Propane Stove -- Big Flames and Black soot -- possible regulator issue?

[PorkChopsMmm]

I installed a Premier brand gas stove about 8 months ago. This is a non-electric "pilot" oven that is popular with off-grid use. It has been switched over to LP per the manual and I have tried to adjust air flow but I am getting really big flames from the stove burners, black soot on any pans we cook with, and on the white enamled steel itself.

I have tried to adjust air flow multiple times, walking through the instructions over and over, etc. but I am starting to think my regulator at my LP tanks may be the cause. I have a regulator that I picked up from a local LP company. It is smaller in size, probably the size of a softball around. I have 2 #100 LP tanks feeding through this to the stove in question and my tankless external water heater. The tankless water heater works fine and when I am outside when it is running I don't see any strange odors or residues coming from the exhaust. I used 3/4" flexible gas line, CSST, for running gas to the hot water heater and under the house and installed it per their owners manual. I have a junction near the hot water heater that feeds 1/2" CSST to the stove.

Could this regulator by my tanks be causing the "over-feeding" to the stove? From what I can tell, the stove itself has a regulator where the 1/2" line comes in. Would that bring down the pressure if it was too high?

[flyingvan]

   Sounds an awful lot like a wrong sized orifice.  Orifice size changes with altitude, and of course when converting to propane.  The orifice should have a number stamped on it----I'd double check with the manufacturer to make sure it's the correct size, especially since your other propane appliances are working well.  A regulator past a regulator won't drop the pressure too far (as long as they're the correct regulators) and they certainly wouldn't increase the gas pressure.  Soot always means poorly burned fuel (Propane is C3H8 so can burn into carbon dioxide and water.  Without a good air mixture, the carbon starts getting sooty)  Since all the burners do it I don't think it's a clogged intake. 
     If this were an old stove recently resurrected, it's possible to get methyl mercaptan pooling in low spots of the fuel lines and that can cause problems.    Also did you cange the burners?  I know that some stoves require different burners for a conversion. 
      Finally----if you get your propane delivered have them look at it.  They're the experts and can probably diagnose it quickly and check the pressures and flows (I think 14" W.C. is standard) 

[PorkChopsMmm]

After doing some more searches this does sound like a stove question. I will give Premier a call tomorrow.

[considerations]

"I installed a Premier brand gas stove about 8 months ago."

So did I.  Each burner had to have its orifice changed from an NG orifice to an LP (included with the stove).  In addition there was a change required to the oven orifice. Finally, the "regulator" in the top back of the stove had to disassembled, and the central insert removed, reversed and reinserted. 

It works, no soot, although I'm still fussing with the oven, as it occasionally decides to make these "poof" "poof" noises, as the flame comes on and off.

I will be very interested to hear what Premier has to say.  Your conversation with them can be valuable for all of us.  Please keep us updated.

[PorkChopsMmm]

Considerations -- does yours look like this?



http://www.abt.com/product/47165/Premier-GFK100OP01.html

I went through the manual and I saw where it said you could adjust oxygen being sent to the burners (by sliding some metal covers that allow more/less oxygen in) but I didn't see, and there were no pieces provided, to change the burner orfices themselves.

[considerations]

My stove looks similar.  More important than looks, it has the spark ignition for the burners and oven. 

"I went through the manual and I saw where it said you could adjust oxygen being sent to the burners (by sliding some metal covers that allow more/less oxygen in) but I didn't see, and there were no pieces provided, to change the burner orifices themselves."

The Premier site states that all stoves are sent out set for NG, but the swap out orifices for LP are supposed to be shipped with the stove.  Sounds like a glitch in service if you did not get any.

For the top burners, there is a screw behind the oven knob that also must be moved from the NG to the LP setting. There is supposed to be a small hole in the metal behind the knob through which you can put a skinny screwdriver to turn that screw. My experience was that on the first stove (damaged in shipping) that the hole did not line up with the screw...on the second stove, they forgot to make the hole...so I had to remove the metal panel to access it.  If your burners are sooty, but not your oven, maybe this step was missed?

The "metal covers" you refer to I think are only one, and that is for the oven.  It is all the way in the back, in the center bottom of the oven, behind the broiler drawer. The "cover" is a vertical cylinder on a metal gas tube, and slides from left to right around its axis.  Below that cover is a nut, which must be turned all the way the "other" way from its original setting for NG.

Each one of the burner orifices for the stove top are different sizes.  I think it is important to carefully match each orifice with the proper burner, as each burner is already set to feed different flows of gas through the orifice.

I got in touch with Premier on the shipment damaged first stove and found their customer service was pretty good.  I was in contact with a man who had obviously been there many years and knew the stoves inside out.  They shipped me a new one, and although not a perfect solution, under the circumstances, things turned out well.  I encourage you to phone them, soon.  I like cooking with propane, but have a deep respect (fear? caution?) about it's volatility.

[flyingvan]

Propane isn't really all that volatile---the flammable range is about 2% to 10%.  The real danger with propane is that it's heavier than air.  Natural gas, if leaking or left on, can escape out your range hood.  Propane tends to pool.  Fortunately, the odor threshold is musch lower than the flammability threshold----if there is a leak, you'll smell the methyl mercaptan long before it gets up to a mixture that will burn----if you're there to smell it