Natural Gas Oven

Considering we do not know your location or any of the local codes, but there are a couple of things you could try.

1. Call the utility company. The 2 PSI is that a stated requirement from the utility company to meet code, or is there a pressure regulator that is currently set at 2 PSI. It's important to know local, state and federal code requirements.
2. Call the manufacture/vendor support that supplied the burner and discuss this with them.

we are in Eugene,Oregon.

Call your local gas company and ask them.

The only codebook I have available with me right now is NFPA 86, 2007 edition. not the correct one and also outdated......

ifso you need to get your gas company and service ppl tyo meet

Excellent response Fredski, and a hats off and a ga to you.

^{I have (7) more 2012 GA to go before it turns to the 2013 model GA's}

^{Lyndoor has been selling the 2012's model GA to me for half price.}

you didn't mention whee you are...in So Calif you wont find pressure as high as you state....are you sure on that 5??? or "up to" 5?

we are in Eugene Oregon and yes the installation manual states for natural gas 4 inch manifold pressure,inlet pressure must be at least 5 inches

does yor oven "only" burn nat gas? maybe propane too?? does it burn at all? does it burn but is weak? what does it do?

Your original post said 5 PSI. Now you are saying 5 inches. There's a big difference.

Hi JC GUZEC,

I agree with the points covered by phoenix911.

If you've coped for 7 years it could be the right time to buy a new oven that will work with the gas pressure you have. I thought that "Domestic" gas pressures were measured in millibars (30 to 50) not in psi.

Best of luck

John

in Calif it's all PSi, and his gas valve almost certainly contains an internal regulator with no adjustment

In the UK, google "CORGI gas installers".

It sounds like you need a booster pump and a "day" tank to accumulate a sufficient volume of gas to make up the differencce in supply pressure to run your furnace for a shift. Refill during off hours.

What, exactly, doesn't work correctly on this oven?

What are the symptoms?

What leads you to believe that gas pressure is causing this symptom?

Apply to NW Natural to have the service changed. Most locations have very low standard pressure at around 2psi . But that can be changed. Here we just had our down graded. It was at 50 psi. In the past prior owners of the building did blow molding.

The pressure was reduced to 10 psi.

There maybe another option. Because of the standard low pressure. The OEM of the oven may have package that would convert it to 2 psi. Most likely talking about new regulator and burner. You will need to check to see if your pipe size can handle the volume need at the reduced pressure.

You are not going to get 5 psi from the gas company (I think, call them).

Your solution is to install a tank for this oven. You can possibly get it free as long as you buy the gas from the tank supplier only.

There is a lot of companies that have equipment that demands gas pressures higher then 5 psi. It is available. The pressure on the mains in cities can reach up to 200 psi. Most are regulated down depending on demand for safety. As I said in the past post the pressure to the building was at 50 psi. The pressure on the other side of the regulator and meter is much higher. I believe they said 150 psi.

Natural gas is delivered in the United States between 3.5 and 5 in H2O. That is around a quarter PSI max. Check your engineering units again.

Thank you all,I guess that it was not 5 psi but 5 inches water column,found the problem-no intermediate regulator in line,had full service pressure right up to oven regulator-NW Natural gas discovered the issue.Thanks again

It's a relief to hear that you finally got someone who knew what he (or she)_ was doing to look at your appliance.

Five inches of water column (WC) as measured in a water manometer equals 0.18 psi. Natural gas is typically delivered to the customer at 7 inches WC (0.252 psi), and most domestic heating appliances incorporate a regulator at the inlet to reduce the pressure at the gas valves and burner orifices to 3.5 inches WC (0.126 psi).

To get PSI from WC, multiply WC by 0.036. Natural gas delivered at 5 psi would present an unnecessarily great fire hazard, as most appliances do not consume fuel gas at a rate that requires that much pressure to provide an adequate fuel supply.

I believe if your pressure is lower than required, then the flow can be increased by increasing the orfice size in the feed line. Natural gas is bulky and requires the proper sized orfice to meet the delivered pressure.

Hello,

It's more likely that the spec is for 5 inches of water column and not psi if it's any sort of commercial oven. You never said what kind of oven it is. You should have a service call preformed by someone who has a manometer to verify the pressure both before and after the oven regulator and adjust it as the manual from the manufacturer indicates. You can check the gas line to see if it's the correct size for the oven. This spec should have been provided by the manufacturer at it's installation.

There is one last thing to check, the flue. If the exhaust is not vented correctly you could have any number of uneven heating problems, again you've never stated what kind of problems you have.

The correct gas pressure is almost surely 5 water column inches. Double check that. I have seen some Pizza ovens that require a higher pressure and it is always a problem. (Assuming you are in USA. I don't know what standards are in other countries.) We bring medium pressure from the street to our gas equipment test area to get the volume we need. We have low pressure regulators to each piece of equipment to be tested. In some areas and/or occupancies this is not allowed. Medium pressure is not allowed inside the building. If your oven actually needs 5 PSI you will need a plumber who has the connections with the building authority and the gas company to get the pressure you need. The oven is not going to work right until the pressure is right for it. -- JHF

You are very vague in the type of oven application.Most large commercial drying or cooking ovens have a pre mixer, as well as a last stage regulator.5 PSI is a lot of pressure for Nat Gas.Perhaps you mean 5" W.C.?

If you do not know about the differences in pressures, you should not be working on it.There are many safety circuits involved in pre-start purging, ignition, ignition verification,main gas valve control,hi limits,flame detection and loss of flame shutdown.

This is not a job for amateurs. Call in an expert.

In answer to the question of will it ever heat correctly? Not unless you provide the correct gas pressure to it. One of the first things in the code book is to install the equipment as per the manufactures instructions. The equipment and the installation have been certified by the governing authority. Failure to install as per the manufacturer is an infraction.

I cannot believe that this has gone on for seven years. The service person should have informed you. He might have and it fell on deaf ears. The installer should have been fined, or did he install it as he was told to, and warned you that it would not work.

The solution is not that hard. Get a 5psi line to the oven. In order not to cause problems with other gas equipment you should run a dedicated line of a 5psi meter/regulator assembly. The gas company will supply the meter/reg (the want to sell gas)and you run the line. 5psi is very common in industrial and large commercial applications.

I believe I was keeping up with all the posts, but I did not see anything about the performance requirements......and lack of.

The very first post stated that it has not worked properly for seven years (not performing as designed) and the the unit requires 5psi and that it had 2psi gas pressure. The gas pressure is a performance requirement.

My 2 cents worth. Is this an industrial oven of some sort? If so 5 PSI is the normal required pressure on most burner systems. if they are requiring 5 PSI they are not going to heat correctly. Color of flames tell a lot about what the burner is doing. I would suggest you contact someone from an industrial burner supply house or manufacture to help you. I can not trouble shoot without seeing the hole unit in operation and from this key broad that is not likely to happen.