Left LEE Melt Pot on for five hours!!!

[rbertalotto]

I wanted to heat up my Lee 20 pound pot so I could remove the PID probe that was hard set into the soild lead.

Instead of plugging in the PID and letting it monitor the temperature, I had a brain far# and plugged the pot in directly set it to full blast, and went and did something else and totally forgot about it.

When I returned the lead was bright red with a yellow crunchy substance on the top. I did plug in the PID just to see the temperature and it was over 900 degrees before I removed it. I didn't want to damage the probe.!

I scooped out the yellow stuff and drained the lead to be thrown away. Once the pot cooled I wire brushed the interior as it was coated with a yellow powder.

Once clean I turned it back on and melted an ingot. Everything seems fine.

These Lee pots are some rugged little buggers!

[deerslayer]

I used to plug mine in where I have the under counter lights plugged in, in the garage. I left the lights on for a week one time and the pot was on the whole week! LOL I refluxed it and made some Boolits as it was already good and hot!

[jonas302]

I just realized I should plug my pot into a timer to avoid forgeting it for a week(:

[Maximumbob54]

Yellow crunchy???

[zuke]

Yellow crunchy???

lead oxide

[Maximumbob54]

Had no idea. Thank you.

[Lefty SRH]

So at 900* do you think some bad/harmful fumes were released?

[MT Gianni]

So at 900* do you think some bad/harmful fumes were released?

That is still way short of the 1150 F needed.

[Freightman]

Why throw it away just throw the yellow stuff away.

[Lefty SRH]

That is still way short of the 1150 F needed.

So the bad harmful/toxic/ fumes start at 1150*?

[357shooter]

No reason to throw the lead away. Cast with it as usual.

[rbertalotto]

Isn't the tin and antimony all broken down at over 800 degrees?

And I thought lead fumes at 1600 degrees??

[357shooter]

Nope. I did an experiment last year and left a pot over 1,000 degree for a day. Nothing cooked out, I ended up with the same alloy and BHN at the end as what I started with. It's actually difficult to cook the lead to a softer BHN. I don't flux constantly, which may matter, but you cannot cook the tin out of your alloy. At least not in the pots we use.

Based on what I read I hoped to figure out how long to cook WW to get a softer alloy. It turns out the only way to get it softer is to mix in softer lead/alloy. Or anneal the bullets, which lasts days and weeks, not long term.

[454PB]

I did a test many years ago, trying to separate an alloy. I left my Lee 10 pound pot on at about 700 degrees for 48 hours. It didn't hurt the pot at all, in fact I still use it. It also didn't separate the alloy.