I have a hot water pressure washer that runs on natural gas. I called the company on the conversion to propane. The regulator and orifice are pretty cheap. The burner ring, consisting of 44 jets is EXPENSIVE. I have heard of people plugging and redrilling their jets for this conversion.
How hard is it to do this? I assume I could just soft solder and drill that.
Does anyone have a chart to tell me what the equivilent to a #53 NG jet is in propane?
TIA
JW
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Jeridiah) wrote in news:b4347359.0408300820.13130b87 @posting.google.com:
I can't help on the specific jet size other than to say that propane jets are generally bigger than NG for the same appliance. Propane produces something like 30% less heat. I converted my Weber BBQ the other way from propane to NG with a weber kit. According to the paper that came with it the NG burners orifice size was #63, the Propane size was #73.
It's worth noting that propane is heavier than air, natural gas is lighter than air, so propane conversion kits *sometimes* require a cut off valve for indoor appliances.
Jeff wrote in news:Xns955581F3BE5E0jeffnospamcom@199.45.49.11:
Ah, I got that wrong.... propane produces less heat by volume but runs at a higher pressure so the jet size for propane should be *smaller* than NG...
and when the "soft solder" heats up you are back to where you were before filling the holes... its like soldering a heating element in an electric frying pan coil.. it seems like a good idea and it looks good, but when heat is applied to it it does not work.. the solder melts and the fix is busted.....
A good way to plug those jets is with a ball bearing. Place a small, say 1/16" to 1/8", ball bearing on the orofice and tap with a hammer. If the orofices are brass the holes will close right up. Then use the correct number drill and open up to the desired size. It would be better if the jets can be removed and re-drilled from the back side. This will help insure the hole size is exact. ERS
Will the jets themselves get hot enough to remelt the solder? I know when I accidently drip solder into my propane torch, I have to use a second torch to melt it back out.
JW
Are you sure you have to resize the burner holes? Maybe just changing the orifice will be enough.
Pr>I have a hot water pressure washer that runs on natural gas. I called
You shouldn't have to change the burner. I have a pair of floor furnaces at the farm. I have a set of jets (what you're calling an orifice) hanging on a wire next to each of them. To switch between natural gas and propane, all I have to do is the change jet size and turn a couple of valves.
The reason for being able to switch back and forth is that I get my natural gas, for free, direct from the oil well behind the house, but the supply isn't always reliable, depending on what the producer is doing with the well, so I can quickly switch to propane backup when necessary.
Anyway, the point is that the same burner rings are used in both cases. Only the jet needs to be changed to account for the difference in air fuel ratio required between natural gas and propane (propane needs less fuel, ie more air, to burn cleanly, so a smaller jet is required).
Gary
I am going by what the company told me gets changed when running LP over NG. The regulator is a given. The orifice referred to I assume is post-regulator. It makes sense to me that the burner jets should have to be swapped. The draft plate is outside the burner, so if the jets are to big it will be tough to get the right air/fuel mix.
The jets and the orifice are I assume different items. I don't have a manual(yet) for this machine, so I can't be for sure exactly what they are referring to.
JW
OK, I checked into this again. The orifice referred to earlier is for the pilot light, which of course is seperate from the burner. The burner ring is a cast ring with 44 individual jets screwed into it. These 44 jets need to be resized to the appropriate size, which they can't(won't) tell me. They have told me they just buy the whole thing as a complete replacement with the jets in it and don't actually even know what size the new jets are. I find that a little hard to believe, but in any case....
JW
Soft solder would be iffy since the temperature on the burner could easily reach the melting point. Silver solder should be okay.
I don't know if the usual ratio of orifice sizes applies to the burner ring or not. Ideally you'd want to match what the factory set up is.
Are you really Jed Clampett?!
Gawd, now I have this song running through my mental juke box, it's Nine Inch Nails doing a contemporary rendition of the theme to the Beverly Hillbilly's.
"and up through the ground came a-bubblin' cru-u-u-u-u-uuude..."
Oh, make it STOP!
When you said 44 jets, I'll bet you have a Lambda machine. I went thru the exact changeover last year. The NG jets if run on LPG will make the machine run rich and smoke. I removed the burner ring, bought 44 of their jets at a few dollars each (I don't remember the exact price) and replaced them. I am glad that I did because many of the NG jets were worn out, burnt and beyond repair. The burner ring needed cleaning too.
Here is a link to their parts page for burners
I also changed the machine from 480 3ph to 240 single phase and built a mheeled chassis to cary the washer and a 200lb propane cylinder. It is a lot more portable and usable now. Works great!
Bob
JW
The Lamda site says that the NG burners are drilled 52 or 54 and propane is 62, 65, or 66
Bob
I wonder what size the jets would have to be for pig farm generated methane? Gerry :-)} London, Canada
Yipe! I've never seen a burner designed that way. Normally, air and gas are mixed in the tube feeding the burner ring. The holes in the burner are just there to prevent flashback, ie the mixed gas velocity through the holes is faster than the flame front propagation, so the fire can't back up into the mixing tube. The sort of system I'm describing only needs one gas jet, in the mixing tube.
Gary
Well, I'm not quite Jed. The wells were drilled in 1951, and before that we *were* poor as church mice. But we didn't pack up and move to Beverly, Hills that is.
Gary
Looks great. Those look like the same style jets as what I have. It is a MITM machine, but I wouldn't doubt the jets are somewhat generic.
I am thinking of doing the same as you and building a cart for mine. It is 240 3ph, but that's not an issue. I think I am just going to tap off from my propane supply to the shop, but have considered a tank on the cart. I am considering a water tank on the cart as a buffer however. I am not sure that my central pressure pump and subsequent feedlines can keep up to the 4.4gpm rating that this has listed. Maybe 100 gallons with a float switch.
JW
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