Understanding Industrial Burners - Lindberg Process Equipment

25 Aug.,2025

 

Understanding Industrial Burners - Lindberg Process Equipment

What Are Industrial Burners?

If you’re not already familiar with industrial process equipment, industrial burners might seem otherworldly. You might picture a steam-filled boiler room from an old Hollywood film. Boilers and burners are often used interchangeably in conversation, but there are critical differences between the two pieces of industrial equipment. Let’s take a closer look at industrial burners’ functions and applications so you’re better prepared when you need to upgrade your burner system.

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How Do Industrial Burners Work?

From the exterior, burners might just look like a hunk of metal to an untrained eye. However, inside the burner, there is an array of processes taking place. The device is used to mix oxygen with fuel to achieve controlled combustion. Fuel is injected into the system using a burner tip, which is essential to the heating process. The burner produces a specific flame and heat-release pattern that can be controlled within the combustion chamber, making it ideal for heating, melting, manufacturing, and steam production, among other things.

What Are the Industry Applications of Industrial Burners?

Industrial burners allow different types of facilities to control an open flame for a wide range of applications. Burners are most commonly used in industrial settings for heating purposes, as a means to generate steam or supply thermal energy, or applied in manufacturing processes. Additionally, they are used for other applications, such as:

  • Providing heat to boiler systems
  • Welding
  • Heating liquids/fluids
  • Creating chemical reactions
  • Melting metals
  • Recycling
  • Glass blowing

There are a variety of uses for industrial burners in an industrial setting. There is also a wide range of burner types, with some working better for specific processes over others.

What Are the Different Types of Industrial Burners?

Most people are familiar with typical cold air burners, which are found most often on residential properties. However, there is a multitude of burner types; the ones most commonly used in residential and commercial applications are:

  • Cold air burners: Typically found on residential devices like gas ranges and furnaces.
  • Hot air burners: These types of burners preheat incoming air using a central heat-exchanger device.
  • Regenerative burners: Regenerative burners use a pair of burners to alternate between firing and exhausting, preheating a regenerative heat exchanger box to create hotter preheated air.
  • Oxy-fuel burners: These burners use pure oxygen to burn with fuel instead of combustion air.

There are other factors of burners that vary from application to application. For example, varying velocity flames produce unique results. High-velocity burners have shorter, more intense flames, while lower velocity burners produce “lazy,” lame flames. For melting applications, medium velocity flames are preferred to drive heat to metal while still producing a uniform flame.

Each type of burner can be utilized in various applications and provides numerous benefits. However, some types are more beneficial for certain processes than others.

Drawbacks of Industrial Burners

Like any other industrial equipment piece, there are benefits and drawbacks to using burners in your facility. One main reason that their use is so widespread across industries is the power of their performance. Industrial burners allow for the rapid production of heat and energy compared to other heating solutions.

Industrial burners are fantastic for a broad range of applications because they allow for overarching control of heat levels and production. The type and level of combustion produced by the burner are also able to be controlled. This way, they can be used across a variety of applications within your facility.

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Another great thing about industrial burners is that they require very little maintenance over time. The sole drawback of the system is that when care is necessary, it can be extremely costly. Facilities should factor in potential unforeseen problems so that the repairs don’t take a big chunk of the budget or the facility’s production time.

Improving Industrial Burner Technology

Although they may look just as clunky and complicated as their counterparts from earlier decades, recent technological advances have significantly enhanced industrial burners’ functionality. There are different technologies available for each type of burner as well. A good, cost-effective industrial burner system should:

  • Mitigate negative aspects of individual burner types
  • Reduce environmental impacts
  • Meet industry requirements for safety and energy
  • Be easily cleaned and maintained
  • Increase production levels

When your industrial burner technology is up to industry standards, your efficiency and production levels rise. Your industrial process equipment provider should easily equip you with the right burner for your facility’s needs.

Reasons To Upgrade Your Industrial Burner

There is a wide range of reasons to upgrade your current industrial burner equipment. One of the most critical considerations is productivity levels. It’s often cited that increased heat levels allow for maximized production, mainly when your facility’s processes include melting different metals. By installing efficient, industry-leading process equipment in your facility, you can quickly increase productivity levels and significantly reduce your bottom line.

Selecting the Right Industrial Burner

When it comes down to it, your burner is an essential part of your facility’s operations. If it’s no longer operating up to par, it is probably time to consider replacing your existing burner equipment.

During the selection process, you have to ask yourself: what am I trying to achieve using my new industrial burner? Are you aiming to increase production, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, improve the machinery’s reliability, or mitigate maintenance costs? There are several ways to apply the benefits of an industrial burner to your facility’s processes.

Once you know your industrial burner’s application within your facility, you can select the right industrial burner to improve your processes significantly. When choosing your next industrial burner, consider the following components:

  • Capacity
  • Turndown performance
  • Flame geometry
  • Temperature
  • Mounting
  • Ignition

It’s also incredibly important to understand the key differences between various burner types. One type might work better for your needs than others. For example, an oxy-fuel firing burner has high efficiency and low emissions but is incredibly costly to operate due to the cost of supplying oxygen. Working with a professional process equipment manufacturer or provider can help you understand which burner type is best for your facility.

The best of the best burners! | Page 3 - The Home Foundry

I dont think I'm getting My point across probably because Im too Uneducated. But Wikipidea says CFM is measured at the inlet not the Outlet, so if your outlet air comes from a larger orifice or More orifice's , the air is moving slower. and I'm quite sure My furnace is Not having Complete combustion inside the furnace, because the Flame coming out of it would melt My Carport if I tried to Run a full heat under it .

I'm pretty sure there is some importance to turbulant air . BUT unless MIFCO is exaggerating, no one here is Building an efficient Furnace and Burner combination, (the two cannot be considered separately, they are a package ) and ye I know about half of you get free oil and burn it because it has so Much more BTU. I dont! and I need an efficient Furnace , that runs On Propane , and Melt Times of 30 Minutes would be killer . I'm just trying to figure out what No one here has tried, So I can try it , and perhaps get a Kick ass Furnace.; if I do I'll share. But I need an epiphany , I really think more air Moving slower is the Answer... Why, because all the commercial furnaces seem to do it that way



I mean look at this Bad Boy, those are at least 1.25 inch Pipes , I believe 1.5 , that means with the necessary combustion air , it would be moving Half as fast while still Having enough Volume of o2 to get complete combustion??? am I wrong???

V/r HT1
I tried a dual-burner furnace setup once, but at the time I did not know what I was doing with burners or furnaces, and so I am pretty sure I never got it set up correctly.
I do believe slower combustion air velocity works better than high velocity combustion air.

My single-burner arrangement works so well with the new furnace that I don't want to fix what is not broken.
I do believe the dual burner arrangement will operate more efficiently because the air velocity through each burner is reduced by 1/2, and the flame spread is far more even with two burners, without all the back wall climbing I see with a single burner, as shown in the photo below.





This is the flame spread on a dual burner arrangement with burner tubes at 180 degrees:





Here is the data I found on a Morgan furnace:

MORGAN FURNACE DATA: IRON

A Morgan furnace has a range of iron melt capacities of 44/110/176/297 pounds (20/50/80/135 kg),
with first melt times of 50/ 60/ 80/ 90 minutes,
and repeat melt times of 45/55/65/75 minutes,
and oil usage for the repeat melt of 3.7/5.5/6.6/11 gallons (14, 21, 25, 42 liters)
(The fuel used for the first melt will be slightly higher than the repeat fuel usage).

The Morgan will melt iron in the four ranges above using 4.9/6.0/6.09/8.8 gal/hr.
I am not sure why the gallons per hour rate is about the same for the 110 and 176 pound melts, but the curve does not seem to be linear.

The Morgan furnace would use 0.084/0.05/0./0.037 gallons of oil per pound of iron.


MORGAN FURNACE DATA: BRONZE

A Morgan furnace has a range of bronze melt capacities of 55/132/220/331 pounds (25/60/100/150 kg),
with first melt times of 25/30/40/45 minutes,
and repeat melt times of 20/25/30/35 minutes,
and oil usage for the repeat melt of 1.0/1.8/2.6/3.9 gallons (4/7/10/15 liters)

The Morgan will melt bronze in the four ranges above using 3/4.3/5.2/6.7 gal/hr.


MORGAN FURNACE DATA: ALUMINUM

A Morgan furnace has a range of aluminum melt capacities of 17.6/44/77/132 pounds (8/20/35/60 kg),
with first melt times of 10/13/15/20 minutes,
and repeat melt times of 7/10/12/15 minutes,
and oil usage for the repeat melt of 0.52/1.0/1.3/2.1 gallons (2/4/5/8 liters)

The Morgan will melt aluminum in the four ranges above using 4.4/6.0/6.5/8.4 gal/hr.




I have this MIFCO data, but it does not list times:




Looking at the Morgan furnace melt data, I think melting 44 lbs of iron in 50 minutes is a bit optimistic.
I have melted 25 lbs of iron in 55 minutes, and I think that time could be beat with a coated ceramic blanket furnace, but I think bringing 44 lbs of iron to pour temperature in 50 minutes is probably not something any oil/gas fired furnace will be able to do.

I think 25 lbs of iron in 55 minutes is quite good though.

I would guess you could melt 25 lbs of bronze in 40-45 minutes max. with a single burner and a furnace mass on the lower end of the range, ie: about 120 lbs of refractory.

.
I thought I understood your point. You may have not understood mine. CFM is not a good rating. It should be ACFM (actual cubic feet per minute) or SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute). SCFM is basically inlet CFM as you say. That is what I always refer to, SCFM. If my leaf blower is rated for 130 SCFM and I add a reducer, three feet of 1-1/4" corrugated vacuum hose, a vacuum nozzle, then direct it into a 1-1/4" pipe with a 3/16" brake line down the center it will not move the rated CFM any more. It will be reduced, and I have have been optimistic in guessing it is putting 100 SCFM through the furnace. Smooth hose will slow it down, and the corrugated hose will be worse. And I wouldn't be surprised if the CFM figures for leaf blowers includes air outside the nozzle induced by the nozzle.

The exhaust has to be a few hundred degrees above the melt regardless of whether flames or clear exhaust is coming out. So running it hard will put out a lot of heat.

So would you be happy if we took up a collection and bought you a MIFCO B301? That bad boy eats 750,000 BTU/hr (which by the way, at 21,591 BTU/lb of propane, is 35 lbs per hr. That is 34 minutes of run time for a 20 lb bottle, if you can keep the bottle warm. I can't see anywhere they say how long the B series takes to melt. The smaller C series is advertised to melt 30 lbs of brass in 35 minutes using about 10 lbs of propane per hour, or 120 lbs per 20 lb jug of propane.

How big are your melts, and how long do they take, and how much propane is used?

P.S. Why don't you get free oil? You seem to be a prime candidate to burn waste motor oil.
I think you have seen that there is disagreement among experienced people who are successful and know what they are doing. Best to carefully sort through what has been said. I don't need to give my opinion again. Everyone here has had essentially the same goal as you stated when building their first furnace and subsequent furnaces, and we have all settled on a wide range of variation depending on what each one feels is reliable, low maintenance, and suitable for service. Service requirements change depending on whether the melt is aluminum, copper alloy, or ferrous.