Advice needed for building a pipe burner - venturi size and design.

I'm building a pipe burner using 4 - 16" lengths of 1" black pipe. I am looking for advice on the venturi basic design and orifice sizing.
This will be a propane burner BTW.
Thanks

just buy the parts from these guys.
Burner Flares & Gas Forge Parts

or these guys-
Hybridburners.com home page

you will save money, time, and frustration.
both of these suppliers are blacksmiths, and really know their stuff, having failed many more times than you want to.

Ron Reil is the man.
https://www.abana.org/ronreil/design1.shtml

Gas Forges : Building Your First Gas Forge

Thanks but I'm making a sort of barbecue style with several flames and not a torch style.
I'm trying to heat a 22"X24" vat. Sort of like a huge turkey fryer.

My kid made a forge and he used .035 welding tips for the orifice, we cut slots in the one inch pipe with a sleeve to control the air. As in all thing you do, there is more to getting a good burn than meets the eye. We have three burners and control the heat with a pressure regulator. Let us know what works for you. Ron

using welding tips was brillant, I would never have thought of that

challenger said:

Thanks but I'm making a sort of barbecue style with several flames and not a torch style.
I'm trying to heat a 22"X24" vat. Sort of like a huge turkey fryer.

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I will watch this with interest, because I need to make replacement burners for my two gas fireplaces. The builder cheaped out on me and installed burners made out of 3/4" EMT with rows of drilled holes. The darn things whistle, which is really annoying, and buzz-kill for a romantic evening in front of the fire.

Mainly I'm looking for a way to calculate the orifice I'll be drilling in the supply tip. Also not clear on the venturi design and/or if this is very critical. I'll be using a venturi type burner and most things I've read are all about trial and error but I do remember reading something no about an orifice chart???
For fireplace burners I'd just copy what you have and use unverified pipe.

In that case I would buy these- they are ring burners, you can gang as many together as possible.
Propane Outdoor Fish Cooker Smoker Burner 5 1 2 Round with Orifice | eBay

But if you really want a single flame burner, all the info is on the Ron Reil page I linked to above- how to make the venturi, what size to drill the tip- its all there.

T burners here, in Stainless, again, cheaper than you can build em.
T-Burners - HPC

Well, as usual, I don't want to spend money. This is for my beekeeping which I do to raise $ for a cancer foundation through my non profit.
I know I would be better off buying a burner(s) but I'm nuts about saving money for this. For my own finance I am the exact opposite.
I have one of the four burners somewhat together. I plugged one end of the pipe and I'm using a 2" - 3/4" (I said 1" but was mistaken) bell reducer which is on the other end and will be my mixing chamber/venturi. I'm now trying to put a strap across the large open end of the bell to mount the supply orifice.
I've read that the depth placement of the orifice inside the venturi can impact the burning?

challenger said:

Well, as usual, I don't want to spend money. This is for my beekeeping which I do to raise $ for a cancer foundation through my non profit.
I know I would be better off buying a burner(s) but I'm nuts about saving money for this. For my own finance I am the exact opposite.
I have one of the four burners somewhat together. I plugged one end of the pipe and I'm using a 2" - 3/4" (I said 1" but was mistaken) bell reducer which is on the other end and will be my mixing chamber/venturi. I'm now trying to put a strap across the large open end of the bell to mount the supply orifice.
I've read that the depth placement of the orifice inside the venturi can impact the burning?

Click to expand...

Well yeah.

The Ron Reil forge and burner site is well worth reading through. Look over the designs and find the one that looks best for your needs, and plagiarize mercilessly. Most of the things that you can do to a burner, as far as placement, alignment, shape and size choices, etc., will change the way it burns. You have to figure out how best to make it work for you. Otherwise, figure out why 'else' you might need one of these commercial burners, and grit yer teeth and just pay.

You are unlikely to find anyone that will hold your hand through the whole process. You pretty much gotta do a bit of trial and error to sort it out.

Remember that a lot of the guys that are building these do not have ANY machining equipment. If you do, esp a lathe, then you can happily steal the general shapes and sizes, and make other parts out of stock or otherwise adjustable so that you are not stuck with the geometry etc., that they were using while restricted to what they can get off the plumbing aisle rack. Or don't. Your call. It ain't exactly rocket science to adjust a flame. But you gotta have it lit to do it.

Cheers
Trev

I've looked at the Riel site and burners but I have not seen anything specific to these ribbon burners? I'll look harder and see what is can.
I would think there would be some sort of chart or whatever that would show recommended nozzle orifice size for a certain number of holes in a burner and the supplied pressure of propane etc etc.
As you said it's no big deal to get through some trial and error and fine tune the flame which I hope to be doing today.
I've read that many people use MIG tips as nozzles but I kinda think this is possibly overkill so I'm just going to drill a 1/8" NPT brass pipe cap. I'll start small and go from there. I also made the end adjustable so I can move the nozzle in and out.
Thanks