If I am correct about what I am looking at, this is how your unit should be working.
Your squirrel fan is pushing air into the burner, that's pretty obvious.
What might be throwing people off is the wing nut, and the rubber hose connection. Both of which can be used, or replaced as need be. What is not showing in the picture is an adjustable regulator. You can pick one up almost anywhere that BBQ supplies are sold.
The wing nut should not control a valve as it's normally used, but instead should have a small hole in it that will allow the gas to stream through at about 10-20 psi. So make sure you purchase a regulator that is adjustable between 10-20 psi. You should rotate the wing nut until you hear the gas passing through go from high pitch, to low pitch. This means the small hole is pointing the gas jet down the center of the burner, and is ready to light. Adjusting the wing nut should allow you to control the jet of gas streaming through the middle of the burner towards the top or bottom of the burner. Centering it is optimum.
A few suggestions. Instead of using a rubber hose, I would use a stainless steel breaded line in case you pull a crucible, and accidentally spill molten metal on the gas line. You should be turning your furnace off and shutting the gas stream at the tank prior to pulling a crucible, but still it's safer to have a stainless steel braided line as opposed to just rubber.
Make sure you purchase a regulator that is adjustable. If you have a flame that comes out of the vent hole of the furnace, you are going to want to dial down the gas pressure, or add more oxygen.
You should have a valve on your air line, or an adjustable squirrel fan so you have more control over the gas/air mixture and can adjust it dynamically, according to need.
I would also change the fitting where the propane connects to, the current fitting looks worn, which could allow the hose to pop off during operation.
Scott