Natural Gas Conversion?

[theschist]

I was wondering if anyone has converted a wood burning arch to one that fires using natural gas. I get free gas (to a point) and was thinking that I would have more control over heat, would be able to apply the same amount of heat to the whole pan and wouldn't have to worry as much about the "cool down" period with a wood fire. I don't want to have to buy a new evaporator that was designed for NG, as I have already sunk a bunch of money this season. Is this a feasible idea?

[brookfieldmaple]

Yes. My original arch was a fire brick wood arch. We first converted it for an oil burner and we just converted to natural Gas. What size is you evaporator? We use 3 tube burners, I did not want to spend the money on the commercial gas burners. I'm still playing with the gas pressure to make things boil like I want.

[theschist]

I have a Mason 2X4 XL. I was thinking of constructing a manifold with black iron pipe. The only problem is running a new gas line to my shack. I am sure that will cost a bit, plus create a lot of mess with the digging etc. Perhaps in a few years. I am going to focus on increasing the efficiency of my current setup first.

[Spolcik]

I just did this myself. I used three 3/4 inch black pipe capped one end drilled holes every 3/16 of an inch. I've done a lot of research and from what I found you need to have 6 to 8 inches of pipe after the mixer without holes for a mixing tube. I bought the mixers and manifold from tejassmokers.com for $140.. Venturi mixers were $30 a piece and $50 for the manifold. What ever length you need just make sure you have 6 to 8 inches of pipe before the holes start. The mixers are a must as well won't get a nice blue flame without them the burner I built was 48" total and 36" of flame. The manifold is 6" on center. That worked for my set up. Hope this helps

[KevinS]

I used a commercial sized radiant heat burner sans all the radiant heat stuff. Our arch was designed for fuel oil. but is 20 plus years behind in design. I used fire brick to dam the most of the top part of the flame up to the front pan. letting part go under the dam to the drop flues on the back pan. the heat was to focused on what was going under on the center drops. so I added a second brick in the middle half way between the burner nozzle and the flues. that helped but it is not perfect yet. overall.. after today I am sure I am going to be very happy with it.. BTW I am throttling the gas with valves. and have done away with the regulator on the burner.

[mapleack]

We converted ours from wood to gas, not that difficult, but there are specifics to follow to make it work decent. Just call or come down anytime you want to talk about it. You'll want approximately 250k btu for your 2x4. Here is an example of a cadillac option for you: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carlin-EZ-GAS-BURNER-OIL-TO-GAS-CONVERSION-BURNER-/151256046917?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2337901d45