Wicks for spirit burners.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Problems getting spirit burner to burn correctly.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have purchased this spirit burner (methylated spirits or metho) from ebay. The wick it came with was quite good but nothing I have purchased from the hardware store lasts very long ; it burns for 5 minutes and then goes out. You can see the different cotton ropes and wicks I have tried in the photos. The correct diameter is about 4.5 to 5 mm

1. What should I be using for a wick ?

2. Why did they make the filler holes so small ie. why not a larger hole and plug to make it easier to handle ? Is there a reason for this ?

Edited By Brian John on 01/11/2014 03:26:24

[Jens Eirik Skogstad 1Participant @jenseirikskogstad1]

Tried with metal mesh wrapped on the top of the wick? It will prevent the wick is burning away when the alcohol container is empty.

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Brian…….Are you packing the wicks in too tightly so that there is no capillary action drawing fuel up the wick? A reasonably loose fit should be fine with about 1/4" protruding from the burner. The other thing that I might suggest is that there is not a free flow of fuel between the tanks and the burner ie an obstruction in the pipework.

Mick

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

1. What sort of metal mesh ?

2. No, the wicks are not packed too tight ; it does not seems to make any difference anyway. I have tried both tight and loose, the result is the same.

3. It is always the right time of the year in Australia I will call around tomorrow to look for glass fibre wicks. I had not considered that before.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Brian,
I do not understand the logic of the design of this burner. For it to work the wick would need to be threaded through the pipe and reach the bottom each container. (Or the one container with the meths in it.) Also the containers can only be filled up to the level of the top of the burner part. If they were filled above this level the liquid would just run out over the top of the burner part.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 01/11/2014 08:38:55

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It looks a poor design – the base of the wick needs to be close to the bottom, level of the fuel tank, the top needs to be near the maximum fuel level.

The traditional method of filling is a small funnel (as supplied with Mamod!) Don't the big plugs come out? You're not having to fill it through the air hole with the syringe are you?

Neil

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

No, the plugs unscrew but they are VERY small and fiddly which is why I questioned the reason for making them this small. A syringe is supplied to fill through the filler holes after the plugs are unscrewed.

It worked fine with the wick provided.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Brian, why the two tanks? The tube from the tank to the vertical tube should have a fabric(of some sort) wick, with a fair bit in the bottom of the tank. A wick in the vertical tube could be fibre glass, or a bundle of reasonably fine (24swg or less) iron wire works very well, about 1/4" above the tube.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have purchased the fibreglass wick but I am still having the same problem : it burns for 5 minutes then it goes out. There is still plenty of meths in the tanks. The wick also went black and sooty. I did not expect the fibreglass wick to go like that.

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Brian….what is the condition of your meths? Alcohol is hygroscopic and therefore takes in atmospheric water and if your meths is anything like the rubbish sold in the UK it will already have been diluted with 10%+ water. As the volatile alcohol is burned off it will leave the remainder with an increasingly larger percentage of water which will not sustain a flame. Gauge 1 afficionados will not use the generally available hardware store meths for this reason, preferring to use 99% industrial meths from a reputable source. So if your meths is old stock you may wish to consider this.

How do you manage to relight the burner once it has gone out?

Mick

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

With a match.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Brian unless there is a wick within the copper pipes to draw up the last of the meths from the two tanks you will always be left with meths below the level of the copper pipes.

With the overall height being just 28mm I would think a 5min burn time is about all you will get

 

J

Edited By JasonB on 08/11/2014 08:31:15

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

It is not much good then is it ? That is hardly enough time to heat any boiler !

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Brian, the wick must reach right along the horizontal tube, and into the tank, the flame wick can (should)be separate, and stand vertical in the upright part of the tube, there is no other way the fuel will get to the wick . Don't over fill the tanks, or you will have meths flames all over the place. I'd think you should get 10 to 15 minutes burning time.

Ian S C

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

With a match

I wish that I had thought of that. There again, if I had that much brain I wouldn't be asking the world for advice on how to keep a meths burner going for more than 5 minutes.

Mick

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

A wick cannot be passed down the tube to the storage tanks because the tube branches into a Y shape. At least I do not think it could be done ? The single cylinder burner might have been the best buy because a wick could be threaded all the way through into the storage tank.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Brian, you probably could do it, you need two wicks that will go together down the single tube. Twist a bit of wire (about 10 amp fuse wire), feed the wires through the tube, the tricky bit is the rt angle bend.

A variation of that would be to try and get two pipe cleaners through, still got the sharp rt angle, but worth a try.

May I ask, why two tanks?

Ian S C

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Brian,
I do not think any thought went into the design of this burner. I suggest that you move the pipes that connect to the tanks to the bottom of the tanks and make a new burner tube (The large cylinder at the end of the feed pipe.) If possible the top of the new burner tube should be at least as high as the top of the tanks otherwise the fuel will pour out of the top of the burner if the tanks are filled to the top.

Les.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

''Why two tanks ?''

I am not certain but they do also offer a one tank burner. The two tank version may have been a more recent development and an attempt to increase the burn time.

Or did you mean ''Why did I buy the two tank version ?''

I am also curious how the ends of the tanks are sealed. They are not soldered. How did they make them ?

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have trimmed the wick and done some experiments : the longest I can get it to burn is 10 minutes. That is with 5mls of metho in each tank. As previously discussed, not all the metho is being burnt otherwise I would probably get 15 minutes.

I do not think 10 minutes is long enough. How long does it usually take to get little pot boilers steaming ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You can reduce the time by filling with hot water, without knowing the capacity of the boiler and intensity of the flame its hard to say how long it will take, if you are using it on that little boiler in the other thread then I don't think it has any cross tubes so a lot of the heat will go up the chimney as the burner is quite a small dia. The fuel tablets or sterno would give a wider flame and heat the bottom of the boiler.

Also the short burn time is a safety factor, as you have no way to refill the boiler whatever burner is used should run out before the boiler is empty.

Edited By JasonB on 12/11/2014 07:34:35

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by JasonB on 12/11/2014 07:34:01:Also the short burn time is a safety factor, as you have no way to refill the boiler whatever burner is used should run out before the boiler is empty.

Would a spirit burner like that get enough heat going to remelt silver solder on that boiler? I doubt it.

Russell

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Russell, no you couldn't melt the silver solder even with an LPG burner, you have quite a large lump of metal filled with water, and the fuel should run out before the water. There should be quite a bit of water left after a run, and when you refill the burner, you refill the boiler.

I had a little tug boat with an equally small boiler, and sailing it one day forgot to refill the boiler, and sent it off with a full tank of meths, 10 minutes later the pipe from the boiler to the engine fell off (soft solder), took quite a while for the boat to drift ashore. Ian S C Here the motor 1/8" bore, 3/8" stroke, sorry it's a bit fuzzy, got a bit too close.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

As Ian says there won't be enough heat to melt Silver solder but the boiler in question was designed for soft solder.

There is also the risk that if you boil it dry and have the flame playing on the bare metal that if you then go to refill it you could get a flash steam boiler as the water hits the hot metal and send it back out the filler onto you.

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