Outdoor propane burners generally come in only two styles, cast burners, and jet burners. The frames may look similar, or even identical, but the jet burners produce much higher BTU output.

Cast burners look similar to the burner on a home gas range, but produce several times as many BTUs per hour. Usually they come in high pressure and low pressure models. Low pressure models are suitable for simmering and slow cooking, but usually do not have the BTU output necessary for heavy frying. High pressure burners are used on turkey fryers and fish fryers. A good high presure cast burner unit produces sufficient heat to use for boiling seafood pots up to approximately 40 quarts. Larger pots generally require a jet burner to get them to a rolling boil in a reasonable time.

Jet burners can be recognized by the single flame coming from a single tube in the center of the burner. Many have a baffle which can be moved into the flame path to help diffuse the flame, but generally a jet burner produces all its heat in a single flame. The name is derived from the loud jet engine noise they make when operating a full blast.

Propane Cast Burners

We carry an assortment of portable outdoor propane burners with 54,000 BTU/hr cast burners - Model 86PKT shown above includes 12" deep fryer thermometer

Propane Jet Burners

When the job requires a lot of heat really fast, you need a jet burner. Check out our assortment. The Model 9003 shown above includes 12" deep fryer thermometer

How do you know if you need a jet burner or a cast burner? If you are boiling large pots of seafood you will need a jet burner. A jet burner is normally required for pots of 40 quarts and larger.

If you are frying, boiling small pots of seafood, simmering stews or pots of chili, then a cast burner is the right tool.

Propane burners are often rated by BTUs, but what they really mean is BTUs per hour. A BTU (British Thermal Unit) is the amount of energy required to raise 1 lb of water 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Here is how to calculate how many BTUs you need for your pot size. Water density is 8.3 lb/gal. To raise 1 gallon of water (1 x 8.3 = 8.3 lbs) from 70 to 212 deg F in 1 hour you will need 8.3 x 142 = 1,178.6 BTUs.

Using this BTU requirement for each gallon of water you can figure out how many BTUs would be required to bring your pot of water to boiling temperature in one hour. For example, a 30 quart pot (7.5 gallons) (full) would require 7.5 X 1,178.6 BTUs = 8,839.5 BTUs to bring the pot to a boil in one hour, assuming 100% efficiency. If you wanted to bring that pot to a boil in 15 minutes, you would need 4 times the BTU output or around 35,000 BTUs/hr. You know you aren't going to transfer 100% of the BTU output to the pot, so even 35,000 BTUs/hr is not going to get your full 30 quart pot boiling in 15 minutes.

Your propane burner is not designed to operate on natural gas and no conversion kits are available.