an idea for a casting heater

[testhop]

hey how about useing the heating element from a old hot water heater
the burner is never bad it is the tank that lets go so i was thinking y ou could
cut it out hook up the house gas line to it and wow what a btu out put you get
i have never tried it but in theory it should work


tom

[zipdog]

I think that would be a great application. You could probably cut off the bottom of the tank and use that as a support. I always stop and look at old water heaters on the side of the streets for city pick-up.

[targetshootr]

Someone said natural gas takes longer to heat than propane so it may be pricey. And by element I guess you mean the burner. An electric w/h element would burn up if not surrounded by water or maybe lead.

[testhop]

i have used the gas stove in a tenate house after thay moved out owning me rent so if the apt stove will heat a pot of lead then the hot water burner should make short work
of it

[targetshootr]

I'm all for that but if I remember right, gas companies are like city water, they'll put a lien on your house rather than chase down deadbeat renters.

[MT Gianni]

Someone said natural gas takes longer to heat than propane so it may be pricey. And by element I guess you mean the burner. An electric w/h element would burn up if not surrounded by water or maybe lead.

The btu content is different for the two gases but they are orificed and regulated differently so that you have a similar firing rate.
The only difficulty with a water heater burner is the control and thermostat. I would turn it 90 degrees so it is not near your flame. The flared fitting from the control to the burner is a difficult match to most other threads and it will leak if not fitted correctly. There is a shut off in the t/stat portion that stops all flow if it his 200 degrees. One solution would be to cut the ss tubing and braze a pipe nipple on it then fit it that way. They work but take some figgering. Gianni

[MT Gianni]

i have used the gas stove in a tenate house after thay moved out owning me rent so if the apt stove will heat a pot of lead then the hot water burner should make short work
of it

You are correct there, most stovetop burners are 9,000-12,000 btu hr, water heaters 28,000-42,000 btu hr. G

[testhop]

I'm all for that but if I remember right, gas companies are like city water, they'll put a lien on your house rather than chase down deadbeat renters.

if thay put yhe gas bill in the renters name then thay are runed down soon or later thay have to get gas again then the gas co. nails them the water is anouther story:Fire::coffee:

[pumpguy]

I rounded up three of the old style burners from old water heaters. They are star shaped and made from cast iron. I helped my dad make a pancake cooker for the boy scouts. They are placed at different spots around the round cooking surface and at three different spots from the center. I don't know the btu rating, but, it will keep the pancakes cooking all day.

[Calamity Jake]

"One solution would be to cut the ss tubing and braze a pipe nipple on it then fit it that way. "

I have done just that execpt I used compression fittings instead of brazing and added a small for size gas shutoff valve and a guick release air line fitting(like auto repair shops use)also at my gas supply. The burner is mounted under a steel 5 gal. bucket with the bottom removed and support legs added to hold the bucket up off of the ground about 6". Inside the bucket about 6" from the top I have mounted a 1/8 X 1 band iron cross for my smelting pot to set on.
I control heat with the shutoff valve. With enough air hose, I can smelt in the next county:bigsmyl2:

[hunter64]

What about just converting a Turkey fryer to Natural Gas? With the water heater setup, if you are still going to use the Unitrol then you have to deal with the thermocouple/pilot also to open the valve. Cutting off or compression fitting the main burner gets around that but then you have alot of welding and gerry rigging to set everything up. With a turkey fryer you have to convert the fitting after the regulator to a normal BBQ hose for Natural Gas and open the orifice size by two sizes, takes about 5 minutes and you are ready to go. I have been thinking of making a better pot/heater myself and was reading the turkey fryer comment on the forum. I will stop by Walmart today and see what size they are as far as btu's etc. A normal water heater is 33,000 and the 50 gallon is 45,000.

[MT Gianni]

I agree Hunter, the idea was geting a free found burner. There are no easy free solutions. Gianni

[quack1]

It will work just fine. My bottom pour casting pot is home made from a piece of pipe with a bottom welded on and is heated with a burner from a natural gas hot water heater. It will hold about 18lbs. of lead and will go from cold start to ready to cast in about 30 minutes. The only bad thing is there is no thermostat, I have to adjust the temp by watching the thermometer and adjusting gas flow with a valve I installed at the burner.

[Sundogg1911]

Quack1,
If you've ever used the Lee pots, you have to control the heayt the same way.
Mine seem to change temp. by the amount of lead in the pot. the lower the pot, the higher the temperature. I finally put a PID controller on the 20 pound one. My Magma stays the same no matter what. I rarly even use a thermometer in that one.

[hunter64]

On second thought, for a pot to just melt down used WW's etc an old water heater is not a bad idea. I know the bottom of the water tank is concave where the burner is but I am not sure if the bottom inside the tank where the water goes is flat or curved, never had one apart to see. I was thinking you could remove the Unitrol and plug the hole in the tank where it came from. Then you could attach an adapter to the main burner nut and convert it to the normal pipe thread, install a turn off valve and hook up a quick BBQ hose with a quick connect on the other end. Where the drain is on the side of the tank, you could remove that one and get a solid 90 Deg. turn-on-off metal valve and install it instead of the plastic one that is on there now. Cut the tank about 1 foot above the drain valve height and there you have it.

When you want to render some used WW's then fill the tank 3/4 of the way, make sure the drain valve is closed, hook up the gas to the quick connect and slowly open the gas valve a little and light the burner and then open it up all the way and heat the lead. When it is ready and you have fluxed it etc. then you could just hold the ingot mold under the drain valve and slowly open the handle and let the lead out into the mold.

[3006guns]

All good ideas........thought about it myself not too long ago. BUT...using the actual water heater tank as a pot means heating it to the point where the galvanizing (zinc) could melt. Two problems immediately: contamination of the mix and zinc fumes will make you sicker than a dog...ask any welder. The cast iron burner itself however has tremendous potential and can be used with either natural or propane, depending on orfice size and air shutter adjustment. Easy to do and cheaper than a turkey cooker, i.e. FREE!:-D

[hunter64]

Went to Walmart last night to look at the turkey cooker and the burner is easily converted but the stand leaves lots to be desired unless you use a small dutch oven or something the size of an 1 gallon ice cream pale. If you want this think to put out you would have to do some strengthening of the base. I also thought of an old gas range top. You could remove the top and take out the burner assy on it and actually reuse the top as the base. Plumbing the gas would be easy.

3006: Never thought about the tank having Zinc but like you said the burner would be great. If you could find one from the 50's with the square cast iron burner you could really have a heater.

[MT Gianni]

Another thing to consider is that mose cast-off water heaters have been in use long enough to have the anode wear out. This means a leak is on its way and it is generally on the bottom where thay leak. With a lb of water takeing up more space than a lb of lead if the bottom went it would be a huge mess. Gianni

[klw]

hey how about useing the heating element from a old hot water heater
the burner is never bad it is the tank that lets go so i was thinking y ou could
cut it out hook up the house gas line to it and wow what a btu out put you get
i have never tried it but in theory it should work


tom

The thing that always worries me about ideas like this is the maximum heat you might be able to get. Both Lyman and RCBS set the maximum heat on their casting furnaces to try to limit the amount of lead vapor you might be exposed to. On a home made machine you are not going to have that and you might get into trouble. Lead levels in the blood, incidentally, can spike. They can just jump straight up with no warning.

I've been casting all my life, and, at least in the last ten years, casting a lot. I finally got a blood lead level that is elevated. I have my blood tested for lead periodically and it just got a hair to high. Not a serious problem but... So doing something that might spike blood lead levels worries me.