Yes Mike, you are exactly right on the reply business. The difference that you have noted is between blog pots or discussions. I may scrap the blog posts entirely to avoid this confusion.
With you so far James. I have also worked out that there is a limited number of replies to replies allowed, but you can get round that be replying to the previous post on that branch and the most recent reply will drop to the bottom of the branch.
But what I can't understand is why some threads run from top to bottom while others go from bottom to top. Am I being stupid? Have I missed something?
Hi, I'm a non retired Gas Safe registered engineer who lives in France for the summer. Although I agree with the advise given by the retired gas engineer I have more to add.
If your bottle is outside use Propane if it is inside use butane. The flexible that needs replacing is the rubber one from the bottle to the regulator / changeover valve. The final connection to a gas hob should be fitted with copper tube or an approved stainless steel flexible not a rubber hose. Jubilee clips or crimp connectors are not approved for use with propane. DO NOT use a propane bottle inside a dwelling. If you suspect incorrect combustion for heaven's sake call in a professional to check it out. It needs to be tested with a flue gas analyser! The flame should be blue with TWO distinct cones and no yellow tip. The regulations are quite complex it is not really a DIY job, even in France.
If the previous owners had installed the hob themselves, or employed a cowboy to do the job, it is possible that they failed to fit the correct jets. Normally a retail appliance will have town gas jets pre-installed and another set for use with bottled gas will be included with the instruction book.
The manufacturer's website should tell you which jets are required. The brass jets will have the size stamped on the side, but you will have to remove them with a small spanner to read that. You should only have to remove one to know if the wrong type has been fitted.
Unfortunately, while unwanted jets are being thrown away all the time, buying a new set from a spare parts outlet can be eye-wateringly expensive.
Not quite David. I've used a 'metal' flexible, which has an infinite life, as the final connection our hob . Damned expensive but very safe when hidden away from view. Andy's propane is the gas to use. I always used it when snow caravanning & never had a problem.
Thanks!
Further to Davids reply and mine above, propane and not butane should be used if the cylinders are outside, propane has a boiling point of -42C which means it will turn to gas when released at any temperature above that, butane has a boiling point of -0C so would remain a liquid at any temperature below freezing.
Reading the other replies, the injectors being drilled out oversized would tend to give a larger yellow flame, each burner will have an injector to suit its output. I have changed from using Propane to Butane it does not burn that much different. When you buy a hob it generally come with injectors for Methane and Butane/Propane Butane and Propane are similar gasses, Butane is hotter and burns more cleaner, if the gas cylinder is stored outside you would need to use Propane thats the only real difference. If you still can't get a good flame after cleaning get a new one.
If you press 'reply' your post will be indented below the post which you replied to. If you use the box at the top it will be the next reply to the original post.
They are not being reshuffled randomly. It is called a threaded forum as opposed to a flat one.
Some people like it and some don't. Does that clear up your confusion?
Worth noting that all flexible connections have a limited life, date of expiry printed on the tube. May have nothing to do with burning but will have something to do with potential leaks. I use grey gas cylinders- but these sometimes freeze up in winter. Is there an additive in the green ones? I am not the only person to suffer in this village. My tanks are outside.
As a retired gas engineer I agree with the poor combustion theory, nothing wrong with the gas.
(C3H8+5O2=3CO2+4H2O) =complete combustion
lack of O2 in the combustion leads to lots of C and CO = bad.
the burners should have primary air drawn in from below the burner head as well as secondary air at the point of combustion. If you can see the injector when you lift off the head go no further if there is just a tube then you will need to dismantle it further and get down to where the primary air is drawn in just after the injector, If it is like that it's old so probably worth getting a new one
Pleasure xx
"having someone install our new hob" is good advice. LPG is heavier than air, therefore if one has a leak it hangs around at low level or in your cellar just waiting for the right conditions to blow up your house ! The son of a guy who worked for me was filling a gas lighter & spilled gas onto his lap. When he lit the lighter the gas on his lap caught fire. He brushed off the fire onto his settee & set the house on fire. Dangerous stuff LPG !!!
Hi James, I am not sure if it's just me but sometimes you add a reply to someones post rather than putting it in the box at the top under the OP's first post and it follows but in this case my post jumped onto the end so the words didn't follow Vic's in the way it should. If that was purely a chronological order issue other peoples post following on from previous posters ones wouldn't appear where they do they would all follow a chronological order but they do seem to jump around a lot, well to me anyway.
See this one followed yours, but my previous one didn't follow Vics it appeared after Julie's
There is alot of good advice, and I know we ended up having someone install our new hob as we were not familiar with gas, once correctly installed we did find that the slightly more expensive bottle gas burned cleaner than the supermarketown brand we tried…so if the jets are clean and correctly installed it maybe worth considering …
Can you explain what you mean by that please John (why this forum reshuffles posts is anyone guess)
-
Ok folks, ditch the pliers. I obviously wasn't paying attention when OH did the deed. Merci Vic ;-)
John. These places can be scary! The misinformation being bandied about sometimes beggars belief. We have recently seen dodgy advice on electrics & we now have it on gas. It won't surprise me to see a plumbing thread soon where someone tells us that sh*t will flow uphill ;-)
From your previous comment about reading the OP's comment, (why this forum reshuffles posts is anyone guess)
Whilst that maybe true Vic, the hob will work on pretty much any combination of jet/regulator and judging by the lack of knowledge on the subject from many forums it is seldom wise to assume it was set up properly in the first place. It just won't work that well so unsteady flames or sooting up need basic investigation as you said what pressure is the regulator, 28mb, 37mb or the EU version which is I believe a compromise of 30mb. Is it a problem with all of the burners, it would be unusual for all of them to play up at the same time or spiders to take up residence in exactly the same way to affect air mixing so basics like checking is surely the logical route to take before considering superstitious remedies.
Yes Julie you are quite right. Most new cookers come with a change of jets so that they can be changed from mains to bottled gas or vice-versa. You will also find that they come with a little spanner & instructions as to how far to turn it so as not to deform the VERY delicate jets so, pliers aren't a good idea ;-)