Electric hot plate or propane burner?

[Butcherbill]

What are you guys using, started making a round of WW ingots today and my electric hotplate was not up to snuff. Ended up breaking out the propane double burner and it worked great. After my teething issues I got a 5 gal pail melted and poured, only 5 more to go lol.

Anyway I’ve used an electric hot plate before at a buddy’s place but his was an older one that had the heat, my new one clearly blows and I’m having zero luck finding an older one.

 

[Standardvel]

I have had the same issue with a hot plate, switched to a propane turkey cooker and a cast iron pot haven’t looked back.
I started out using mini muffin tins for ingot molds still use them but also use red bricks like used for chimneys usually they are free.

 

[legi0n]

both
electric hot plate
propane torch to help meling

 

[Butcherbill]

Back in the day I had a real nice double hotplate but it’s long gone, the new one I bought from Walmart or Crappy tire was barely able to melt wheel weights in a cast iron skillet. The propane burner and a bigger cast iron Dutch oven works like a hot damn, thankfully I have hung on to it. I have a feeling that electric is more cost efficient than propane at the moment but it’s it what it is.

 

[yomomma]

both
electric hot plate
propane torch to help meling

Correct answer

 

[Snider shooter]

Propane is the way to go. I have one has its own stand. I use a stainless tub that you use to see at all you can eat buffets. Holds over 150 lbs of lead. I found electric was just to slow. I sort my wheel weights before I melt. Just over an hour to change 150 lbs of WW into ingots. I also have a bottom of a propane tank I use on a second burner if I feel like running two batches at once. Only problem is having enough ingot moulds. Muffin tins work. Flip a beer can upside down works, using the bottom. I prefer using RCBS or Lyman ingot moulds as they stack well in milk cartons. They will hold over 500 lbs when full.

 

[bertn]

I build a burner that is hooked up to my NG bbq line.
Cost almost nothing to run and has lots of btu's.

Trick is to tie in a blower to add oxygen for a good hot blue flame otherwise all you get is a big yellow flame.

 

[rifleman762]

I build a burner that is hooked up to my NG bbq line.
Cost almost nothing to run and has lots of btu's.

Trick is to tie in a blower to add oxygen for a good hot blue flame otherwise all you get is a big yellow flame.

Can you give us a parts breakdown and schematic?

 

[BattleRife]

What are you guys using, started making a round of WW ingots today and my electric hotplate was not up to snuff.

You're talking a common kitchen hotplate? Plugged into a 110VAC wall outlet? That would be dismal, regardless of if your hotplate is new or old it's just not enough power to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time.

The most you can pull out of a 15A household circuit is usually 1800W. A 20lb Lee melting pot is 750W and takes at least 20 minutes to melt a pot full. Those heat from the sides so probably more efficient than just heating from the bottom.

A propane turkey fryer type burner is usually at least 10,000 BTU/hr, that's 3000W. They run up to 100,000 BTU/hr, or 30,000W. That's the kind of numbers you need. You could do a reasonable job on a 220V circuit, but you'll be there all week doing 6 buckets on 110V.

 

[Butcherbill]

You're talking a common kitchen hotplate? Plugged into a 110VAC wall outlet? That would be dismal, regardless of if your hotplate is new or old it's just not enough power to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time.

The most you can pull out of a 15A household circuit is usually 1800W. A 20lb Lee melting pot is 750W and takes at least 20 minutes to melt a pot full. Those heat from the sides so probably more efficient than just heating from the bottom.

A propane turkey fryer type burner is usually at least 10,000 BTU/hr, that's 3000W. They run up to 100,000 BTU/hr, or 30,000W. That's the kind of numbers you need. You could do a reasonable job on a 220V circuit, but you'll be there all week doing 6 buckets on 110V.

Yeah, it wasn’t doing much. The one I’ve used before worked fine but I have more faith in older units. I couldn’t find any that looked like they would last long, modern electronics are trash as far as I’m concerned. Propane is clearly the way to go when melting and casting ingots.

 

[COREY]

I am running an old turkey fryer with a Dutch oven with a cover. Had some problems with wind in my back yard so I screwed on aluminum flashing to it and left a big hole for the Jose to go through work like a champ. Funny thing is is looks like a Dalec with the pot on it (Dr Who fans will understand). Only mod I want to make before casting next time is to grind a slot in the cover just big enough for the thermometer to fit; right now to leave it I leaves a big gap for heat to escape. Once I get the first 30lbs melted I just keep throwing more in and skimming some off. Go through a 5 gallon bucket in about an hour pretty easy.

 

[fingers284]

propane tiger torch does a wonderful quick job of reducing bulk WW to a melt. Just build a heat holding "oven" ( 3 sided brick or cinder block enclosure) with a lead holding tank/pot on top can turn 600 lbs of lead pig into muffin ingots in about an hr.

 

[Butcherbill]

Will try and take a pic next time I fire it up, I have a cast iron burner with an inner and outer burner ring. It sits on legs so I use some smaller pavers I have from a left over project to make a wind block around the base, lead goes into a Dutch oven with a lid. I might try to make a shield that sits around the Dutch oven to cut wind a bit more but it seemed to work well as is.

 

[hunter64]

I found an old Coleman green two burner portable heater that had the burner and guts removed for a buck at a garage sale. I then scored an older style burner from a NG hot water heater and installed the burner in the Coleman and strengthened up the metal bars on the grate to hold more weight. Hooked it up to the BBQ extension quick connect and I have all the heat I want and don't have to run to the propane shack every time I want to melt lead. Been using it for 20 years now. Nice thing is I can slowly raise the temperature till it just melts the lead and I can skim off all the metal and zinc weights that inadvertently find there way into the mix.

 

[Potashminer]

propane tiger torch does a wonderful quick job of reducing bulk WW to a melt. Just build a heat holding "oven" ( 3 sided brick or cinder block enclosure) with a lead holding tank/pot on top can turn 600 lbs of lead pig into muffin ingots in about an hr.

A caution about applying a propane torch directly to the solid lead - I came into some rolls of soft lead that had lined a dentist's x-ray room - a real PITA since I had no container to hold the size / shape to melt it - got the idea to use a propane plumbers torch directly against the sheet lead and let the melt dribble down into a cast iron container on a propane camp stove - I ended up with wonderful blues and golds floating on top of all the ingots - could not be skimmed off - as if the torch flame overheated and oxidized (?) that lead. I never did use any - a subsequent buyer thought would be fine for his handgun bullets - was soft lead - could easily mark with finger nail - but very unusual "colours" to it. I had read such colours occur when lead is allowed to get much too hot ...

I probably did about 4 or 5 x "5 gallon" pails of scrap wheel weights from local tire shop - over a couple years - my "melter" was a two burner propane camp stove with adapter, etc. attached to a 20 pound propane tank. I ended up with the wind screens in upright position to prevent breeze from blowing away the heat. I used a RCBS cast iron container - about 10 pounds of melt at a time - worked much better to leave some molten lead in bottom of that container to start the next batch. I used generous handful of saw dust from my miter saw and a spruce wood stir stick to scrape down the sides of the pot to get the crap all loosened and float to top - and to mix in that saw dust as a flux.

I believe that I used a good large Vise Grip as a handle on that casting pot - to decant the melt into RCBS Ingot mould tray. I wore welding gloves for the entire episode - much crap in the pails, besides the steel clamps for the wheel weights - hydraulic hose ends, cigarette butts, many visits from "tinsel fairy", as more weights added to the hot melt ...

I used Edwards plastic coffee cans for storage - when stood on end and care taken, I would get 44 ingots into each coffee can - about as heavy as could be semi-reasonably handled - had the "snap on" plastic lids, so kept the ingots reasonably air and water tight. The ingots that I weighed ran mostly 15 ounce to 17 ounce - so one pound (16 ounce) likely a good average weight.

A picture of the ingots with the blue and gold colour:

 

[yomomma]

A caution about applying a propane torch directly to the solid lead - I came into some rolls of soft lead that had lined a dentist's x-ray room - a real PITA since I had no container to hold the size / shape to melt it - got the idea to use a propane plumbers torch directly against the sheet lead and let the melt dribble down into a cast iron container on a propane camp stove - I ended up with wonderful blues and golds floating on top of all the ingots - could not be skimmed off - as if the torch flame overheated and oxidized (?) that lead. I never did use any - a subsequent buyer thought would be fine for his handgun bullets - was soft lead - could easily mark with finger nail - but very unusual "colours" to it. I had read such colours occur when lead is allowed to get much too hot ...

You are correct, over heated. Re-melt and flux and it should be fine. I had this happen when I first started out too

 

[Butcherbill]

Had a sunny window today for a change and I was able to set up and melt a pail and a half of clip on weights, just as I poured the last lead into my muffin tin it started to spit rain. Couldn’t have played it any closer, anyway here’s my burner setup.

 

[Andy]

All I've used since I posted about it here in 2006.

For ingot molds I use various muffin tins - either steel or aluminum.