Hi folks, Im building a new gas forge and trying out a ribbon burner because i've heard they're quieter and I've been getting some noise complaints from the neighbours:) It definitely is quieter but it's not quite heating up like my last forge. I used to be able to get up to welding heat in about 5 minutes but I don't seem to be able to get up to welding heat at all in this new one. This forge is about 100CU bigger than the last one. I've attached the same plumbing to the plenum that I had running my 3/4" forced air burner in my last forge. The ribbon burner is 6" x 3" with 14 holes and is fed by a 3/4" intake that runs into 1" piping where the fuel and air mix. I know most people use bigger pipe but this setup worked excellently for my regular forced air burner so I thought I'd try it out for this. Do I need bigger pipe? Also, I've had to run it at 20psi gas pressure to even begin getting a flame, with low or high air volume. The blower is a shop vac rated at 168 cfm. Should I just make this new forge smaller? If I use bigger pipe will my fuel consumption go way up?

Why not follow a set of proven plans? I don't know if what you've built can be made to work, certainly not with a shop vac air supply. 

I'm not a gun(blown) burner guy but holy moly! Wayne Coe has plans for a proven gun ribbon burner on his site, "Wayne Coe Blacksmith". I've posted plans for a Naturally Aspirated ribbon burner on Iforge in gas forge section. 

Frosty The Lucky.