Using one burner in a multi burner forge

[Dirty Harry]

Hi guys, first post here, awesome forum.  I have a question about using one burner only in a forge with 2 or 3 burners.  Specifically I have a brick forge that aims straight down (still under construction but works pretty good with a single burner so far).  I see a lot of the multi burner ones advertised that you can just use one burner.  Doesn't the tube not in use get really hot and transmit the heat all the way up the valves and fittings at the top?  I want to add a 2nd burner 1 brick over so they will be 4.5" center to center, but it would be nice to just use one burner for small stuff.  Thanks!

[ThomasPowers]

That set up looks like it was designed to maximize CO production and be very inefficient and yes unused burners, especially vertically oriented ones have issues with chimney effects.

 

[Dirty Harry]

20 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

That set up looks like it was designed to maximize CO production and be very inefficient and yes unused burners, especially vertically oriented ones have issues with chimney effects.

 

Hey it works alright...I'm not made of money and it's what I had around the house.  Could you explain how its much different from something like the attached picture?  I understand a round one could be better but like I said...it's what I have to work with.  Aside from something like "build a whole new one cause it ain't the perfect design type," what can I do to improve it? Thanks!

[John in Oly, WA]

On a side note: Get the yellow Teflon tape, it's made for gas. The white stuff is made for water.

[Dirty Harry]

2 minutes ago, John in Oly, WA said:

On a side note: Get the yellow Teflon tape, it's made for gas. The white stuff is made for water.

Thanks!  I didn't know that.

[ThomasPowers]

I don't consider that one a good design either; but the big thing I notice between yours and it is that the Burner holder tubes are much more tightly configured to the burner tubes---less exhaust going straight up to the intake.  If you think all commercially sold designs are good ones; have you ever driven a Yugo?  (I'll assume you don't think that people posting a design and saying it's great on the internet is proof of such.)

Now as to money; you could have built a similar forge without the exhaust issues for probably the same amount of money. (Note that the last time I spent a couple of days in the hospital the bill was US$50000.  My first house was bought from a young widow with two kids whose husband had ignored some basic safety rules and accidently killed himself fixing the kitchen sink. Saving money can be VERY expensive...)  

You can get away with that set up with proper ventilation and a good CO monitor---what does that do for the costs?  $20 of kaowool would probably save you a couple of hundred dollars in propane if you actually forge much---what does that do to the costs?

Finally improvements: Why not move the burner to the side and run it at an angle to help avid recycling exhaust? Stuff the gap between holder and burner tube with kaowool to prevent exhaust leakage.

[John in Oly, WA]

That's okay, I didn't either til I started putting gas pipe together to build my forge.

[Dirty Harry]

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

I don't consider that one a good design either; but the big thing I notice between yours and it is that the Burner holder tubes are much more tightly configured to the burner tubes---less exhaust going straight up to the intake.

 

Now as to money; you could have built a similar forge without the exhaust issues for probably the same amount of money. (Note that the last time I spent a couple of days in the hospital the bill was US$50000.  My first house was bought from a young widow with two kids whose husband had ignored some basic safety rules and accidently killed himself fixing the kitchen sink.)  

You can get away with that set up with proper ventilation and a good CO monitor---what does that do for the costs?  $20 of kaowool would probably save you a couple of hundred dollars in propane if you actually forge much---what does that do to the costs?

Finally improvements: Why not move the burner to the side and run it at an angle to help avid recycling exhaust?

"I don't consider that one a good design either; but the big thing I notice between yours and it is that the Burner holder tubes are much more tightly configured to the burner tubes---less exhaust going straight up to the intake."

What you can't see is that the flare on my burner tube is a very tight fit to the hole in the brick so there actually isn't a bunch of exhaust coming up the tube.  I could easily put a sliding cap on the smaller tube to make it even more tight though.

"Now as to money; you could have built a similar forge without the exhaust issues for probably the same amount of money."

As I said already, this was all made from recycled stuff I already had, so the cost was $0.  I also live in a small town in rural Saskatchewan so I can't just run out and get stuff easily (pretty much have to order stuff like that online adding shipping costs).  Those front two bricks act like sliding doors, they can be closed or opened more, front and back (someday many moons from now it will be good for a sword.)

"Note that the last time I spent a couple of days in the hospital the bill was US$50000"

Sorry to hear that...don't really have that problem where I'm from.

C0 is something I ALWAYS keep in mind when working in my shop, it's fairly large and leaks air like a sieve, also has an 8" high speed exhaust fan in the ceiling.

" Finally improvements: Why not move the burner to the side and run it at an angle to help avid recycling exhaust? "

 I considered going at an angle but making a nice hole in these brick at an angle isn't really possible with the tools I have available.  These are the heavy firebricks, not the kind you can cut easily.  I know these ones will soak up some heat and take longer to get the forge up to working temp...

I know you hate the design all around but I see a ton of knife makers using the same format, heck I even saw a square brick one in one of Bob Kramer's videos.

Thanks for the feedback, I will probably add a top cap to the larger tube if I find a lot of leakage around that next time I fire it up.

 

 

[John in Oly, WA]

I don't have a multi-burner forge, so no experience to speak from, but could you make that second burner removable and cap off the holder tube when you're not using both burners?

[Dirty Harry]

1 minute ago, John in Oly, WA said:

I don't have a multi-burner forge, so no experience to speak from, but could you make that second burner removable and cap off the holder tube when you're not using both burners?

John, you read my mind.  My original plan was to do that, except just pop the whole top off and swap that brick with a hole out with a fresh one and just slide the burner not in use up enough to clear the brick.  I'm designing it so the whole top can easily be taken off.  I just see all these forges like the 2nd one I posted advertised as "you can use 1, 2 or 3 burners," but I'm thinking in my head those tubes must get freakin hot.  Just ebay hype or do people actually do that is what I'd like to know lol.  Leaning towards your idea of removable the more I think about this.

[ThomasPowers]

Well I could chip a corner off a brick with a hammer and grind it down nice with a rock out of the arroyo; but as I understand y'all don't have arroyos.  (I don't know about hammers and rocks...) The point is that you could deal with that issue with what you have on hand.  You can also add me to your ignore list and never see my posts again.  I just worry about CO when folks use propane forges in a cold climate.  What I can get away with out here with 3m walls and open gables and 3mx3m open doors probably would hurt people in an enclosed smithy worried about sub zero external temps...( supposed to be 26 degC here today)