What do I need to make a plumbers furnace work

[Huskerguy]

A friend gave me an old plumbers furnace and I want to use it to smelt. I assume since this melted the old plumbers lead it will do what I want it to do with wheel weights. What do I need for a line and regulator? These look to be fairly simple in operation, a little compressed air through it and it should work. For those who have this set up, the good, bad and ugly please. Thank you in advance.

UPDATE: Pictured below is what I ended up with. I tried it for a small batch last night and it seems to work well although I have some arranging to do to better get the pot steady by taking off the wind guard. I went to like 4 places before I found what I needed and what would work. Found the adapter fitting for the bottom and the Bayou torch kit at Lowes. All together I have $28 in it. It has a regulator and adjustable valve on the hose. The hose is made of braided stainless and although not 10' long is 4'. I like the idea of the longer hose but the shorter braided will work fine I think. Mainly a good cleaning and it works like a dream. I took it completely apart which was very easy and blew things out. put it back to together and fired it up. Now I will keep my eye out for old cast posts and ingot molds to keep up with the smelter. Thanks for the help everyone. Definitely a cool fall project.

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[500MAG]

I picked up one of these a few years ago. No matter what I did I could not get it working. Into the scrap pile it went.

[varmintpopper]

Take it to Your local propane dealer, They can install proper jets and such, And they know a lot about how the thing should work.

Good Shooting

Lindy

[R.M.]

I run mine without a regulator, and a needle-valve at the pot.

[cwheel]

That is exactly what I do my smelting with. Looks like it's all there except for the lead pot, gas regulator and hose. No, you don't use compressed air with this, just the LP gas is more than enough. Gas use isn't to bad, I use with a 8 gallon tank that will last weeks before a refill is required. I have lead pots for mine that go from 8lb. to 40lb. Takes a little longer to melt the 40lb. load, but still goes reasonably fast. Don't toss that one, sure it will be more than what is needed to smelt. Can also cast with that furnace using a ladle, but I like to mix the lead and cast ingots for the cheap lee bottom pour furnace for actual casting. I have a gang mold that I'll cast about a dozen ingots at a time for my lee electric furnace. Most hardware stores will have the regulator and hose. Tractor Supply has that stuff for sure. Might be more fun finding the lead pot necessary. If you need pics to see what the setup is supposed to look like, I'll be glad to take a few pics and post them. For now just make sure the orifice is clear, clean the scrap lead off the base, and check the hose fitting to see if it is left or a right hand thread, lots of left hand threads used in propane. You will need to know this when you buy the hose and fittings to mate to the regulator. Very little effort on your part and you will have a great smelting rig.
Chris

[Huskerguy]

That is exactly what I do my smelting with. Looks like it's all there except for the lead pot, gas regulator and hose. No, you don't use compressed air with this, just the LP gas is more than enough. Gas use isn't to bad, I use with a 8 gallon tank that will last weeks before a refill is required. I have lead pots for mine that go from 8lb. to 40lb. Takes a little longer to melt the 40lb. load, but still goes reasonably fast. Don't toss that one, sure it will be more than what is needed to smelt. Can also cast with that furnace using a ladle, but I like to mix the lead and cast ingots for the cheap lee bottom pour furnace for actual casting. I have a gang mold that I'll cast about a dozen ingots at a time for my lee electric furnace. Most hardware stores will have the regulator and hose. Tractor Supply has that stuff for sure. Might be more fun finding the lead pot necessary. If you need pics to see what the setup is supposed to look like, I'll be glad to take a few pics and post them. For now just make sure the orifice is clear, clean the scrap lead off the base, and check the hose fitting to see if it is left or a right hand thread, lots of left hand threads used in propane. You will need to know this when you buy the hose and fittings to mate to the regulator. Very little effort on your part and you will have a great smelting rig.

Chris
The air I was talking about was compressed air to clean things out from sitting around so long. I doubt it has been used for many many years. I have several cast pots so that is not a problem. I have at least two in different ones laying around. Any pictures would be helpful. I hear some people put a regulator on and some don't. I am not exactly certain what difference it makes. I want to get it set up this summer to be ready to go this fall when things cool down just a bit. Thanks

[44man]

Mine is different, has a steel shield around most of the side with a little shut off valve. I keep a propane hose on it from one of those heaters for camping.
Best little stove ever for smelting.

[cwheel]

I put my regulator on the tank and about 10' of hose to the lead pot. The regulator gives a variable flame to the pot flame, can turn it up or down, larger pot, more heat. I'll gather that stuff up and take pics, post them on this thread most likely Sunday afternoon. Have guests showing up this morning for a overnight.

[dsbock]

I have an old burner in my workshop that I've been wondering how to get going. I'll post some pictures as soon as I dig it out.

David

[Frank46]

I have one that screws directly on top of the tank. sitting in the garage with the pot that goes with it. Frank

[Pilgrim]

44man's sounds exactly like mine. No regulator other than the valve on the propane tank and the valve at the burner. Mine also has a heat shield around the pot. Melts lead WW's right promptly. My pot is an 8" diameter by ~9" tall. You can melt 1/4 to 1/3 of a 5 gal. bucket worth of WW's at a time in my "pipe pot". FWIW Pilgrim

[dsbock]

Here are some pictures of the old burner.

Side view:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k196/dsbock/Reloading%20and%20Casting/Furnace-01_zps255edb50.jpg

Top view:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k196/dsbock/Reloading%20and%20Casting/Furnace-02_zpsd01b13f2.jpg

Bottom view:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k196/dsbock/Reloading%20and%20Casting/Furnace-03_zps61ff0e55.jpg

I haven't found any manufacturer markings anywhere on the furnace.

Any suggestions on how to get this thing working again would be appreciated.

Thanks.

David

[cwheel]

108553OK, took a pic, let's see if it will post. Last time I gave posting a pic, it was a bust, got error messages from this forum. Looks like it might have worked this time !! You can see the plumbers pot and to it's left the Lee lead pot. On top of the Lee lead pot is the regulator and hose setup for the plumbers pot. Regulator screws into the propane tank, about a 10' hose attaches to the regulator, end of the hose to the burner on the lead pot. Regulator is adjustable so the flame can be adjusted for the various sizes of lead pots. This plumbers pot melts lead well with all pot sizes shown. With the larger pots the wind shield for the flame is removed. On the far right you can see the 12 cavity ingot mold I made from 1 1/2" pipe that I split in half and welded straps onto the ends in a gang. If I mix with the 30 lb. pot, the contents fills the ingot mold twice before empting the lead pot. Well worth getting your plumbers pot going. There are better setups out there, but this works great.
Chris

[Huskerguy]

ds - on the bottom view is that where the hose would attach? It also looks like there is a threaded collar of some kind there but it may be the picture. Looks like you are about in the same boat as I am.

wheel - thanks for the pictures. I just need to haul the thing to the hardware store and start putting fittings on it. My guess is I will need a fitting to adapt between the hose and the cast on my unit. It sounds like I can adjust the flow rate on the bottle without a regulator but I am assuming there are advantages to the regulator.

I hope to find the time to get this up and running this week, at least to try it out. I will let you know how things work out. Thanks again for taking the time to take the pictures and share.

Huskerguy

[dsbock]

ds - on the bottom view is that where the hose would attach? It also looks like there is a threaded collar of some kind there but it may be the picture. Looks like you are about in the same boat as I am.

Huskerguy

Huskerguy,

There's a threaded section at the outer ring (easily seen) as well as, what appears to be, a threaded portion in the center hole.

With no markings on the unit, I'm having a hard time finding any options to get this running.

David

[R.M.]

Looks to me that you have the option of using a hose, or screwed on to the top of a special tank.

[leadman]

ds, you are missing the tank that has a valve that screws directly to the part you have. I have one very similar. Have to unscrew the part you have to hook up the propane fill hose to the tank.
The valve on mine is brass and probably weighs #5 or more.

[cwheel]

Forgot to mention, my plumbers pot has the large thread at the bottom to thread to the tank just like the others. I bypassed this because those tanks no longer can be filled as they don't comply with the new propane tank rules. Instead, mine is bolted to a 6" U channel with J bolts for a base, no tank base needed. The propane hose connects with a 90 degree elbow to the propane hose. Best part of this setup is it gets the tank far away from the open flame in case there was a propane leak. The 10' long gets the tank even further away placing the tank down wind. Also if something goes wrong, you can still get to the tank valve to shut things down without getting near the molten lead. Just a safety thing.
Chris

[dsbock]

Chris (cwheel),

Did you use a standard propane hose connector or did you have to find/order something special?

Thanks.

David

[cwheel]

Standard stuff, but some left hand because of the gas fittings needed. You should be able to take the burner to the hardware store and fit the elbow, hose and regulator right there on the spot. A good hardware store should have all of this stuff right there on the shelf.
Chris

[Frank46]

ds, looks very much like the one I have. Screws directly to a similar fitting right on top of the tank. no hose needed. Frank

[dsbock]

ds, looks very much like the one I have. Screws directly to a similar fitting right on top of the tank. no hose needed. Frank

Frank,

Unfortunately, no one makes that style of tank to current regulations. Even if I could find one, no place would refill it with propane.

David

[cwheel]

And that's why the plumbers pot of mine is J bolted to a channel iron base with a hose and regulator. Hole drilled in the channel iron for the fittings to pass through and be connected to the burner. Can use a new modern tank and have 10' of hose to get the tank away from the fire. Never have to hassle having to fill a old tank with a non compliant valve.
Chris

[leadman]

I was told by the propane distributor that these could still be filled since they are a tool and not subject to DOT or whatever regulations. The permanent mount tank on my motorhome is also not subject to the new rules. I had my plumbers furnace filled many times but now use a fish fryer that my neighbor gave me as it uses way less gas and it much quieter. My plumbers furnace sounds like a small jet engine!

[cwheel]

Forgot about the noise leadman, you are right when turned all the way up. With the regulator, you don't have to run wide open, or usually have to though, normal flame is about half of that and is more than enough for the 30 lb. pot to do a batch in 45 min or so. Only have to run wide open when using the large 40 lb. pot, it needs all of the heat to deal with that one. If running the small 8 lb. pot, low flame is all that's needed. My normal smelt is in the 30 lb. 4 runs of that will give me roughly 120 lbs. in a mornings work, and that is enough to run the electric Lee casting pot for quite awhile decent size batch of boolits.
Chris