Empire vent free combustion woes

[Falcon9h]

Hi all,
Brand new, just registered because I'm having trouble.

2 year old Empire LP fireplace insert. Went to relight it for the winter. You know the burner is in a horseshoe type configuration. For clarity I'll call them top and bottom 'rows.' LP is used in the house for the stove and dryer and they're fine.

When I light it, the top row lights right up with its nice perfect flame. But around the bend into the whole bottom row it lights very slowly as the gas makes it to the end of the burner, and then only burns with an anemic 1-2 inch blue flame, like the stove. when I shut it off, I get blue flames dancing around in the pilot area, then a small "foof!" and it finally goes out. Seems like uncombusted gas lingering in the burner. (?)

Never had this happen previously.

So I went in and cleaned everything thoroughly, everywhere and everything, vacuumed, brushed, the works. Have not messed with adjustments. Same thing, cleaning didn't help.

We ain't exactly on the high end of the food chain with SS-only income. Selling company wants over $100 to walk in the door.
I'm very technical, been a geek since 1969; if I can restore old tools, fix most things and restore over a hundred old radios, I can sure as hell fix this-but I need some help, and I hope you can, me being cognizant of the possibilities of mucking around with gas.

I would be very disgusted if I paid that money and it turned out to be something simple I could've done myself. OTOH, quoting Clint Eastwood, "...man's got to know his limitations.." As a last resort I'd call the company.

Thanks a lot, any ideas much appreciated!

 

[Qvist]

Have you tried looking inside the burner tube for blockages? Sometimes insects put nests in them.

 

[Falcon9h]

In looking at instructions (RTFM) it's burning normally, the bottom row is for embers. So it burns low. The only access to the burner tube (I'm not gonna go dismantling, see Eastwood quote in OP) was vacuuming out through the holes so I did that. That improved things, but, the puffback problem remains. Once it gave off a yellow flash in the tube when I turned off the logs with a loud-enough-to-make-me-nervous "poof!" And it takes at least 3-5 seconds for the burner to light all the way around. It's almost like combustion that's incomplete and the residual gas detonates.

So that was enough to keep the gas co. appointment. 🙄 I'll keep you updated.

 

[Qvist]

I hope its not to complicated.

 

[Jackfine1]

Hi all,
Brand new, just registered because I'm having trouble.

2 year old Empire LP fireplace insert. Went to relight it for the winter. You know the burner is in a horseshoe type configuration. For clarity I'll call them top and bottom 'rows.' LP is used in the house for the stove and dryer and they're fine.

When I light it, the top row lights right up with its nice perfect flame. But around the bend into the whole bottom row it lights very slowly as the gas makes it to the end of the burner, and then only burns with an anemic 1-2 inch blue flame, like the stove. when I shut it off, I get blue flames dancing around in the pilot area, then a small "foof!" and it finally goes out. Seems like uncombusted gas lingering in the burner. (?)

Never had this happen previously.

So I went in and cleaned everything thoroughly, everywhere and everything, vacuumed, brushed, the works. Have not messed with adjustments. Same thing, cleaning didn't help.

We ain't exactly on the high end of the food chain with SS-only income. Selling company wants over $100 to walk in the door.
I'm very technical, been a geek since 1969; if I can restore old tools, fix most things and restore over a hundred old radios, I can sure as hell fix this-but I need some help, and I hope you can, me being cognizant of the possibilities of mucking around with gas.

I would be very disgusted if I paid that money and it turned out to be something simple I could've done myself. OTOH, quoting Clint Eastwood, "...man's got to know his limitations.." As a last resort I'd call the company.

Thanks a lot, any ideas much appreciated!

That is the nature of practically all vent free LP inserts. The poof is nothing to worry about and it is doing this because propane is heavier than air which means propane would need some sort of pressure to move through the burner holes. When you turn the burner off that is essentially taking away any pressure that was pushing to LP gas. Once the gas reaches the flame from the pilot it will "backburn" or ignite in the burner causing this poof.