Using Stainless Steel Melting Pot??

[1stn10]

I've been using a 2-quart stainless steel pot for melting WW for a little over a year now. I've put over 1300 lbs through it.

This last weekend, I had melted about 100 lbs and I noticed that the melting was taking considerably longer. Usually after about 10 minutes of leaving it on the burner, the melt was still 'sludgy' and I could barely pick out the steel clips. Once I got the clips removed the top of the melt turned a golden color and eventually turned purple. I fluxed the melt several times with parafin and sawdust and the melted liquid still behaved the same. I poured it all out and started over thinking that I got some material in the melt that contaminated it.

I started a new batch, making sure that I got just lead WW's (no stickons, Zinc, or Fe). This melt also took about 3 times longer than normal and was still very thick. I thought that maybe my burner had gone bad so I switched to my second one. No change.

Is it possible that the SS pot has eventually melted its last batch of lead and the metal has broken down and is getting into my melt. I can't think of any other reason for this behavior.

Thanks for your inputs.

[Bret4207]

Steel doesn't melt at the 6-800 degrees we use. I would be more inclined to suspect a contaminated alloy. I've been using a SS pot for 10 years now with no issues.