are type of refractory, is there an ITC-100 coating on the interior, is there a back pressure problem due to forge doors, the installation of the burner, the shape of the chamber (round is far better than rectangular, etc. However here is a conservative guideline you may follow. If you have a very well designed and constructed forge, have the burner properly installed, have ITC-100 coating all interior surfaces, have the right amount of exhaust volume opening, etc., you will almost certainly improve upon the numbers I provide below.

I will list two volumes. The first is based on the burner running at 10 psi, and the second with the burner running at 20 psi gas pressure. These numbers are based on the chamber achieving forge welding heat. The burner will almost certainly be run at significantly lower pressure for average forge work. These burners can easily be run at even higher pressure than 20 psi, but it is better to opt for two burners than to run your system at extreme pressure for safety reasons. Even 20 psi is considerably higher than I would want to run any burner, unless all the plumbing and feed lines are steel or copper pipe, with no soft hoses in the system. The safety factor has nothing to do with the burner, only the propane hoses and supply plumbing feeding it. A hose failing at 10 psi is a grim event at best, at 30 psi, it's catastrophic. Burners are cheap, your health isn't. Opt for more burners, not higher operating pressure.

At a pressure of 10 psi, the 1" burner will effectively heat a 500 c.i. chamber volume. At a pressure of 20 psi, the 1" burner will effectively heat a 700 c.i. chamber volume.

Gas Pressure Range for the 1" Burner: 0 to 30+ psi

Please see the Burner Price Sheet for current options, prices, and shipping.

1-1/4" Foundry & Kiln Burner

1.25" burner image

Go to Customer Comment Regarding This Burner

The Foundry & Kiln burner is a very impressive burner, and one that is well suited to big heating jobs, such as large forges, medium to large melting furnaces, and kilns. It delivers the heat and controllability that will meet your heavy weight heating needs. This would also be a very good choice for rectangular bluing tanks, and stand-up circular bluing tanks that have a center heating and chimney penetration, much like a gas hot water heater...the best kind of bluing tank. It is very controllable, so would work well to bring up the bluing tank temperature quickly, and then it could be adjusted down to hold it at the desired temperature once achieved. It has an overall length of 18-3/4" including the nozzle, and a nominal diameter of 1-1/4" for the burner tube. This burner is hardly running when at 5-10 psi, and the choke is barely opened at that pressure when running a neutral flame. It has the oxygen intake capability to balance very high gas pressures while still maintaining a neutral flame. This burner may work well right up to the point where the gas velocity through the jet reaches 1100 fps, or the speed of sound...the fastest gas velocity through a jet that is possible, although I have not tested it to that ultimate end point. It comes with a slider design choke, and a 1:12 tapered & stepped burner nozzle.

This burner can be purchased with either of two nozzles, stainless steel or cast iron. The cast iron nozzle is intended only for testing, and to be used for a pattern to make a block-out to cast a nozzle shape into your refractory furnace wall. A cast in place nozzle is a far better alternative than a metal nozzle for this burner. The stainless steel nozzle will function at low heat/pressure settings, but will be damaged or destroyed at upper end gas pressures, where the cast in place refractory nozzle will handle the temperatures well if the right refractory is used.

Another issue that I must bring up regarding this burner is safety. This burner has a tremendous heat output, and could be dangerous in the hands of someone who is not familiar with working with equipment of this type and output. Due to the liability involved, I will require anyone who wishes to purchase one of these burners to provide a signed and notarized liability release to me prior to shipment of the burner. Please contact me if you have any questions. I am sorry to have to require a liability release, but this burner is on a whole different plateau above the others I produce, and it could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

Gas Pressure Range: 0 to 30+ psi

Please see the Burner Price Sheet for current options, prices, and shipping.

Theoretical Burner BTU Output Charts

The following charts were created by Paul Boulay. We are very indebted to Paul for the extensive time and effort he put into producing this data and making it available to the public. These are "pdf" files, so you will need Adobe Reader to view them.

These charts provide the theoretical heating value of the propane used by four of the five Burners I offer. The graphs are a result of calculation rather than actual measurement, so are theoretical. The calculations use some approximations but are based on methods believed to be reasonably accurate. The BTU/Hr value given is "net," meaning it excludes the heat of vaporization of the water in the products of combustion, environmental conditions, the specific composition of the fuel gas actually used, manufacturing tolerances of the burners, and other factors that can affect the actual output available to perform work. The energy used to heat the air needed for combustion is also not accounted for. So the values charted are assuming ideal conditions and a 100% conversion of fuel to heat energy. Actual output values would be less than shown.

The net heating value of propane used is 19,944 BTU/Lb. This comes from Marks' Standard Handbook For Mechanical Engineers, 10th Ed., McGraw Hill, 1996. Other sources have slightly different values. The computation is based on the methods for adiabatic frictional flow from Compressible Fluid Flow, 2nd Ed., Michel A. Saad, Prentice Hall, 1993 plus other sources. The physical characteristics of propane are from the National Institute of Science and Technology WebBook (http://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=74986).

Please feel free to validate these numbers -- wouldn't take much -- weigh a propane tank on a highly accurate scale -- run the burner for a convenient period of time at a known pressure -- reweigh the tank. This of course does not take into account any of the various modifying factors discussed above.

All these calculation were done by Paul Boulay. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Paul or me.

Paul's E-mail address is pboulay <at> earthlink <dot> net

Many thanks Paul,

Rex

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