Lead pot - Indentify & Troubleshoot

[Roundnoser]

I was given this old lead pot. Its full of melted lead. No markings. The owner said it is a lead pot for casting electical armatures (automotive). It is a heavy sucker. He told me that it doesn't really work anymore. He said it will get warm, but not get hot.

Has anyone ever seen something like this? Any suggestions for how I could get this beast up and running? Since the unit will get warm, is it an element problem or a thermostat problem? Where do I start (I'm certainly NOT an electrician, etc!)Thanks.
30825
30826

[MT Gianni]

Take the cover off and bypass the T-stat. If it heats up and melts it is the 'stat. If it doesn't it is the element.

[Roundnoser]

Inside the thermostat housing, the wires are connected to a small black box. Writing on the side says "Model UC-BL 15A 120 VAC". There is also a small ink-stamped circle with the numbers 8243WH inside of the circle. What am I looking at?

[Roundnoser]

I disconnected the thermostat and direct-wired the heater. After 25 minutes of continuous run time, it gets too hot to touch, but not hot enough to melt anything.

Since it looks like I'll need a new heating element, where is the best place to get one (I assume Mcmaster Carr)???

[schutzen]

There should be a data plate on it (it may be on the electrical schematic that is usually on the inside of the electrical cover plate), Google the manufacturer to see if they are still in business.

If they are not you might check with local battery rebuild shops to see where they get parts for their machines.

If all else fails, you still have a good chunk of lead you can melt out with a propane torch.

[Roundnoser]

Update: With the thermostat by-passed, the pot got hot enough to melt all of the lead (It took an hour and 15 minutes to melt it. The melt temperature barely made 700 degrees (used an RCBS thermometer). Anyway, the pot held 45 pounds of lead. The ingots feel much heavier than WW alloy, and when cooled had a large crystaline pattern on the broad surface of the ingots. Not sure what kind of lead I have, so I'm not gonna mix it with exisiting stock.

[man.electric]

It sounds like the thermostat is the culprit for your heat problems for sure. Now would be a good time for a PID update. You can get coils from Mcmaster Carr or even Grainger if need be. You might need to do some creative "alterations" to get a coil to fit, but it isn't hard to do. I had one of those pots about a decade ago, but when I bought my new house I left it in the basement of my rental property and it grew legs when one of my tenants moved out. That really looks like a nice unit for the money($0) and a PID is a cheap upgrade to have a 45 pound pot on your casting bench.

[Roundnoser]

It sounds like the thermostat is the culprit for your heat problems for sure. Now would be a good time for a PID update. You can get coils from Mcmaster Carr or even Grainger if need be. You might need to do some creative "alterations" to get a coil to fit, but it isn't hard to do. I had one of those pots about a decade ago, but when I bought my new house I left it in the basement of my rental property and it grew legs when one of my tenants moved out. That really looks like a nice unit for the money($0) and a PID is a cheap upgrade to have a 45 pound pot on your casting bench.

Thanks for the info. PM inbound.