Burner, Really Stupid

Really Stupid Gas Burner

Blower type gas burner for forges, furnaces, kilns. . . .
Yep! That’s all there is to it! You don’t even have to use the pipe fittings if you have a piece of tubing and can do a little cutting and welding. All you would do in that case is weld a small gas pipe into the tube, letting it protrude about half way into the bigger pipe. Cut and attach a flange to the fan, rig the valve and switch and that is IT! Matter of fact you don’t even need the switch/motor control. Use the cord to stop/start the fan!

NOTE: These burners require NO precision gas orifices and NO special nozzles. Just dump the gas in the air flow!

Photo of gas forge in 1985 (c) Jock Dempsey This is a “trough” or “trench” style forge I built after seeing one similar to it in California. It got hot enough to weld but pieces dropped into it were hard to retrieve. The burner assembly was identical as above except it attached with a union so it was easy to remove. The “nozzle” on this forge was shaped from the bricks and some refractory cement. I used this forge for one job and then scrapped it. Parts of it have been recycled onto my new forge. The components of the burner needed a “heat shield” between them and the forge. After a few hours of use the outside of this forge was practically glowing red hot! A piece of sheet metal set a few inches away from the forge would have reflected and absorbed the radiant heat.

This type of burner has absolutely no safety features. There must be a check valve in one end of the fuel line or the other! The regulator used was purchased from a welding supplier and is good for up to 60 PSI (400 Kpa). It is normally set to about 30 PSI (209 KPa). The single 40lb propane cylinder shown was insufficient and froze up just about the time the forge got good and hot. A second cylinder was purchased and the two manifolded together.

All the materials for this forge were purchased new (including steel and bricks) and cost $407 US in 1985. That included the cylinders and a $50 container of refractory cement that only 10% was used. The forge alone cost about $225 US. You can do a lot better with scrounged materials.