Vintage Natural Gas "Sands" Water Heater, Help Please

Just please use an inline blowback preventer.

is the blowback preventer also called the regulator, sized for a max btu of gas flow that costs less than $25 at tru value, etc found in the propane grill area, that has a hose and hooks to the propane tank? usually kinda flat, round and grey?

There only has to be the one fancy piece of hardware between the tank and the burner, plus the actual burner flow control knob,right? thanks charles

Natural gas is a non pressurized Gas and is regulated differently than pressurized gasses like propane. If your looking for a cheap reliable conversion from NG to Propane hit up your local home improvement location and look in the gas grill section for conversion kits. They have them for converting to and from NG. The delivery systems for each are different and the old jets (burner) if set up for NG will not do the job well and you'll lose a lot of gas or create a dangerous situation. If you do have a True Value in your area ask one of the older sales help about what you are doing. ( the younger ones might have some idea but in a lot of areas NG grill conversions have been outlawed so older help probably have done it themselves at some point) and your right regulators have blow-back protection in most cases. Also a pluming supply house might help with fittings if you should have to create some thing unusual. Good luck! PS before you secure this new rig in place test light it in the open and make sure you have the air mix set right.

I thought it was a pretty simple setup. The air mixers are right on the front of the unit.

I can adjust them for the proper airflow.

This old unit is built like a cannon and will easily contain and direct any gas explosions inside of it. It is definitely a "dont look down the barrel" device, and will be kept and used outdoors.

I like the idea of plumbing in an extra flow limiter and will be sure to keep the hose in the right place and distance. I use torches and propane grills and heaters a bit, and know when the fuel/air mixture is right. And i know when there is too much gas flow and no fire yet.

I was basically making sure that the conversion could be done, and i wasn't forgetting somthing murphy prone with the setup. From the number and size of the nozzles on the burner, this old natural gas cast iron water heater looks like it could make quite a flare when run with propane.

Well the size of the holes on the burner may be a problem and they may let out too little or too much gas. Test it if it needs replacing any gas(propane) burner set up that will fit inn the space should be fine and an easy cheap fix, Your headed in the right direction and the conversion is totally possible, and when done you should have one heck of a heat supply. Good luck and keep us posted.

Firstly, the way the USA uses bottled gas (in my limited experience of US Barbecues!) is intrinsically dangerous as you often have high pressure going through the flexible hose connections.

In just about all the rest of the world, they use reducers that are physically screwed onto the bottle and only have low pressures in the hoses.....far, far safer.

So if you have a choice in the USA, go for a reducer that is attached properly to the gas cylinder and low pressure connection hoses of at least a meter or more long.....

Secondly, the differences between gas types involve several points, the most important ones are:-

1) the basic pressure needed for the jet

2) the size of the jet hole

3) The mixing of (proportions) air and gas before the burner to allow full/complete combustion with no explosions (too much air) or black soot (too little air).

Conversion is almost always possible, but care and thought are needed......work only outside with the gas for example.....

You are incorrect about high pressure going through the hose. At the outlet of the propane tank is a fitting that will only take either the filling device or when in service, a regulator, then the hose. The average pressure in the hose is 14" WC.

It depends heavily on WHERE you live and WHAT you buy.......

In the US many gas grills use a reducer on the grill......not on the bottle.

Been there, done that and been amazed (and brought them back to Europe and made them safe for normal usage!!)

If you look here, slightly down the page, you will see ad from a relatively well known company for a high pressure hose!

http://www.lamesapitbbq.com/coleman-high-pressure-propane-hose-and-price-sale.html

I hope this helps you in believing that what I wrote is in fact FACT!

A person making his first parachute jump was having trouble opening his chute.On the way down, he met a man going up"Do you know anything about parachutes?

"No! Do you know anything about gas heaters?"

'Nuff said.

HTRN

Please forgive me for sounding condescending but your question inspires me to think you should not be attempting this project.

There are many safety issues you should be concerned with when you eliminate safety controls.Not being aware of them enforces my conviction

Sure,I've got a top from an old RUUD cast iron water heater (It was beautiful!Wish I still had the body) that I set on top of the base of a verticle tube HP steam boiler for my charcoal grill but thats different.

Skies.

Jay.

Any modification of a gas appliance that is not approved by the manufacturer will violate code and may have unexpected results. You are playing with fire (pun not intended)

By removing the gas valve and the pilot light that probably has a thermocouple that is connected to the gas valve; you will be removing any safety systems it had.

The reason that the tag says not to use LPG is because it was built for NG. "Sands" would have had a conversion kit for going to LPG. I have done lots of conversions, and in the kit there are always labels that must be placed in various spots in order for any one to know that it has been converted.

If this was a backyard experiment it is risky enough, but to bring it to a job site; where if some thing went wrong, with resultant injuries. I would not wish to be the one to answer to the authorities about using a home made device.

I hate to be rude, but this old water heater was made before labels kept people alive. If you needed a way to do somthing, you did it. How well you did it determined if you kept breeding. In my opinion, all the alphabet agencies who aim to protect us from us are doing is breeding a dumber and dumber species.

Their are some good laws, though, reguarding workers health and safety conditions.

It is probably late 1920's or so. Info about "sands water heater"s is scarce.

The water heating portion has been removed.

As far a playing with fire, i am a bonified, certified, refried pyrominiac.

I havn't burned anything up playing with homebuilt wood stoves, my bio-blaster indoors, various waste oil burners, and numerous other "not certified" un-named combustion devices, since i was 8 yrs old, and burned up an old county landfill the state had closed and had debated for 5 yrs how to deal with. It burnt for 3 months underground and now is developed land. Problem solved.

No one will get hurt with this after it passes me, unless theyre stupid enough to move it when its too hot to touch, or looks down the exhaust.

It will work as well as any off the shelf turkey or pot boiler propane burners you can buy today.

Of course those off the shelf units kill people and burn down houses all the time.

Thank god the "safety laws" and ul certified, etc... cant protect the really stupid ones from themselves, or our species would really be lost. . .

Believe me, it will be set up properly. If it cant be done safely, the burner will be replaced with a propane burner.

No insult taken. Your sands HW tank was built in an era of new technology. Natural gas was in its infancy and it's use was not widely accepted fuel.

People were fearful of what they did not know. A lot of manufactures were new to this also. This resulted in the manufacturer's in producing a product that had a massive safety factor. Your unit was built like a tank. I doubt that a pound of C-4 would even dent it. All hot water tanks to day have a best before date at around fifteen years.

It is nice that you have a hobby. Pyromania can be a fun diversion from the real world and now I do not doubt your skills. what you do in your back yard or for your friends is total up to you, as we still have some freedoms left.

I do not know of how your government agencies handle health and safety, as well as labour laws.

But here in Ontario Canada, the last person you want to see on your site is a Ministry Of Labour Inspector. They can shut down a work site in a heartbeat. If they were to find a piece of equipment with out the CSA, UL, CGA approvals, the site would be shut down and the fines were be fast and furious.

Last Christmas eve 2009, four men fell to their death from a modified and unapproved swing stage. The owner and most of the chief executives are now sitting a jail and are awaiting trial.

They had an unreal dead line that they accepted. The workers paid the price.

The jobsite issue should be no problem, as long as it is used safely.

Any approved propane burner or heater can burn an idiot.

And i am sure, if it is on, the owner will be close by, with his darwindar on high alert.