Do-it-yourself gas burner from a blowtorch: manufacturing and operating instructions
Today the trend is to switch to blue fuel. Gas is used in internal combustion engines of cars instead of gasoline and diesel.He replaced wood and coal in heating boilers. It’s worth trying to convert to propane-butane and hand tools, isn’t it?
Let the first one in your arsenal be a gas burner made from an injection-type blowtorch. It will retain all the functionality of the “donor”. Along with providing standard capabilities, the homemade product will acquire new useful qualities.
We will tell you how to make this useful equipment for everyday life with your own hands. Let us introduce you to the design features and differences between the burner and a conventional blowtorch. Compliance with our recommendations for safe operation will eliminate risks and dangerous situations.
The content of the article:
Blowtorch design
If you already have a blowtorch, you most likely know how it works and how it works. But it would be useful to briefly recall some points so that disassembly does not cause unexpected difficulties.
At the same time, let’s define the terminology, because home craftsmen often call parts in popular language, and instructions are given in a more technical language.
Most blowtorches for household use are of the nozzle, or otherwise, injection type. Such a lamp has a housing that also serves as a reservoir for liquid fuel. This is the largest part of the device.
A heating bath is attached to the body and the upper part, the burner, is screwed through a fitting. The burner is second in size after the body.
Its main elements:
- an evaporator in which, as a result of heating, liquid fuel is converted into gaseous fuel;
- a nozzle that directs a gas stream to the ejector, at the outlet of which it ignites, forming an open flame;
- adjusting screw to increase or decrease the flame.
Fuel from the reservoir enters the burner through a siphon tube. The reservoir also includes a pump. There are other parts, but they will not be included in the updated burner, so there is no need to consider them.
We showed a photo and diagram of a blowtorch that has a standard design, but your particular model may have slight differences.
What is the difference between a gas torch and a blowtorch?
Blowtorches operate on liquid fuel: gasoline, kerosene, alcohol. As the name itself suggests, the fuel for the gas burner will be liquefied hydrocarbon gas, namely a propane-butane mixture, which is contained in red cylinders.
Changing the design and switching to gas provides the following advantages:
- ease of use increases;
- safety increases;
- the scope of application is expanding;
- operating costs are reduced.
When working with a blowtorch, you are holding in your hands not only a torch, but also a reservoir with a flammable substance. The weight of a 2-liter blowtorch with a full tank is about 4 kg. The height and width are more than 30 cm and 20 cm, respectively.With such characteristics, the maneuverability of a hand tool is extremely low.
A gas burner does not require a tank. By removing the bulkiest part of the blowtorch, you will get a compact and lightweight device that will help you perform various types of work, including in hard-to-reach places.
However, you do not have to hold a container of gasoline or kerosene in your hand directly next to an open fire, since thanks to the long hose you can place the gas cylinder at a sufficient distance from the workplace.
At ambient temperatures above -20 °C, the gas burner does not require preparation before use. Just open it valve on gas cylinder, adjust the flame strength and you can cook, solder, warm up... Even in a 5-liter cylinder, the gas reserve is enough for many hours of continuous work.
Unlike a gas torch, a blowtorch requires preliminary preparation, regardless of external conditions. It is necessary to pour gasoline or kerosene into the bath and set it on fire to warm up the evaporator. Only with sufficient heating will the first portion of liquid fuel entering the evaporator turn into a gaseous state.
Liquid fuel consumption is 0.6-0.8 liters per hour. Considering that a 2-liter blowtorch can only be filled to ¾ of the tank’s volume, the fuel supply will last for at most 2 hours. Then you will have to take the canister again and add fuel to the tank, but before that you still need to wait until the lamp has completely cooled.
Let us remind you that you cannot open the tank of a lamp that has not cooled down, otherwise there will be contact between the hot burner and gasoline vapors, which can lead to ignition and explosion. Only after waiting for the lamp to cool down can you pour fuel into the tank and tray and repeat the entire preparatory procedure, including warming up and pumping air, which will take about 10 minutes.
During normal operation, a blowtorch emits the smell of gasoline, which is not only unpleasant, but also harmful. When working with liquid fuel, soot and soot quickly clog the holes in the burner and settle on external surfaces, staining hands and clothes.
Gas is the cleanest type of fuel, so the gas burner needs to be cleaned less often. In principle, there should be no smell of gas during use of the burner, and its appearance indicates a malfunction of the device, which requires immediate cessation of operation and elimination of the causes of the leak.
Assembly and testing step by step
Let's consider several options for assembling a gas burner and each of them will require its own materials and tools. The minimum set includes an angle grinder, a wrench, FUM tape, a brush, a handle, 2 fittings with nuts and clamps.
You will definitely need gas hose 10-20 meters long, liquefied gas cylinder (propane-butane), gearbox It comes with a blowtorch itself with a working burner.
When working, use personal protective equipment: goggles and gloves. Do not smoke under any circumstances: firstly, there may be highly flammable fuel residues in the tank, and secondly, when handling gas equipment, which includes liquefied gas cylinders, safety precautions must also be observed.
Having prepared the tools and materials, you can proceed directly to converting one device into another.
Main stages of the process:
- disassembling a blowtorch;
- preparing parts for assembling a gas burner;
- gas burner assembly;
- tests.
Immediately unscrew and remove the pump. In the future it will no longer be needed. Unscrew the entire upper part of the blowtorch, that is, the burner assembly. It will become the basis of a new, gas burner.
It is advisable to clean the burner parts of a previously used lamp from carbon deposits and soot. The nozzle is cleaned with a special needle, which usually comes with a blowtorch.
If there is no such needle, use a wire that easily fits into the nozzle hole in diameter. The same needle or wire is used to clean the fuel pipe. Soot is removed from external surfaces with a brush.
After making four cuts with a grinder, remove the fitting with the siphon tube. The part of the body that will remain on the fitting when cutting it out is removed using a grinder, and the area under it is cleared of nicks. After processing, the fitting is screwed into the burner nozzle, sealing the connection with aluminum gaskets.
You can do without cutting out the fitting from the body by replacing the “original” siphon tube with a new metal tube. The end of this tube is welded to a nut, which is first screwed onto the burner nozzle.The resulting weld seam is cleaned with a grinder equipped with a flap disk.
Having connected one end of the tube to the gas burner, the second end is connected to the hose. But before that, you need to put a handle on the handset to make using the device as convenient as possible.
The handle is made from a block of wood, which is turned on a lathe to give it a rounded shape. You can also use a hacksaw and cutter for this purpose. A through longitudinal channel is drilled in the center of the block to match the diameter of the tube. To avoid nicks, protect the surface of the handle with sandpaper or a sanding machine.
If you don't want to spend time turning a block, make a handle from a wooden handle from a shovel, hoe or other garden tool. A longitudinal hole is also drilled in a piece of cutting of suitable length, and the sections are cleaned. You can use other available materials, the main thing is that they are not flammable and, in order to avoid burns, have low thermal conductivity.
The next step is connecting the hose to the tube. If the diameter allows, the hose is pulled directly onto the tube and secured with a clamp. But it is better to connect the hose through the fitting. To do this, you will need to cut a thread at its second end in advance, even before you attach the tube to the burner.
This can be done on a lathe or using a die (die) - a hand-held thread-cutting tool. It is recommended to chamfer the end of the pipe and then apply a small amount of machine oil to it to make it easier to screw on the die.
FUM tape (fluoroplastic sealing material) is wound onto the threaded end of the tube to seal the connection, and a fitting is screwed on. A hose is put on the fitting. The second end of the hose is also connected through a fitting to the reducer of a household propane-butane cylinder.
Before connecting, the fittings are purged to remove debris. Perform all manipulations with the gas cylinder with the valve closed. The hose must be solid. Never use hose sections connected to each other.
Having assembled the gas burner, you need to test it. Apply soap suds to threaded and welded joints. Slightly unscrew the cylinder valve and apply gas. If bubbles do not form and the smell of gas is not felt, it means that the connections and gas lines are sealed.
Do not check for gas leaks by bringing an open flame to the problem area.
Now all that remains is to test how the burner functions and you can use it for its intended purpose. When testing, do not immediately set the adjustment knob to the maximum value. Check how the device functions in moderate modes and only if the result is positive, add power.
Safety precautions for use
Remember about the explosion hazard of liquefied petroleum gas, including propane-butane mixture and others gas mixturesused in gas equipment. Both during testing and during further use of the gas burner, follow the safety rules.
It doesn’t matter whether the burner is factory-made or home-made, if it is used incorrectly and if the gas cylinder is handled incorrectly, the following negative consequences are possible:
- fire occurrence;
- explosion of a gas cylinder;
- getting burned.
Burns can be caused not only by an open flame, but also by touching heated surfaces. To minimize risks, install the gas cylinder strictly in a vertical position on a flat surface, in a well-lit place, but not in direct sunlight or in a passage or doorway.
The distance from the cylinder to an open flame must be at least 10 meters, and from heat sources - at least 1 meter. Protect the cylinder from impacts and falls. Do not connect more than one burner to it.
Check the reducer quarterly, the burner monthly, and the hose daily. The need to check the hose daily is due to its vulnerability - even a slight mechanical impact can lead to ruptures and cracks, which will become the site of a gas leak, which must be excluded.
The risk of gas leakage also increases if the nozzle and tube are dirty, so it is necessary to clean them regularly. To inspect and maintain the burner, first disconnect it from the gas cylinder.
Do not warm up a frozen gearbox with an open flame. Operate the burner outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.Turn off the power supply if you work near electrical appliances, do not pinch or bend the hose, do not wrap it around your belt, etc.
After finishing the work, be sure to tighten the cylinder valve and put the protective cap on the cylinder.
Scope of application after modification
Gas burners are used in households and agriculture, during construction and repair work, when repairing vehicles and equipment,
In addition to the listed areas, gas appliances are used for the following purposes:
- installation of heat shrink tubes;
- melting the solder before soldering;
- heating metal water pipes;
- heating bitumen for roof repair.
In addition to the above, the device is used for removing paintwork by firing the surface, for welding materials whose melting point is about 1000 C. With its help, you can cook or heat food or boil water for tea right on the construction site.
Conclusions and useful video on the topic
A detailed story and visual demonstration will help you better understand all the features of the process and then repeat it yourself:
Instructions for unscrewing the top of the blowtorch, cutting the siphon tube from the body and assembling the gas burner:
As the popular saying goes, there are so many people, so many opinions. By analogy, we can say: as many home craftsmen as there are, there are as many ways to make homemade burners. The following video serves as proof of this;
Making a gas burner from a blowtorch is easy. You can get by with the simplest tools that a home craftsman will probably have. If you have minimal skills, the whole job will take no more than 30-40 minutes.As a result, you will receive the equipment you need for your household practically free of charge, and at the same time you will receive satisfaction from the work successfully done.
If you have experience in assembling a gas burner or upgrading existing equipment, please share it with site visitors. You can leave stories about your own production, useful tips, and photos of the process in the block below. In it, ask questions about unclear and controversial issues.
