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8:27 am
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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I finally last night finished building my forge and putting together my burner.
The forge plans I used are http://zoellerforge.com/simple.....forge.html
The burner plans I used are http://www.instructables.com/i.....ge-burner/
After getting everything together I fired it up and let it run about a minute or so and had a few concerns that came up.
The first two I think are fine for the first start. I had the guage set at about 7 psi, and the flame kept coming out in bursts, so it would fill the forge for a second then would stop then fill again then stop etc. It was a fairly blustery day yesterday but I dont think the gusts seemed to match with the bursts of the flame though, so I am thinking it more likely was the air coming out of the line. Does this assumption sound likely or is there more likely something else that would cause this?
The second issue was after running the burner for the 30 seconds to a minute, a steady stream of smoke began coming out from between the burner and the burner holder. This was another I thought was likely normal with the new system as I figured any coatings on the black iron fittings and such may have been just burning off.
The last one that I had at the moment that was probably the biggest concern is that the flame that i was getting was blue. In the forges ive used before and seen in videos the flame was somewhere between orange and yellow, but i havent seen a blue. What would be causing this issue?
Thanks so much for the help!
8:51 am
NWBA Member
June 8, 2010
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Hey Dreygan:
The things you describe sound normal to me... Some forges will kind of puff a bit when fired cold... The smoke was probably the paint burning off the black iron pipe... And once the forge is working properly, you want a blue flame... Can you post a photo of the forge in operation?
Lynn
9:19 am
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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I dont have a picture at the moment, but will try and get one today or tomorrow and post it. Thank you very much for the response!
7:27 pm
January 3, 2014
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Hello. Welcome fellow newbie. 
I'll start by saying that I have never used a propane forge (unless you count holding a hand-torch to a piece of steel) and my general experience with propane itself is somewhat limited. I do have a bit of experience with wood gasification and using woodgas through burners. I've also dealt with a far amount of Black Steel/Iron Pipe (BSP/BIP, same thing) in my day for my woodgas projects.
Your bit about {{... the flame kept coming out in bursts, so it would fill the forge for a second then would stop then fill again then stop etc. }} and {{The second issue was after running the burner for the 30 seconds to a minute, a steady stream of smoke began coming out from between the burner and the burner holder.}} both sound to me like you are running "rich", too much fuel to not enough air/oxygen for complete burn.
:EDIT: I came across a proper mixture ratio for propane:oxygen and propane:air http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....pane_torch :/EDIT:
I feel like I should point out that BSP should NOT have any paint or significant coating on it. BSP gets its black color from the mill-scale of Iron(II) Oxide (Fe3O4), much like what flakes off of steel in the forging process. Some pipe manufacturers will provide a very fine coating of oil (similar to WD-40) on the inside of their pipes but this should burn off within a few seconds and shouldn't be enough to cause significant smoke.
Hopefully that will be of some help to you.
4:57 pm
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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Hello, so it took me a while to get this but heres a video i got of the forge running. The inside is dark due to the forge only running for a minute or two when i started the video. The puffing seems to be resolved but it is still a blue flame which seems odd to me and the burning smell and smoke started another couple minutes after taking the video. The left hand side of the forge did start to glow red/yellow but the right hand was still dark, this may not matter or may just be a matter of time but not sure if that part matters or not. Anyway, take a look if you can and let me know if you have any suggestions.
Thanks!
6:14 pm
NWBA Member
Board Member
April 26, 2010
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Are you certain the orifice is properly aligned at the intake? You adjusted the burner prior to trying it in the forge?
No matter where you go... there you are.
6:37 pm
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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i did check the position of the hole in the burner before i started it up. it is pointing straight down the intake into the forge body.
9:21 am
NWBA Member
June 8, 2010
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Hey Dreygan: Glad to have ya! Where are you located? Wouldn't take but a look at it to get it fine tuned.
Did you test fire the burner out of the forge? Usually if they work outside the forge, they'll work once on the forge.
How does she run with a lower pressure? Some of our forges at the Mentoring center huff and puff a bit 'til they get hot... I think it will run fine once it gets hot... I wouldn't worry about the smoke, I still think it's paint burning off.
Brian, I just bought a bunch of 3/4" black pipe from the steel supply, and it has definitely been painted... It's a pain in the butt... I've got to either sand blast or burn the paint off before I can use it...
11:36 am
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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Lynn Gledhill said
Hey Dreygan: Glad to have ya! Where are you located? Wouldn't take but a look at it to get it fine tuned.Did you test fire the burner out of the forge? Usually if they work outside the forge, they'll work once on the forge.
How does she run with a lower pressure? Some of our forges at the Mentoring center huff and puff a bit 'til they get hot... I think it will run fine once it gets hot... I wouldn't worry about the smoke, I still think it's paint burning off.
Brian, I just bought a bunch of 3/4" black pipe from the steel supply, and it has definitely been painted... It's a pain in the butt... I've got to either sand blast or burn the paint off before I can use it...
I'm up in Vancouver wa. No I did not run it outside of the forge first. the sputtering does seem to have gone away, so it's the blue flame and the smoke I'm not sure about at this point. I have tried higher and lower gas pressure and haven't noticed much difference. I have tried moving the damper over to reduce air flow also but still the same.
7:18 pm
NWBA Member
June 8, 2010
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What size orifice do you have for the propane? Oh, Oh, I just realized that I left my forge burning up at the shop...
9:02 pm
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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The orifice was drilled with a#57 drill bit, into the 1/8"nipple
10:09 pm
NWBA Member
June 8, 2010
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I drilled mine with a # 60 bit which is only .0030 smaller than the #57... I'd say fire it up and see what happens... I think it will work okay... Just can be a little scary firing up a newly built forge... Very unlikely there will be any ka-booms or such... Just might not run quite the way you want... I do think from your video, it might be running a little bit rich, but not enough to really affect the performance... Fire it up, and wait 20 minutes, see how she goes... I do think that once she gets hot, she'll run really good.
I will be going up to the Mentoring Center at Longview, WA, the 4th Saturday of June... If you would like, I could pick you up, take you to the demo, and drop you back home... We could load up your forge and take it up and fire it, and see what we can do...
12:35 am
NWBA Member
February 5, 2014
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Great! Thanks so much for the input! I will go for some test runs this weekend and see how it goes. I would definitely be interested in going up in June, will give me a good excuse to finally register fully and all that as well.
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