Fish Fryer doesn't get hot

[Tammany42]

Just got around to using the Fryer I bought from Bass Pro Shop and it realy doesn't have much of a flame. I remember seeing a post about this, but couldn't find it. All suggestions appreciated, I need to start smelting.
Thanks in advance

[runfiverun]

i figured that you need 35k btu's to melt 60-80 lbs of ww's sufficiently to flux and pour
from your dutch oven.

[fishnbob]

Just got around to using the Fryer I bought from Bass Pro Shop and it realy doesn't have much of a flame. I remember seeing a post about this, but couldn't find it. All suggestions appreciated, I need to start smelting.
Thanks in advance

There should be a valve on the gas line that is marked and you can adjust the flame higher to reach the heat you need. At least that is what mine is and I got it from BPS earlier this year.:smile:
IIRC it is a blue plastic cap with arrows on it. I do remember mine was turned down very low when I got it, and I thought I would never get lead melted in this ***, and then I put my glasses on and looked at the valve.

[mold maker]

Some tanks have a flow valve that wont allow you to open wide open in a hurry. If that is your case, open the tank valve very slowly. This will over ride the supposed safety feature.

[Tammany42]

Thanks, I will try everything that is recommended.
I have the line valve/regulator open all the way.
Will try the slow opening of the valve also.

I went on line and the Fryers they were using (same model) roared. Mine doesnt make a sound. Will try again tomorrow an re-post

Thanks

[arjacobson]

I have had tanks that were (i thought) open all the way but little gas was coming out. After i got a little crazy with the knob it worked fine.. Try the tank with nothing hooked up for a real short blast..

[plainsman456]

You might need to check the hose to make sure that there is nothing blocking it.
**** gets into the darnedest places even when new.

[castblast]

I started off with a Bass Pro fish fryer with a 5 psi regulator. It worked, but, took a long time to melt a dutch oven full and was difficult to keep 100 lbs molten. Then I came across a turkey fryer burner with a 10 psi regulator. This worked much better. It was faster and could easily keep a pot molten. Then I saw a Bayou Classic burner at Home Depot with a 20 psi burner and had to have it. If you have alot of lead to melt this is the way to go IMO. When you crank up the heat it sounds like a jet and ice will form on the 20 lb LP tank. With this set up, in one day, I melted down enough WW to end up with 930 lbs of ingots. That's about 1500 lbs of WW in my area. Watch the temp though, it heats up very fast and might melt the zinkers. Here's a link, http://www.bayouclassicfryers.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=180, it's cheaper at Home Depot and you don't have to pay shipping.

[evan price]

Assunming it is feeding gas right, do you have the air mix valve on the burner set right?

Also some regulators have a safety valve so that if the line is cut it shuts off the gas. When you first time open the valve there's a big air bubble in it and it can set off the safety. YOu have to shut down the tank, let it sit a few minutes, then slowly open it with the burner valve off so pressure builds up in the hose. Then you can open the burner and start fire.

Also seen some regulators Canadian CSA compliant and they have a timer built in (??!!??) maybe yours does and its broke?

[badbob454]

the regulator knob will turn opposite you might think to turn up the flame. clockwise on mine will up the flame , ...bob

[Tammany42]

Thanks again. I have a 10 PSI regulator. Will try everything now.

[Tammany42]

I cleaned everything as well as shutting it akk down and starting from scratch.
It is cooking! It got dark so I had to stop. Got sme ingots made but still have 150 poulds to smelt.

Another question.
I got a cut down propane tank from D. Crockett. How much is safe to fill it? 1/2?
I dont want to collapse the freyer.

Thanks again to everyone. [smilie=p:

[Springfield]

I have 20psi(they say high pressure on them) regulators on both my fryers and they work great. Don't know what your fryer looks like exactly but I tested mine but standing on it and jumping on it a bit to see if anything flexed( I weigh 190). You could fit 250 lbs of melt in a half-a-tank pot easily. I limit mine to about 200lbs. A 5 psi regulator would suck, I think. When I boght my turkey fryer they claimed 75,000 btu's.

[skeet1]

Tammany42

I have a fish fryer that I have been very happy with! It had a knob on the regulator that allows you to control the flame and when you open it up it really throws quite a flame. I hope you will be able to find the problem with your fryer, it should do the job.

Ken

[JeffHolt]

FWIW, I had a pressure issue on one start up, but all I had to do was turn off both valves. Then I opened the tank valve and then opened the regulator valve enough to ingite the gas- then adjusted upward.

I just completed smelting approx. 1937 lbs of recovered Range lead with my Bass Pro Fish Fryer this afternoon.
Used 3+ tanks of propane. Worked great with a harbor Freight 12 Qt cast Iron dutch oven.
I fluxed with white pine saw dust and then again with parrafin.
Poured into muffin tins the ingots average ~ 2.25 lbs

On to ~1000 lbs WWs and then about 200 lbs of Lynotype...

[frankenfab]

FWIW, I had a pressure issue on one start up, but all I had to do was turn off both valves. Then I opened the tank valve and then opened the regulator valve enough to ingite the gas- then adjusted upward.

I just completed smelting approx. 1937 lbs of recovered Range lead with my Bass Pro Fish Fryer this afternoon.
Used 3+ tanks of propane. Worked great with a harbor Freight 12 Qt cast Iron dutch oven.
I fluxed with white pine saw dust and then again with parrafin.
Poured into muffin tins the ingots average ~ 2.25 lbs

On to ~1000 lbs WWs and then about 200 lbs of Lynotype...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=493&pictureid=4488

[DukeInFlorida]

You need to get a serious burner, usually 110,000 btu and more, to really put the heat into the lead. The 55,000 btu burners are usually only 10 psi output, and aren't enough. There are a ready supply of inexpensive 185,000 btu burners and those typically put out 20 psi of propane.

Think of it this way, a cubic foot (1 foot X 1 foot X 1 foot) of lead weighs 800 pounds. A btu is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree.
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

So, you really need a high pressure (high output) burner/regulator to do the job of melting lead correctly.

It should be able to roar something like a small jet engine if you crank it wide open.

CAUTION: Do NOT run your mini jet engine on a smelting pot which might contain ZINC at the bottom. If you run it wide open, the zinc at the bottom will hit it's melting temperature, and your batch will be ruined. Only open up the throttle IF you have carefully sorted out all the zinc contaminants.

Here's one place to get a high btu output burner Scroll down and look for the 185,000 btu units. :
http://www.cajunmarket.com/Cajun-Cookware/Outdoor-Gas-Cookers/index.htm

[JeffHolt]

FrankenFab,

Seems to me that the OP and I have the same set up. I told him what I did to solve a low pressure/flame situation. The fix was soooooooooooooooooo very simple it really doesn't require photos (at least for most of us.)

Do you have anything worthwhile you'd like to contribute in assisting the OP 's issue?
I didn't think so.

I'm sure you have a point, but it is even more obscure than my post.
But hey, even a simple wit can appreciate the irony.

[bumpo628]

FrankenFab,

Seems to me that the OP and I have the same set up. I told him what I did to solve a low pressure/flame situation. The fix was soooooooooooooooooo very simple it really doesn't require photos (at least for most of us.)

Do you have anything worthwhile you'd like to contribute in assisting the OP 's issue?
I didn't think so.

I'm sure you have a point, but it is even more obscure than my post.
But hey, even a simple wit can appreciate the irony.

I understood that he wanted to see your 3000 pound pile of lead, not the adjustment.
I can always appreciate a picture of a nice pile of shiny ingots.

[evan price]

You need to get a serious burner, usually 110,000 btu and more, to really put the heat into the lead. The 55,000 btu burners are usually only 10 psi output, and aren't enough. There are a ready supply of inexpensive 185,000 btu burners and those typically put out 20 psi of propane.



Umm, no. Maybe if you want to have a pot that can smelt down 400# in one lump in ten minutes.... The typical 58,000 btu 10psi regulator will do a fine job on smaller jobs. I do just fine with 75# and 100# pours with my 'lowly' 10 psi setup...I just start it up and put the lid on and have lunch. When done, I am ready to pour. All this, for under $30.

Quite honestly, I would not trust a single one of the burner/stand setups on the web site you linked with a 100# pot of molten lead. Anything with three legs is automatically excluded. The banjo burner is nice but needs a good frame and pot support.

[Tammany42]

Thanks everyone. It is working as specified. I will investigate a new regulator.
I plan on making ingots this weekend

[Tammany42]

Success! 200 pounds of pure lead ingots in 2 hours. I'm all set for next Skirmish Season. Many Thanks.:smile:
Fish Fryer worked like a dream. Thanks for the help!

[gspgundog]

I am also having trouble with my turkey fryer getting hot enough. So you have an idea the fryer is about 20 inches tall with a pipe that runs to the center of the unit where there is an end cap with a little hole that point straight up through a 6 inch by 2 inch tube that directs the fire up to the pot. I purchased a regulator at the local hardware store in the grill department ( did look at PSI). So today I go out to smelt some lead and drop in two lead bricks weighing about 10 - 15 pounds and a bunch of lead pipe. After about three hours the two bricks melted down but that was it the pipes where still solid slowly the melt from the bricks started to cool until all I had was a little puddle directly over the flame that was still melted. So it appears after reading all of the post here that I have to get another regulator hose which bring up a couple of questions. First are the 10 or 20 PSI hoses generally available in a hardware or big box hardware store like home depot. Second I saw that harbor freight had a hose that was rated at 250 PSI, are they talking just the hose or the regulator as well? Thanks

[carbine]

The 250 psi is the strength of the hose.
Try fiddling with the regulator, or replace it. The folks here helped me, big time

[evan price]

Depending on what purpose the burner unit you got was intended, it may have only a low pressure regulator (such as what comes with a gas grill for example). Those won't let enough gas get to the burner, not enough BTUs, so you don't melt. My setup will melt 100 pounds of lead in thirty minutes. You need a medium pressure regulator and an orifice to match. You want a regulator at least 10 PSI output and you need to size your orifice to match the BTU output you need.

[Boolseye]

ACademy Sporting is currently selling a fryer with a 10 psi regulator and 58,000 BTU burner–for $29.

[trk]

For smelting I use two devices. First a $5 yard-sale turkey frier and Second, a harbor frieght weed burner.

Fill the iron pot, put the fryer on high and directly melt the WW or other alloy (I do a lot of tin) and it melts down FAST.

[Lizard333]

Second the weed burner. Be aware for those that don't sort their WW's. The torch will melt zinc in a blink of the eye. Be aware.

[montana_charlie]

I am also having trouble with my turkey fryer getting hot enough. So you have an idea the fryer is about 20 inches tall with a pipe that runs to the center of the unit where there is an end cap with a little hole that point straight up through a 6 inch by 2 inch tube that directs the fire up to the pot. I purchased a regulator at the local hardware store in the grill department ( did look at PSI). So today I go out to smelt some lead and drop in two lead bricks weighing about 10 - 15 pounds and a bunch of lead pipe. After about three hours the two bricks melted down but that was it the pipes where still solid slowly the melt from the bricks started to cool until all I had was a little puddle directly over the flame that was still melted. So it appears after reading all of the post here that I have to get another regulator hose which bring up a couple of questions. First are the 10 or 20 PSI hoses generally available in a hardware or big box hardware store like home depot. Second I saw that harbor freight had a hose that was rated at 250 PSI, are they talking just the hose or the regulator as well? Thanks
It takes a lot of heat to fry a turkey.
It doesn't sound like your unit is even putting out enough fire to do that.

Have you read the instructions that came with it?
Are you starting with the tank valve open and the fire control valve closed?

CM

[Freightman]

The weed burner I have will melt some of the jackets also it has a air blast onit it will turn your pot cheery red to if you hold it there.