Naturally Aspirated (NA) Burner Types

[Hefty]

This thread is intended as a starting point for people wanting to know about what different kinds of naturally aspirated burners available to build or buy. When I first started looking around, it all seemed like too much information in too many different places and I wished I could find some kind of overview of the types of NA burners available. I’ve built a few of these burners myself now, but I’m still fairly new to it. I love to build things myself, either to save money (never really works out that way) or to learn more about things and better understand how and why they work.

I’m starting to get my head around the how and why, but THIS IS NOT BURNERS 101. I’m not in any way experienced or qualified to give detailed information about HOW to build each of these burners. Different dimensions, and ratios of dimensions, and tuning methods apply differently to each of them and there are many members on the forum (Mikey, Frosty, AnotherFrankenBurner to name just a few) with far more experience and knowledge specific to their construction. (I know, because I’ve already asked the three I just listed many questions myself!!). Also, note that I haven't included information about NARBs as I'm mainly focused here on the NA aspect at the input end of the burner and I see ribbon, or multi-orifice, burners as being part of the flame side of the burner, similar to, or in replacement of, a flame retention nozzle. (And yes, I know that these all have very different tuning requirements and effects on the actual burner flame, too!)

So, without further ado, here is a basic list of common types of NA burners and an entry level description of how they work:

Frosty T burner: NA jet ejector burner where air is induced by gas from a mig tip drilled through the back of a 2 to 1 reducing T pipe fitting into the mixing tube. The two larger sides of the T allow maximum air to be induced and the “stem/upright” of the T is the connection to the mixing tube. Originally designed/discovered by Jerry Frost (Frosty) with detailed instructions in its own thread in the gas forges section of this forum. (I know this one - I've built two)

Side-arm burner: NA jet ejector burner where air is induced by gas from a mig tip installed in a plug (or similar) through one side of a 2 to 1 T pipe fitting, with the mixing tube attached to the other side. Air is induced through the “stem/upright” of the Tee. The original version was a misinterpretation of Frosty’s instructions to make a Frosty T burner, by Robert Groman. A modified version was developed by Larry Zoeller using tapered reducing fittings.

Z burner: A further development of the side arm burner, this is an NA jet ejector burner where air is induced by gas from a mig tip installed in a plug (or similar) through one side of a “Y” pipe fitting. I have no experience with these burners myself but my understanding from what I have read about them is that the air induced through the angled “stem” of the fitting tends to be more streamlined than from the side-arm and mixes better with the gas stream.

Mikey burner: NA jet ejector burner where air is induced by gas from a mig tip through 3 (ideally - beveled edged) slots into the mixing tube. Designed by Mike Porter (Mikey) and presented with detailed instructions in his book.

Linear burner: NA burner where air is induced by gas from a gas orifice, through a reducing funnel into the mixing tube with the direction of induction parallel/linear to the gas jet direction. There are many variations on this design. One well-known example is the design by Ron Reil. The original of the Ron Reil design used a hole drilled in a brass pipe mounted across the intake funnel. Other common variations replace this with an orifice in the end of a pipe centred on the same axis as the mixing tube.

Vortex burner:  NA burner, similar in concept to the linear burner, where air is induced by gas from a gas orifice (usually a mig tip or 3d printer nozzle) through a trumpet bell shaped funnel into the mixing tube. An "Aerospike" and vanes encourage vortex flow in the induced air as it enters the funnel, causing better mixing of the gas and air in the mixing tube. Currently well-represented by designs from AnotherFrankenBurner in the “3D printed plastic burner experiments” thread in the gas forges section in this forum. (I’ve made one of these so far but intend on making a few more)

Fan-induced vortex burner:  NA burner where air is induced by gas from a gas orifice, through a reducing funnel into the mixing tube with the direction of induction parallel/linear to the gas jet direction. A computer-style fan is used, not to force air, but to encourage vortex flow in the induced air as it moves through the funnel into the mixing tube. Designed by Mike Porter (Mikey) with pictures forthcoming when available.

I'm sure there are more, and as I mentioned in the burners 101 thread where this idea started for me, some of this may need correction from those in the know, so please if you have more to add, post it below!

Thanks,

Jono.

[Mikey98118]

Folks can read about and buy parts or even complete modified side-arm burners, and Larry's newer "Z" burners from his website (Zoeller Forge).

[Mikey98118]

Jock Dempsy of anvilfire was the Burner Guru, who came up with a $50 version of a Mikey burner. I believe he died a few years back. His website is still up and running, but whether or not they still sell his burners is a question.

[Glenn]

The anvilfire site is only a placeholder for the website name.  Since Jock's death, no one can make changes to, or fill orders on the site.

[Jimw3326]

Sad to hear this. When I built my forge I got everything from him.

[Hefty]

I had heard of the Anvilfire site before but only looked at it in any depth recently when researching power hammer build designs. I only learned who Jock was and that he had passed away after that and still I can tell it was quite a loss to the blacksmithing community.

[Mikey98118]

I met him at the national conference held in Kentucky, back in 2004; a smart fella.

[Frosty]

I only mentioned where I learned about jet ejectors and such as a little background for you and folks maybe interested on the forum, Jono. Including it in your description of the T burner is the kind of unnecessary detail that confuses the issue. 

When describing the Tee fitting it's helpful to point people to the local plumbing supply. Using the character capitol T to illustrate, the Crossbar on a plumbing Tee is commonly called the main or run. and the vertical shaft is the, drop or branch. Visualize a waterline in the basement, the main line is the either the "main" or "run," pipe. The pipes coming off to the sink, washing machine, going upstairs to the kitchen, bath, etc. are either, "drop" or "branch" lines.

"Main" fitting and "Branch" fitting makes the most intuitive sense and will make your descriptions more clear. I favor Branch myself but I live on the other side of the pond. Use what makes most sense to you.

I'm only offering these to maybe make describing things easier, not as a correction. You haven't made any mistakes.

Make sense?

Frosty The lucky.

 

[Hefty]

Yep, no worries Frosty. I'm thinking maybe I should put the text of the first post into a PDF attachment so I can update it as these clarifications come up. Anything that makes this information easier to access and understand is good. I forgot that there's only a short window for editing a post.

Also, any advice on terminology for main run and drop, or their equivalents, for the Y fitting on a Z burner. Is it just called an angled branch/drop?

 

(P, D, F, Y, Z?!, it's alphabet soup around here!)