WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

[paella12]

I am posting this warning because of what happened to me. I used a wok that I own that connects to a propane tank. Things were going well and maintaining 350 on day 2. The fire from the wok went out after an hour and like an idiot I relit it while it was IN the OVEN. Obviously, there was gas in the oven and it blew. I burned my hand, part of my arm, lost hair on arm and had to seek medical attention. I was back in half an hour and built a fire. Anyway, this way will work, but just be careful. You can light it in the oven the first time, but I recommend taking it back out and then putting it back in if you have to relight. I is an idiot and I hope I can keep others from making the same mistake.

Day 1 went well with a fire all day at 300 and I put in four chicken thighs and slow cooked them for two hours. Delicious. Salt, pepper and sliced tomatoes on top.

God Bless and enjoy the oven.

singed but motivated

[WJW]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Sorry that happened...but glad you are still in one piece.

Bill

[brickie in oz]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Bwhahahahaha that is brilliant..... boooooom......

[ebbro]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Your recommendation doesn't sound very safe either.

[Neil2]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Propane appliances such as woks and barbecues are designed such that the gas flows away if they go out.

Avoid using propane in any kind of enclosed space.

[david s]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Propane appliances such as woks and barbecues are designed such that the gas flows away if they go out.

Avoid using propane in any kind of enclosed space.

....unless your burner is fitted with a flame failure device.

[Bacterium]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

As a mate would say if it was me
Doing that makes you stupid...... Photos of it make you a legend

On a serious note.. glad you are ok enough to share it

[Ken524]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Wow. Glad you are ok. I agree with Ebbro; your second recommendation isn't any better.

Several times a year a newbie pops on the forum and says something like "I have a brilliant idea for a propane assisted pizza oven".

This is precisely why we tell them NO. There is absolutely no need for ANY heat source other than a wood burning fire to cure or heat your home's wood fired oven. You don't need light bulbs, weed burners, space heaters, propane burners, Easy Bake Ovens, hair dryers... just a match and some seasoned wood. It's a beautiful thing.

[RTflorida]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

AMEN!!!
Ken, no one could have stated it more clearly.

RT

[WJW]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

I've been thinking that I could put a very small bucket of nitro-glycerin in my oven and...

all kidding aside, people (myself included) have a tendency to think they can build a better mouse trap and come up with a short cut. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes not.

In the case of a wood-fired-oven, adding propane to the mix might seem like a reasonable idea...but it adds so much potential danger compared to relatively modest increase in convience that it makes absolutely no sense.

The perceived benefit of using propane (or lightbulbs for that matter) is that you are able to achieve a long-lasting, relatively stable, temperature increase to drive moisture from the guts of your oven. But what many people seem to miss is the fact that the very nature of firebrick is such that a series of small fires achieves essentially the same result as does a long steady burn with propane. By that I mean...firebrick is slow to heat up...and is slow to cool down. If you use a small fire to bring it up to a modest temp...it stays that way for a relatively long time. And if you do this over the course of several days in succession, the temp is likely to remain high enough over that entire period to keep driving moisture from the masonry during the entire time.

And all of this with zero danger of an explosion.

Is it possible to design and fabricate a system which allows one to safely use propane to heat/cook in a masonry oven? Of course it is. But whether it makes sense to do so in light of the cost and difficulty involved in producing a system which remains safe for many years is another matter entirely.

If there were suddenly some severe shortage of wood which made it impossible to get the job done with firewoood, I would cook pizzas in my oven with propane or natural gas. But wood is easy to come by, works fantastically well, and never, ever explodes. So why try to fix something which is far from broken?

Bill

[Bacterium]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Whilst on the topic of gas.... anyone here ever made charcoal?

If you have.ever used the method in a 44 gallon drum. That can bring about an interesting situation if you starve off the oxygen process wrong......woo hoooo baked wood can build up a decent amount of gas.!!!!!

[Wiley]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

You can even use that gas (commonly called wood gas) to power an internal combustion engine. It was done during times of severe gasoline shortage to power vehicles during WWII.

I fully expect in the future when oil runs out to see a resurgence of interest in using it. The technology is viable enough that in places where wood stuffs are plentiful and oil non-existant it is used to power electric generating plants. An example I have witnessed was in Bora Bora where they make electricity using gas driven off coconut husks.

Wiley

[shuboyje]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Pyrolysis gas from charcoal making is not the same as wood gas or syngas used to run engines. It is too heavy in tars that clog engines. Pyrolysis is part of the gasification process, but there is much more to it. Syngas is produced when the hot char produced by pyrolysis is then exposed to limited oxygen and steam producing hydrogen, cleaner burning hydrocarbons and ash.

[Wiley]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

I don't wish to argue, however, I would suggest that there is less to it than one might think.
Attached is a link to a FEMA pdf file on how to build one from fairly easily obtained parts.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/fema.woodgas.pdf

A good read for DIY sort of people.

Wiley

[shuboyje]

Re: WARNING: about using Burner with Propane to Cure

Yeah I wasn't very clear, lol. Gasified can still be very simple, it what's going on inside that can get complex. If you want to see how simple it can get look up designs for a charcoal cross flow gasified, makes the FEMA design look like the space shuttle. My last post was simply to explain the difference between pyrolysis gas and syngas. It is a common misconception that pyrolysis gas is syngas, but you would never want to run an engine on it.