Which cooker to buy for melting range scrap

[grimace1]

I would like to buy a new cooker to use to melt my range scrap. Academy has standard turkey fryers for 30 bucks, and has jet type cookers with much higher btu ratings for 50. Is it worth the extra money for the jet cooker? I don't know if the extra btus will equate to faster melt time. Any advice would be appreciated.

[jonk]

Well it would certainly be faster. More BTUs equates to more heat which means faster melt. The question is, how important is 5 minutes difference (or whatever minimal difference it would be) to YOU?

[AlaskanGuy]

If you are using a large dutch oven or something similar, i would go for bigger... The longest part of doing range scrap is waiting for all of the jacketed bullets to melt off... I wish i had one of those high btu burners....

[375RUGER]

I vote for more BTUs. That is why I render range scrap over a wood/oil fire, so I can really crank it up. And another reason is so I can make a larger pot soon and do 250-400# batches.

[rattletrap1970]

Make sure you get the stainless pot turkey fryer, not the aluminum.

[trixter]

I am real fond of my 1/2 (5 gallon) propane canister. Mostly because of the round bottom, I can get all of the lead out of it. I need to make a heat shield for it though, to get more efficient heating.

[Jon]

I'll second the propane cylinder pot. My cast iron dutch oven only lasted a few years before cracking.

[jmort]

Agree, use propane cylinder as well. Round bottom very nice.

[stinjie]

The lower half of a propane tank,along with burner unit from a vendor on Amazon for 17 bucks works great for my smelting.

[wistlepig1]

Would one of you guys tell me how you cut a propane tank without the BIG bang. I have an old empty tank out back. sorry for the Hijack

[jmort]

Remove valve fill with soap/water turn upside down, repeat, cut with 4 1/2 grinder with metal cutting blade. Make sure you remove all traces of propane. Use top half to make "skirt" for burner to conserve heat. Coupled threads on this if you search.

[Baryngyl]

I use 1/2 of a propane cylinder as well.


Make sure you get the stainless pot turkey fryer, not the aluminum.

The stainless pots are not good either, I have pic's of the one that came with my fryer and it crystallized and cracked, I will see if I can find the pic's.




Michael Grace

[Bullshop Junior]

Not to highjack, but what do you guys use for a heat eliment on the propane bottle cookers?

[farmerjim]

To cut the cylinder you should do the same thing you do to weld a gas tank. After removing valve and washing out tank, blow air from a compressor to flush out the tank the entire time you are cutting. The heat of cutting can generate fumes ( from oil or other residues) in a tank that has been cleaned. These fumes can go boom. Better safe than dead.

[Bullshop Junior]

To cut the cylinder you should do the same thing you do to weld a gas tank. After removing valve and washing out tank, blow air from a compressor to flush out the tank the entire time you are cutting. The heat of cutting can generate fumes ( from oil or other residues) in a tank that has been cleaned. These fumes can go boom. Better safe than dead.

Most of the gas tanks i have ever welded on, we filled it with either heliam or argon depending rather we had to weld the top or the bottom of the tank.

[farmerjim]

You need heat, oxygen, and fuel in the proper mix to get an explosion. Filling with an inert gas works fine. Continuous flushing with enough air is easy and cheep. I am still alive and have all , well most of, my parts after welding closed cylinders. The home shop guy may not have an inert gas to fill his propane tank. An old welder taught me the air trick
years ago. I just made my smelting pot this way last week. I have used it for one load of sheet lead from the scrap yard. Thanks to the guys that recommended these tanks in other posts. They are cheep and easy to make. I never would have thought of them otherwise. Castboolits is a great place!

[blackthorn]

Not to highjack, but what do you guys use for a heat eliment on the propane bottle cookers?

Currently I use a 3 ring burner from a "turkey" frier set-up. Before I got that burner I took 4 cement blocks and formed a sort of square with a hole in the middle. Into the hole I placed a 3" cast pipe elbow and stuck a tiger torch "tulip" into the lower end.

[jmort]

If you have $150.00, this is the best burner out there. The home beer brew guys have similar needs and rate this the best:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/burners-1/blichmann-floor-burner.html

It will hold 250 lbs

[Hanzy4200]

I'm still utilizing a old propane Coleman camp stove and 10 inch cast iron skillet. It does take a bit longer to get the melt up to temp, but my propane stretches a LONG way.

[Picard]

I bought a turkey fryer off of Craigslist for $30. It came with an aluminum pot, which I may use for cooking food, but I mainly bought it for the burner.

For now, I use a 10" Cast Iron skillet but will upgrade to a 5 quart dutch oven in the near future.

[MrWolf]

I just took the valves off of two propane tanks. Watched some of the youtube videos and wondered why they didn't go boom ;) I found it easier to just bend back the top fins enough to use a plastic dead blow hammer. Was able to hit it without worrying about sparks. I would make sure you release the valve screw as one that I thought was empty when I opened the valve had a lot left in it when I opened that screw. I also made a homemade penetrating solvent of 50/50 acetone/ tranny fluid. Put some on each day for a few days to soak in and also make sure the tanks were as empty as possible. Good luck

[drinks]

I would use a refrigerant tank, usually free at an A/C shop, as they are disposable and there is no possibility of any explosion as the refrigerants are not flammable.

[dbosman]

Search Craig's list or your local sale sites for cookers, the first week in December and in January. Lots of folks will try turkey frying for their first and last time, this week. People will be dropping stuff off at the thrift and charity shops in December for tax credits. The shops will start putting them out as they get them, or in January and the year end donations drop off. .

If there aren't any on the floor - ask.

For cast iron melting pots, ask your salvage shop. Mine keeps the good cast iron pieces rather than crushing. All one has to do is ask. I got a nice twenty pound capacity one, with a handle, for the asking.

[fastfire]

I'm using a turkey fryer burner and a HF cast iron pot, Was wondering if I raised the burner within 4-5" from the bottom of the cast iron whether it'd heat faster? Now it's 9"
It takes 25-30min to melt a pot full now.

[seanhagerty]

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-KAB4-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B0009JXYQY/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1385259867&sr=8-15&keywords=propane+burner

Holds about 200 pounds and puts out 210,000 btu's. This is the one I am planning on getting.

[jmort]

Before you get that unit, consider the distance of stand from burner. Read reviews, stand too high. Blichmann Engineering is worth the extra $$$:

"Our research and development team wasn't satisfied with selecting just any burner for the TopTier™, so it developed and tuned its own. While many manufacturers claim an impressive BTU capability, all they're talking about is the input energy, not the actual energy entering the pot. Isn't the whole point to heat wort, not the atmosphere?

OUR REQUIREMENTS
High-efficiency
Fast heating
Non-rusting, fume-free stainless frame
Excellent outdoor flame stability
Quiet operation
Great low-setting performance without yellow flame (blackens bottom of pot)
OUR RESULT
A 72,000 BTU / hour burner that blends heating power and efficiency, no louder than a whisper! In addition, low-flame combustion is clean, wind performance is outstanding, and the heavy stainless construction is built to last a lifetime!

We also documented that the published BTU of competitive burners varied wildly from actual measured results. Measuring the performance is straightforward: Simply run the burner for an hour at full power and measure the weight of the propane used in pounds. Then, multiply the weight in pounds by 21,000 to get the burner rating in BTU / hour. For example. the Bayou Classic has a published rating of 180 KBTU / hour but only measured at 68 KBTU / hour."

- See more at: http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/toptier-brew-stand-and-burners#sthash.8OK0TzS1.dpuf

[surfanarchist]

I bought this cooker here. It was about 60 dollars when I bought it. Rated to 210,000 BTU it's a monster. Gets the job done quick. Very heavy duty.
88599

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/backyard-pro-outdoor-range-patio-stove-with-hose-guard/554BPHP17.html

[DrBill33]

I am using a Stainless Steel Stock Pot (HEAVY gauge!!). So far, the 6 of us have put over 1 ton of metal through it, and it still keeps on ticking!