Hand-Held Weed Burner Doubles As Shop Heater

Hand-Held Weed Burner Doubles As Shop Heater CROPS Weed Control 22-4-32 "It works good for melting ice and to burn weeds in roadside ditches. I also use it inside a 55-gal. steel drum to heat my shop in win-ter," says Michael Munson, Pasco, Wash., who made a 4-ft. long, hand-held weed burner. A 1/2-in. dia. steel pipe serves as the wand. A 4-ft. long acetylene hose off an old cutting torch hooks up to one end of the wand and feeds propane into it. The "flame thrower" at the other end of the wand is a 2-in. dia., 5-in. length of car exhaust tubing. To put the wand together Munson drilled a small hole into one end of a short steel plug, then threaded the plug onto one end of the 1/ 2-in. threaded pipe union. He then welded a 3/4-in. threaded union onto the 1/2 by 4-in. wand that allows him to screw in a Teflon-coated, 1/4-turn ball valve that's mounted at the end of the hose. A lever on the ball valve is used to adjust the flame. A "P.O.L" fitting adapts the valve to the propane tank. He cut four notches in a 1/2-in. dia. washer, slid it 2 in. in from the end of the 1/4 by 4-in. wand, and welded it on. Then he welded the 5-in. long cylinder to the washer. "It works as well as commercial models and cost very little to put together," says Munson. "My total cost was about $20. Most of that was for the P.O.L. fitting and the 1/4 turn ball valve. Commercial models of comparable capacity sell for much more. "I use it a lot with my garden tractor to burn weeds in roadside ditches. I strap the propane bottle onto a trailer and operate the burner from the tractor seat. A 20-lb. LP tank works great. I usually make two passes to kill weeds. The first time I æhaze' the weeds in order to stop photosynthesis. Then I go back a week later to finish them off. It's very effective. As the 5-in. long cylinder heats up, it acts like the venturi on a carburetor and pulls air in through the notches on the washer. By barely cracking the lever on the 1/4 turn ball valve I can get a flame that's 2 ft. long and 12 in. in diameter. Yet the wand pipe never gets hot. "It also works great for melting ice and thawing out pipes. "To use it to heat my 24 by 31-ft. shop, I cut off the lid, then cut off the top third of the barrel and welded the lid back on. I punched a hole in the side of the barrel to insert the end of the wand. A box window fan blows heat off the barrel. I set the barrel in the middle of the shop and mount it on four cinder blocks in order to get it up off the floor. "I welded a 1-ft. length of 1 1/2-in. dia. steel pipe onto the top of the lid to serve as a vent." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael Munson, 1523 North 19th Ave., Pasco, Wash. 99301 (ph 509 546-0670).

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