9 responses to “why is my new natural gas fire pit flame blue and not yellow?”
Engineer-Poet at 2010/02/12 02:07 says:
It’s blue because the gas mixture is lean. Lean mixtures do not yield soot, which is required for the yellow glow.
If you want a yellow flame, you need to adjust the gas/air mixer to reduce the amount of air. DO NOT do this except outdoors, because you will also be making carbon monoxide and you need outdoor ventilation to avoid creating a danger to yourself and others.
constantreader at 2010/02/12 02:08 says:
Natural gas burns blue normally…in kitchen stoves and space heaters, anyway. Yellow or white tips on the flames indicate it isn’t burning properly [feeding too fast, turned up too high, not consuming efficiently] and needs to be turned down or adjusted for correct rate of flow. Read the owner’s manual or call the manufacturer and ask about this– natural gas burns differently than fireplace wood–and doesn’t look the same as other fuels when it burns. IOW, your new fire pit flame may not ‘need to be yellow’!?
renegadesail at 2010/02/12 03:04 says:
Yellow means incomplete combustion, if the flame is blue all the gas is being burned. If you cook on this pit and the flame is yellow, it will smut your cook wear.A blue flame also gives more heat so your getting more B.T U output. Natural gas will give you 1150 B.T.U per cubic foot, were as Propane or Butane give 1430 B.T.U per cubic foot Go ahead make my day, I dare you to call your gas company. and ask.
rangedog at 2010/02/12 03:39 says:
renegadesail,
in my area, Natural gas has 1000 btu/cu.ft.
Anyway, is this a fake fireplace or something?
Blue is indeed the ideal color of flame for burners.
But exactly what is your ‘fire pit’?
THE"IS" at 2010/02/12 04:06 says:
needs pro to clean jets
emgeealex at 2010/02/12 04:59 says:
Where do these people who answer live? In caves? The guy has a fireplace with gas logs. He wants a yellower flame. It’s vented I’m sure.
Your air adjustment is open too much. Close it to a sliver and te flame will look more natural. BTW I have 2 fireplaces, one with gas logs the other burns wood. We hardly ever light the gas one because it makes no sound and the flames don’t dance. Give me a real wood fire any day. Pop, pop, pop!
vandrew at 2010/02/12 05:02 says:
the cause is too much air is coming in. try to throttle the air registers. or your burners’ nozzles are restricted that less fuel pass thru. just clean the burners. bluish flame is not bad. its actually an indication of good combustion.
bc12012 at 2010/02/12 05:52 says:
because it is running as efficient as humanely possible.it only burns yellow if the mixture of gas to air ratio is inefficient , either too lean or too week
lpgnh3 at 2010/02/12 06:08 says:
Ok, basically every answer here has missed the point. This unit is an OUTDOOR FIRE PIT. They are NOT designed for indoor use, nor are they vented. The burner is designed to create an aesthetically pleasing flame that simulates a real wood fire. To suggest that one would want a solid blue flame on this unit would defeat the purpose of the unit. Again this is an OUTDOOR FIRE PIT, the main concern is aesthetics and not proper combustion (As it pertains to what is traditionally perceived as proper burner adjustment.); it’s supposed to look like a real wood fire people! (Yes, yellow flames and all.) Variations in burner port size throughout the burner, plus allowing the gas to flow through various types of media prior to ignition all create the flame appearance of a wood fire.
I don’t doubt the good intentions of any answer here, but they all provide clear evidence to show that you really need an installer that is NFI (National Fireplace Institute) certified. You can see by the answers that this type of system goes against every grain of common knowledge that an average HVAC tech. has. The entire concept of creating poor combustion in the name of aesthetics is counterintuitive to the common teachings of proper combustion within the heating industry.
With all that being said, and without laying eyes on your installation it would be difficult to say what the problem is. One could mistakenly assume that these units would be installed quite simply. Nothing is further from the truth. Each manufacturer has slightly different methods of achieving the best aesthetics. Here are some of the factors that should be considered before installation.
Capacity of incoming system to meter – Capacity of system between origin and connections to the control valve – Type of pipe – Size of pipe – Length of run – orifice/air mixture – Number of turns – Capacity of valve – Line pressure – Altitude.
Testing of all the above factors is the only method of insuring enough/proper supply to make a full flame pattern.
It’s blue because the gas mixture is lean. Lean mixtures do not yield soot, which is required for the yellow glow.
If you want a yellow flame, you need to adjust the gas/air mixer to reduce the amount of air. DO NOT do this except outdoors, because you will also be making carbon monoxide and you need outdoor ventilation to avoid creating a danger to yourself and others.
Natural gas burns blue normally…in kitchen stoves and space heaters, anyway. Yellow or white tips on the flames indicate it isn’t burning properly [feeding too fast, turned up too high, not consuming efficiently] and needs to be turned down or adjusted for correct rate of flow. Read the owner’s manual or call the manufacturer and ask about this– natural gas burns differently than fireplace wood–and doesn’t look the same as other fuels when it burns. IOW, your new fire pit flame may not ‘need to be yellow’!?
Yellow means incomplete combustion, if the flame is blue all the gas is being burned. If you cook on this pit and the flame is yellow, it will smut your cook wear.A blue flame also gives more heat so your getting more B.T U output. Natural gas will give you 1150 B.T.U per cubic foot, were as Propane or Butane give 1430 B.T.U per cubic foot Go ahead make my day, I dare you to call your gas company. and ask.
renegadesail,
in my area, Natural gas has 1000 btu/cu.ft.
Anyway, is this a fake fireplace or something?
Blue is indeed the ideal color of flame for burners.
But exactly what is your ‘fire pit’?
needs pro to clean jets
Where do these people who answer live? In caves? The guy has a fireplace with gas logs. He wants a yellower flame. It’s vented I’m sure.
Your air adjustment is open too much. Close it to a sliver and te flame will look more natural. BTW I have 2 fireplaces, one with gas logs the other burns wood. We hardly ever light the gas one because it makes no sound and the flames don’t dance. Give me a real wood fire any day. Pop, pop, pop!
the cause is too much air is coming in. try to throttle the air registers. or your burners’ nozzles are restricted that less fuel pass thru. just clean the burners. bluish flame is not bad. its actually an indication of good combustion.
because it is running as efficient as humanely possible.it only burns yellow if the mixture of gas to air ratio is inefficient , either too lean or too week
Ok, basically every answer here has missed the point. This unit is an OUTDOOR FIRE PIT. They are NOT designed for indoor use, nor are they vented. The burner is designed to create an aesthetically pleasing flame that simulates a real wood fire. To suggest that one would want a solid blue flame on this unit would defeat the purpose of the unit. Again this is an OUTDOOR FIRE PIT, the main concern is aesthetics and not proper combustion (As it pertains to what is traditionally perceived as proper burner adjustment.); it’s supposed to look like a real wood fire people! (Yes, yellow flames and all.) Variations in burner port size throughout the burner, plus allowing the gas to flow through various types of media prior to ignition all create the flame appearance of a wood fire.
I don’t doubt the good intentions of any answer here, but they all provide clear evidence to show that you really need an installer that is NFI (National Fireplace Institute) certified. You can see by the answers that this type of system goes against every grain of common knowledge that an average HVAC tech. has. The entire concept of creating poor combustion in the name of aesthetics is counterintuitive to the common teachings of proper combustion within the heating industry.
With all that being said, and without laying eyes on your installation it would be difficult to say what the problem is. One could mistakenly assume that these units would be installed quite simply. Nothing is further from the truth. Each manufacturer has slightly different methods of achieving the best aesthetics. Here are some of the factors that should be considered before installation.
Capacity of incoming system to meter – Capacity of system between origin and connections to the control valve – Type of pipe – Size of pipe – Length of run – orifice/air mixture – Number of turns – Capacity of valve – Line pressure – Altitude.
Testing of all the above factors is the only method of insuring enough/proper supply to make a full flame pattern.