Which electric hot plate for lead pot?

Put cheap pipe wrap insulation around sides of old pot. Got melt to over 800 F with room to spare. Outer plastic that holds it together charred for first heat up but no big deal. Would recommend this treatment for any pot, faster heat up and using less electricity per casting session.

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I bought a single burner propane heater at Canadian Tire for $60 and a 10 inch cast iron pot. Heats up quickly, melts everything rapidly. I used to use a Coleman naphtha gas stove but this one is WAY faster with much higher volume. I can't see an electric unit working anywhere nearly as efficiently.
 
ted_dent said:
I bought a single burner propane heater at Canadian Tire for $60 and a 10 inch cast iron pot. Heats up quickly, melts everything rapidly. I used to use a Coleman naphtha gas stove but this one is WAY faster with much higher volume. I can't see an electric unit working anywhere nearly as efficiently.
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You're right. I use a single burner propane fryer to melt wheel weights and make other ingots. but the electric burner gives me greater control over temperature of melt while I'm casting and I can use it in the basement in winter.
 
Those little square 1 burner butane jobs are great. If you go to an Asian grocery store, you can get one for about $15, and the gas for under $2 a tank. You just can't use them below freezing.
 
I use a coleman naptha for first melt n' fluxing to make muffin tin ingots. Electric bottom pour *Lee for casting. I've seen a few hotplates at the local mall (dump/landfill), but haven't used one. I have a strong suspicion that an electric hotplate may hold more lbs than the grate on my coleman, but I haven't had more than 40lbs molten at any given time yet anyway.
 
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I don't melt as much as most here but if I did I think I would consider making a "Cadillac" lead stove out of an old kitchen range that the top burners still work ( the older "open coil" burners are said to reach 1650 deg.). You could use one burner for your mold melt and another at the same time for a pre- heat pot or just as easy use two burners at the same time with a large long flat bottom pot to melt large batches of WW with lots of room to flux/clean first melts before ingoting.

Would be very easy to rip top burner layer from the main body & add legs to suit your work/weight level. I was just on kijiji and had a lot of stoves that fit the bill just for pick-up.
 
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