# homemade log lighter



## fastcat (Jan 30, 2008)

here is the log lighter i made. i made it out of 3/4 inch iron pipe. its 24 inches long the holes are 1/8 drilled every 1 inch staggard. this is about all the flame i can get out of it is this flame normal or should i be able to get more flame. do i need to use a smaller diameter pipe. do i need to drill out another air intake hole on the other side of the one thats there now. any input would be great.  would a low pressure reg give me a better flame.


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## richtee (Jan 30, 2008)

Stop into Roll Call and give us an intro. There are some experts here on this stuff...but I'm not.


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## geek with fire (Jan 30, 2008)

That's pretty trick.....but scares the hell out of me for some reason.  I'm no expert with gas, so like Rich said, I'll allow the experts to chime in.  I guess it's no more dangerous than a weed burner.


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## chadpole (Jan 30, 2008)

Fastcat, what the problem is ...there is too much gas (note yellow flame) and not enough oxygen (blue flame) What I did was cut the venturi off a fish cooker burner and weld it on the end of the pipe. This will give you a nice blue flame and will not soot up your cooker or smoker. I use this as my burner in a couple of smokers I have. Sometime you can find a fish cooker burner that screws apart. Just use a coupling to attach it to the pipe and there's no welding needed. Hope this helps.


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## richoso1 (Jan 30, 2008)

What chadpole siad... don't want yellow flame.


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## fastcat (Jan 30, 2008)

i drilled 2 more o2 holes the same size as the first one and still only have a 4-6 inch flame.  it has a little more blue flame but still i think the flame should be bigger.


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## invader q (Jan 30, 2008)

Take a look at the burner on my forge in the pic below.  There is a wire welding tip inside the reducing T that pushes the propane into the main tube at high pressure.  The propane rushing past the open part of the T pulls in air (with enough oxygen to do what we need).  The flare on the other end can't be seen, but the end result is a nice hot blue flame.  Looks yellow in the pic, as the inside of the forge is so hot it's incandessing yellow.  

Way overkill for your app, but maybe you can get ideas from it.  The high pressure going past the opening for the air is important.  One, it keeps the gas from coming out there and burning like yours is, and the high speed draws in air, which you need.

Hope that helps.


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## fastcat (Jan 30, 2008)

another option. can this part of the turkey fryer burner be inside of the firebox or does it need to be outside of the fire box. i notice that on the afterburners the air intake holes are on the inside of the firebox and they are basicly a nicer turkey fryer burner.


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## welder (Jan 30, 2008)

Using the MIG tip for an orfice is a wonderful ideal. I would never thought of using one. Thanks


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## walking dude (Jan 30, 2008)

invader q.........pratice DOES make perfect


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## fastcat (Jan 31, 2008)

here is what i ended up doing.


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## badss (Jan 31, 2008)

cool....gotta shot of the whole unit?


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## invader q (Jan 31, 2008)

Your the first person that translated my sig.


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## invader q (Jan 31, 2008)

Fastcat, you have a good source for those burners?


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## fastcat (Jan 31, 2008)

what do u mean


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## chadpole (Feb 2, 2008)

Fastcat.....that is a very good solution. One thing you still need to do is open up your air intake all the way and get that yellow out of your flame. A gas flame that is yellow is bad......bad......bad....OK? Even if you are lighting logs you don't want a pile of black soot coming out onto your wood. It still has a terrible taste and will make your meat taste that way too. Another problem I see is the burner is going to get clogged up with ash in the fire holes. Having said that I still think the black pipe is still your best burner. Get the wood burning and pull it out before the wood burns down. Hope it works out for you.


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## richtee (Feb 2, 2008)

No, just the first to mention it  ;{)


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## steve-o420 (Jul 20, 2011)

I used a log lighter for a home fireplace.


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