Forge operation..having trouble

[scottickes]

I have an NC Whisper three burner propane forge. I am having trouble keeping it lit. It flames out from time to time. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Lurp]

May want to try posting this over in the knife makers section. They should be able to help you out.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Welcome to Bladeforums!

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I have an NC Whisper three burner propane forge. I am having trouble keeping it lit. It flames out from time to time. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Scottickes, Welcome to the forum.

I use the whisper low boy and run natural gas. What kind of gas pressure are you using with the propane? Sounds like it may be burning up inside the burner tubes because of low pressure. Does the flame, " hufff out" ?Do you have flames coming out the end ports when the forge is hot? Fred

 

[scottickes]

Thanks Fred. I did however figure it out. I have too small of a propane tank for supply and it freezes up. I have to either go to a larger tank, or to natural gas.

Scott (Icky) Ickes

 

[B Finnigan]

You could also put your tank into a container of water, that will keep it from freezing. I use a 10G tank and it will freeze when I have it wide open after 30-45 minutes. I only run it wide open when I am forge welding or working wrought iron. With normal forging it is fine.

 

[Justin.Mercier]

I've got a single burner nc toolco shoers forge, and have worked with several others in the whisper line. The 3 burner forges really need a 100lb propane tank to keep from freezing up. You should be running at just a little over 5lbs pressure from your regulator to keep it from suffocating itself. If you run at too low pressure you dont get the venturi effect pulling in enough air.

If you have the right tubes and hookups, you can quite easily hitch several smaller tanks together in parallel and pipe it through your regulator which will keep it from freezing up as fast.

You'll probably find you have an easier time of getting a larger propane tank than you will getting high pressure natural gas. Most natural gas lines into people's houses for furnaces and stoves and the like are low pressure. Without a high pressure line, you'd have to retrofit a blower to your forge, and the whisper line forges arent very good for retrofitting like that.

 

[scottickes]

Thanks! I'm always learning.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

Scott,

Happy to hear you got it working. Fred

 

[Steve Hayden]

Thanks Fred. I did however figure it out. I have too small of a propane tank for supply and it freezes up. I have to either go to a larger tank, or to natural gas.

Scott (Icky) Ickes

I run propane with 5# bottles all the time and have beaten the freeze up by keeping a small electric space heater blowing on the tank in cooler weather. In hot weather it is usually enough to have the tank in the sun.

With the space heater, I can get the bottles just about empty running the forge full blast.

 

[scottickes]

I live near Portland, Oregon. Thus I'll be fighting the freeze up issue all winter. I forge outside, because my shop is not large enough (12' X 16' foot) or safe enough for hot work (All wood floors, cabinets, etc.). Cool rainy weather is the norm here from October to May. I like the water bath idea.

For anyone else that uses this method, it is important to remember that water on the internal threads of a gas hookup is a very dangerous situation. Do not put together damp fittings. This was taught to me as a young apprentice in a steel mill. It's been 25 years since this was told to me, so I don't remember what it causes, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Icky

 

[Sweany]

if your bottle is freezing up you are using way to much propane, cut it back or reduce the orifice size.
my .02