Gas hob from bottles - low flame

[crappy]

Folks,

I've just moved into an old property which has a gas hob feb by two gas bottles (medium - not tall ones) and a switch-over valve + regulator.

The flam on the hob is very low - lower than my previous mains-fed hob.
Could the regulator be out and not enough pressure? Is the only way to get a plumber round and test the pressure or is this normal for a bottle-fed house?

Thanks
C

 

[Madrab]

Nope, LPG should run the hob flames just as well as NG does. As long as it's had the jets changed, in fact if it still had the NG jets in it then the flames would be much higher.

You need an LPG certified GSR in to look at it, it may need the regulator looked at. Are the bottles full?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Are the bottles full?

Are the bottles in fact propane (red). Butane (blue) will freeze, or fail to evaporate in colder weather. LPG flames do tend to be smaller and hotter than mains natural gas.

 

[ianmcd]

LPG injectors are so tiny and need regular cleaning as the gas contains oils that solidify , you cant do this yourself, you need a pro to do it

 

[crappy]

Thanks Rob, Yes, the bottles are both full - one new, isolated, one in-use for 4 weeks. I've switched over and makes no change.

Are the bottles in fact propane (red).

They are red.

LPG flames do tend to be smaller and hotter than mains natural gas.

So, it's, uhem, not the size of the flame that matters.... noted.

To cook with seems slower to get things up to boil but once there, seems to be ok.

LPG injectors are so tiny and need regular cleaning

Thanks. I will get someone to check on this and see if it helps.

On the colder weather - I recall now my jet-boil was always a lot slower in cold weather. If you warmed the canister then it made a huge difference. This could be compounding what I am seeing I guess.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

On the colder weather - I recall now my jet-boil was always a lot slower in cold weather. If you warmed the canister then it made a huge difference. This could be compounding what I am seeing I guess.

That will be butane, red propane should need no thermal help to evaporate.

 

[Madrab]

If it's especially cold then any bottled gas can freeze up if it's being used for an extended period of time and then there's a drop in pressure. We used to get that with the butane and propane space heaters and had to turn them off for a while whilst they 'warmed' back up.

 

[ianmcd]

If it's especially cold then any bottled gas can freeze up if it's being used for an extended period of time and then there's a drop in pressure. We used to get that with the butane and propane space heaters and had to turn them off for a while whilst they 'warmed' back up.

Frost forming at the bottom of LPG cylinders mean that the draw off rate from the cylinder is too high, but wouldnt have thought a hob could cause this, have seen it with combis when running HW, the cylinder just cant cope with the draw off demand

 

[crappy]

So I can light all burners and the flame does not waiver so the regulator can get enough gas out. Maybe these flames are normal.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

They look quite normal to me.

 

[Madrab]

+1, nothing wrong with them by the looks of it. If you're at all unsure, get an LPG RGI in and get him to do a pressure test, that way it can be confirmed that the cooker is getting 37Mb

 

[crappy]

Thanks chaps (chappets?)

I noted the smallest of the flames did not change when all the big ones were on so assume OK too.


C