do propane turkey/fish cookers get hot enough to melt lead?

[caffe]

I'd really appreciate any info. thanks.

[Winger Ed.]

Lots of guys use them.

Make sure yours has a strong enough frame to handle however much weight you'll be putting on it.

[Traffer]

Turkey fryers are probably the most popular way for "smelting" the lead. They get plenty hot. Like Winger Ed says beware of the amount of weight you put on and how strong your stand is. It doesn't take much lead to start getting into the several hundred pounds category.

[Bulldogger]

I used to use one with no issues in performance. I found that melting was improved by riveting together a skirt to go around the pot and top of the burner frame, to help retain otherwise lost heat around the edges.

Bulldogger

[Walks]

Yep,
but I only have a 12" Dutch Oven, that's about 60lb's max.

[RickinTN]

I use one. It will get too hot quick. Figure a quart of lead is about 25 pounds so it doesn't take long to get pretty heavy.
Rick

[Scrounge]

A Coleman stove gets plenty hot, shouldn't be any problem with a turkey fryer except that you might be wasting a lot of gas using it. If you're doing big batches, of course, it will take longer. Or you can build your own burner from water pipe and MIG nozzles. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/475...burner-design/ is a link to a group of guys doing forge builds. The developer of the "Mikey" burner even tells how to find pirated copies of his book on the subject. He's a good guy. I was going to say you could buy his book on Amazon, but it's apparently out of print. Some of the prices there are high, and some are strictly ridiculous! I own a copy, and have one complete, and one in parts, of his 3/8" burners.

[kevin c]

The burners have more than enough heat, but even the 200,000+ BTU Bayou double jet burner I use doesn't work all that well unless you have a wind break around the burner and a thermal jacket around the pot as Bulldogger suggests.

[BK7saum]

I have 2 or 3 that I use. Ditto on the skirt/windbreak around the pot and burner. That will conserve a lot of propane. I have one pot that'll hold about 500lb. I just use a cheap Turkey or fish fryer burner.

[metricmonkeywrench]

I did learn that some of the newer ones have been lawyered up and now have a deadman timer on them that have to be reset every so often to keep them on. My 20 yr old Bayou Classic doesn’t have this nonsense and works fine with a 6 qt Dutch oven

[Burnt Fingers]

Yep,
but I only have a 12" Dutch Oven, that's about 60lb's max.

Most 12" Dutch ovens are around 9 quarts. Lead is ~25 lbs per quart. Call it 200 lbs.

[Mk42gunner]

My old turkey/ fish fryer is in the 54-55,000 BTU range, (I'm not going out to check right now), and it melts lead just fine.

It came with a square base made from light weight stamped steel that easily supported two hundred pounds. I know this because I got on top of it and tested it before I tried to melt 100 pounds of wild wheel weights.

I have since built a new base from ¼" thick angle iron; not because it was too light, but because the original one lost an argument with a pickup tire. When the daughter first had her driver's license she backed into it.

Robert

[MrWolf]

Think mine is a bayou that I modified a weber grill and station to use as a smelting station. Wrapped a welding blanket around it to act as a wind screen. Works great.

[Bantou]

Absolutely this is my setup


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[bikerbeans]

For years I have smelted using an old Weber propane grill a friend gave me. I put the lead in a pot, fire it up and close the lid. If there is water or whatever in the lead the closed lid keeps the tinsel fairy at bay.

BB

[Bantou]

For years I have smelted using an old Weber propane grill a friend gave me. I put the lead in a pot, fire it up and close the lid. If there is water or whatever in the lead the closed lid keeps the tinsel fairy at bay.

BB

As long as you aren’t adding to an already melted pot you don’t have to worry about it. The water cooks off long before the lead melts.


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[GhostHawk]

Yes, I was able to run a lead dripper operation using one a few years back. I had the jet type not the stove burner type. Think it has more BTU's.

Agree with being sure frame will take that much weight, and remember, that frame gets hot. Hot steel won't hold what cold steel does.

I set mine up just inside the garage, big door open, so I had shade, wind protection. If out in the open I would do a windscreen.

[wills]

Use one for smelting, but use an electric pot for better temperature control when casting.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ll=1#post91633

That was a long time ago and the price is probably higher.

YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE AN ALUMINUM POT.

[daengmei]

Hot steel won't hold what cold steel does

I use a 40lb smelting pot on a modified turkey fryer. I used 3/16 treadplate with a hole cut out that the pot locks into. Also added angle iron supports that run right at the edge of the cutout. When it is hot it does sink from the weight, just enough that my ingot molds fill more to one side. A larger pot and I might have a mess.

[Bantou]

I use a 40lb smelting pot on a modified turkey fryer. I used 3/16 treadplate with a hole cut out that the pot locks into. Also added angle iron supports that run right at the edge of the cutout. When it is hot it does sink from the weight, just enough that my ingot molds fill more to one side. A larger pot and I might have a mess.

What kind of fryer do you have? Mine is made out of what looks like rebar and I regularly smelt 100+ pounds in it without any issues.


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