Will a Bunsen burner work with propane?

[Maker]

I finally got around to making a fitting to attach a Bunsen burner hose to the end of an oxy/propane hose (OC I'm not using the oxy hose) but I thought I best ask before I blow myself up;
If the Bunsen is made to use natural gas (Which I assume it is), will it work on propane?

 

[Pete.]

Try it and see. It's not like it could blow up or anything so long as you make sure you burn everything that comes out the little hole.

 

[brightspark]

it will work but u will need to turn the tap on real slow otherwise it will just blow out

 

[Maker]

Okay then, I'll give it a try.

What pressure should I set the regulator to?

 

[brightspark]

Okay then, I'll give it a try.

What pressure should I set the regulator to?

minimum and work your way up. then it will blow out if 2 high

 

[Kayos]

Propane and natural gas work at different pressures and volumes.

Having said that for something as simple as a bunsen it should be OK, std appliance pressure on propane is 37mb, natural gas is 20mb

 

[voipio]

You will need a low pressure propane regulator (gas cooker regulator) for a bunsen burner, and some sort of flow control between regulator and bunsen. In the old days, they used to run on town gas (mostly carbon monoxide and methane, but hydrogen, too, in some cases).

 

[Wendelspanswick]

When they built the new science labs at my school we soon realised that you could take the rubber tube from the Bunsen burner off the gas tap and attach it to the water tap, fill the tube with water and then reattach it to the gas tap. We would **** ourselves as someone would light a match, hold it over the Bunsen, turn on the gas and watch a fountain of water extinguish the flame.

 

[Pete.]

When they built the new science labs at my school we soon realised that you could take the rubber tube from the Bunsen burner off the gas tap and attach it to the water tap, fill the tube with water and then reattach it to the gas tap. We would **** ourselves as someone would light a match, hold it over the Bunsen, turn on the gas and watch a fountain of water extinguish the flame.

We used to do that and shoot a tiny jet of water at some victim across the class. If you were quick you could put it down before the water landed and they couldn't tell who did it

 

[Wedg1e]

At my school the usual jape was to set fire to the gas taps.

 

[RonA]

I finally got around to making a fitting to attach a Bunsen burner hose to the end of an oxy/propane hose (OC I'm not using the oxy hose) but I thought I best ask before I blow myself up;
If the Bunsen is made to use natural gas (Which I assume it is), will it work on propane?

It's all down to the gas flame speed mainly dictated by the hydrogen content of the gas natural gas CH4 (methane) & propane C3H6 have roughly the same flame speeds, so you would expect no flame lift off. As the Flame speed is similar the flame wouldn't burn back into the burner, even ignoring inside the burner it would be pure propane (I.e. no oxygen = no bang)
RonA

 

[Maker]

At my school the usual jape was to set fire to the gas taps.

Dad said they used to pull the hose off and light the end of the hose. We wouldn't get away with any of that now.

 

[Seadog]

We were less inventive Maker. We just turned the gas taps on and lit those! On the subject in hand: when I was into chemistry at the ripe old age f 12 my parents bought me a Camping Gaz burner. Since we didn't have gas in the house I used to take the rose off and push the pipe from the Bunsen over the jet. It worked very well.
Graham

 

[Tinbasherdan]

We used to set the gas taps alight also. I had an ear bashing off a teacher on how we could've burnt the school down, caused the worlds biggest explosion etc, until I explained what a flashback arrestor was and what it did

 

[Maker]

We used to set the gas taps alight also. I had an ear bashing off a teacher on how we could've burnt the school down, caused the worlds biggest explosion etc, until I explained what a flashback arrestor was and what it did

Do gas taps have flashback arrestors? I thought they were only present in oxy/fuel lines. The flame can't go back down the tube though, as there's no oxygen down there.

 

[rich r]

We used to light the taps too. My A-level chemistry teacher almost encouraged it (the heating wasn't reliable at my school in winter when the coal truck couldn't get up the hill). He explained that there were gauzes in the taps to prevent the flame sucking back, so it was perfectly safe. Although plugging in a Bunsen burner would produce more heat obviously.

 

[Cobbler]

The other one was, when the teacher was about to do a demo experiment, was to blow back down the gas tap & introduce some air in the line. The teacher would get halfway through his demo & phut & wouldn't relight for a while. The old coal gas was so low pressure you could easily overcome it. Lucky really no-one got poisoned being as the gas was mostly carbon monoxide. The teachers must have known what went on, although nothing was ever said, they probably got up to the same when they were young

 

[rikrobson]

When they built the new science labs at my school we soon realised that you could take the rubber tube from the Bunsen burner off the gas tap and attach it to the water tap, fill the tube with water and then reattach it to the gas tap. We would **** ourselves as someone would light a match, hold it over the Bunsen, turn on the gas and watch a fountain of water extinguish the flame.

At my school the usual jape was to set fire to the gas taps.

The other one was, when the teacher was about to do a demo experiment, was to blow back down the gas tap & introduce some air in the line. The teacher would get halfway through his demo & phut & wouldn't relight for a while. The old coal gas was so low pressure you could easily overcome it. Lucky really no-one got poisoned being as the gas was mostly carbon monoxide. The teachers must have known what went on, although nothing was ever said, they probably got up to the same when they were young

That takes me back,

we used to get up to all these "japes". I doubt the Elfin Safety Officer would se it that was today though. I remember one eejit in our class got caught waving a radio active source near his genitals. The Physics teacher was most put out because he had to fill in the report book.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Do gas taps have flashback arrestors? I thought they were only present in oxy/fuel lines. The flame can't go back down the tube though, as there's no oxygen down there.

id imagine thered be something of the sort there, even if they are largely useless

 

[Wedg1e]

I remember one eejit in our class got caught waving a radio active source near his genitals. The Physics teacher was most put out because he had to fill in the report book.

We used to have a LIXI, a portable radiography device that used a Gadolinium source and a small image intensifier to give a real-time video of whatever you positioned in the beam... usually pipework welds or machine parts but including, as our apprentice did one day, your hand, if you think you've broken it
Thanks god we got rid, the HSE man used to twitch uncontrollably at the mention of it, and ever since the press leapt on the idea of the fundies' supposed 'dirty bomb' the security requirements for radioactives have become ludicrous.