Carbon Monoxide and Black-bottomed Pots
I recently purchased a four ring burner, assembled it and boiled up lots of water only to find that it didn’t do a very good job and blackened the bottom of the pot at the same time. I did a bit of Internet research and discovered that, due to the way I’d set it up (the instructions weren’t clear), I was potentially in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. So it’s probably a good idea to get the information out there.
When burning with gas you really don’t want to see a yellow flame. It’s an indication that you’ve got an obstruction or that not enough oxygen is being mixed with the gas before burning. It’s the yellow flame when burning gas that causes pots to have blackened bottoms. It’s also the yellow flame that’s generating carbon monoxide which is undetectable and will kill you without sufficient ventilation.
On my setup, there are adjustable disks that can control the flow of air that is mixed with the gas. I had these tightened flush so that not much air was being mixed. They should have been wound back a bit to let more air in which gives a bluer flame and is more powerful at the same time.
That’s all. I hope this saves someone’s life. You never know.
Tags: burner, carbon monoxide, gas, poisoning
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With nice weather finally hitting Ohio, we had thought about an outdoor burner, maybe propane. Your post is good to keep in mind. I would prefer to have many more years of home brewing ahead (and lord knows I could use the practice).
Thanks for the post. The 3 ring burner I bought didnt come with any instructions and wound up the disks as I heard them labouring to get air in and thought this was a bad thing !