Pellet Stove for Smelting

[nighthunter]

I recently put a pellet stove in the work shop area of my garage. One day while watching the flames through the glass window in the door I got to thinking about how could I use the stove to smelt my range scrap and WW collection. It actually was quite easy. I cut 2 1 inch X 3/16 inch pieces of cold roll to lay over the top of the burn pot. I have a small cast iron pot that holds about 10 pounds of smelted lead. I fill the pot with range scrap and set it on the strips of cold roll and close the door. After about a 15 minute wait I remove the pot with channel lock pliers. Then I remove most of the empty bullet jackets from the lead. I leave some jackets in the pot to act as a spacer when I refill the pot with more range scrap. I put this back in the stove and let it heat for about 20 more minutes. Then I remove the pot from the stove and clean all the jackets from the melt give it a good fluxxing and pour it into ingots. I get about 8 pounds of ingots from each pot. In the last couple of days I've cleaned about 120 pounds of range scrap plus I have about 50 pounds of jackets to sell to the scrap man. I have a couple more buckets of range salvage to smelt then I'll switch to my WW stash. One really good point of useing the pellet stove to smelt is that all the fumes are blown outdoors through the exhaust pipes.

Nighthunter

[clodhopper]

You getting a little reading in while the pot melts? Sounds very low key.
I do some dross remelting in my wood stove, when in a hurry I pull a lot of lead oxides off the top of the pot.
I put them in an old can with a hole in the bottem, then set the can inside to wood stove.
Then fish modern art ingots out of the ash when the stove is cooled of.

[nighthunter]

Clodhopper ... Have you ever seen a pellet stove? It doesn't work quite like a standard wood burner. The pellet stove is self feeding from a hopper. Mine has an auger feed. The burn pot is only about 5 inches wide, 6 inches long and 4 inches deep. It burns a very small amount of pellets at a time but at a very high temperature. The burn pot has an air source that blows air through about 20 ports into the burning pot increasing the temperature of the fire. I am melting and reclaiming about 20 pounds of lead per hour. That is actual poured lead in ingots not counting jackets and dirt. A 40 pound bag of pellets costs a little over $4.00 and will last about 20 hours in the stove. I have burned many many tanks of propane over the years. It is costing me next to nothing and heating my work shop at the same time. I don't exactly consider this low key. I just tried an idea I had and have tried to share it with others here that might have a pellet stove on hand. Merry Christmas.

Nighthunter

[clodhopper]

Yes I have seen pellet stoves.
I applaud your ingunuity, useing the same heat you already pay for to smelt lead too.
Thought you might get some reading in while the pot is in the stove. I am always looking for little scraps of time to read.
Just relating my activities along the same line.
I have never made the leap to pellet stoves because they need electricity to run, and I get free wood from my job building log homes.
I very well could have a pellet stove when the free wood is no longer avaliable, crystal ball is hazy.
Best to you,
Mark

[Roundgunner]

This sounds like a good idea, I just have to wait untill the wife is gone for the day as our pellet stove is in the living room.

[dmize]

This sounds like a good idea, I just have to wait untill the wife is gone for the day as our pellet stove is in the living room.

Yea I think that would probably be a good idea.................:smile:

[Lloyd Smale]

My buddy used to do something simular in his outside boiler. He made a fairly stout container that held about a 100 lbs of ww and would just stick it in the stove and slide it out and skim of the clips and junk. Thing is he had to quit doing it as theres just to many zinc wws in the mix anymore and its to much more work to seperate them then it is to just melt them over a propane cooker and skim them out before they melt.

[WILCO]

I've done simliar activities when running the wood stove in the past. Used an old soup can and channel locks to pull the can out when done. All types of "small" lead went in and that was long before I discovered boolit making.