Kitchen Gas Appliances - heat conversion
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01-29-01, 09:34 AM
I have a furnace which has been disconnected from LP usage to Natural gas usage. The unit is a Fedders 100,000 BTU unit. I would like to buy orifices (but no one will sell them to me) or drill larger ports in the existing orifices. How do I determine what size port to drill? Please help.
Sharp Advice
01-29-01, 12:59 PM
Hi:dwe3243
To convert a furnace from propane to natural gas <or reversed> is a job that requires more then simply drilling out or replacing the orifices. I suggest you have a licensed heating contractor or the local natural gas company service rep. do this job. It's well worth the expense, safety and peace of mind.
One reason appliance parts stores are reluctant to selling the orifices only, conversion kits or providing the information on how to accomplish this task, is do to liability.
In order to correctly accomplish this conversion, the appliance gas regulator has to also be convered. Next it's pressure read and adjusted if needed.
Another final step, <if lucky on the first attempt> is to clock the burners gas input rate. This part really takes a professional/experienced service person to accomplish.
Based on all this and several other unknown and foreseen factors, it's not a doityourself job. Not done correctly may leave the furnace under gased or worse yet, over gased.
An under gased furnace will increase the time to heat the house and leave too much moisture in the firebox promoting rust.
An over gassed furnace produces excessive CO, wastes fuel and may cause CO poisoning and spillage at the downdraft divertor and or flame rollouts.
To convert a furnace from propane to natural gas <or reversed> is a job that requires more then simply drilling out or replacing the orifices. I suggest you have a licensed heating contractor or the local natural gas company service rep. do this job. It's well worth the expense, safety and peace of mind.
One reason appliance parts stores are reluctant to selling the orifices only, conversion kits or providing the information on how to accomplish this task, is do to liability.
In order to correctly accomplish this conversion, the appliance gas regulator has to also be convered. Next it's pressure read and adjusted if needed.
Another final step, <if lucky on the first attempt> is to clock the burners gas input rate. This part really takes a professional/experienced service person to accomplish.
Based on all this and several other unknown and foreseen factors, it's not a doityourself job. Not done correctly may leave the furnace under gased or worse yet, over gased.
An under gased furnace will increase the time to heat the house and leave too much moisture in the firebox promoting rust.
An over gassed furnace produces excessive CO, wastes fuel and may cause CO poisoning and spillage at the downdraft divertor and or flame rollouts.