Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Hi Tommy,

As it is a commercially made burner most of them must work reasonably well

A couple of suggestions: you might have a partially blocked jet which sometimes give odd burning patterns. I clean them using a syringe connected to the jet with a silicon tube and blow it through the jet taking. I then tube off to pull the syringe piston back so it doesn't suck back. A couple of times blowing usually does it.

As I expect you know there doesn't need to be air holes in the gas tube but if there are they need to be the correct size.  Using these holes is just a convenient way of holding the jet.  When I design a new gas burner I use no holes just the gas tube.  I hold the burner in a vice and hand hold the jet pointing it at the hole in the gas tube someone else lights the burner while I position the jet and control the gas. By moving the jet back and fore the effect of different gas/air mixes can be observed.  It should be possible to do the same with your burner by putting some tape over the air holes. If I don't get good combustion I try a different jet and if that doesn't work a different size gas tube.

Doing the above test should show if the burner is capable of working; usually a problem  has nothing to do with the ceramic element.

Take care Tony.