Smelting burner

[Notwithstanding]

Hey,

I have a 60,000 BTU gas burner. Is this sufficient to melt WWs?

Thanks,
Notwithstanding.

[shadowcaster]

Hey,

I have a 60,000 BTU gas burner. Is this sufficient to melt WWs?

Thanks,
Notwithstanding.

Yes.. it will be fine. It is better to have too many BTU's and be able to turn it down, than not have enough.

Shad

[MT Gianni]

If it is concentrated under your pot yes. 35,000 Btu is plenty for a good sized container. What did it come out of, does it have an adjustable air intake and was the orifice designed for LP or Nat gas? You will need a regulator and want your flame to be clearly defined with sharp flame tips and an inner cone of blue flame visible. Avoid a yellow flame unless you have LP gas then some on the tip is almost unavoidable. Do not let the flame impinge on the bottom of the pot. It will cause sooting which insulates the pot, lengthens melt time and makes a mess as well as producing CO..

[Notwithstanding]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I've managed to process a bunch of COWWs into about 400 1 lb ingots. This is a propane burner from an outdoor fish fryer. It has a regulator and an adjustable air intake. I can easily tune it to burn clean (blue flame) for extended periods to maintain a fairly constant temp between 650F and 700F. I also tried pushing it a bit and was able to get it up over 1000F.

[detox]

Did you remove the Zinc wheel weights before smelting?

[iron mule]

better to keep it around 700-725 for smelting wheel weights
hotter will mix the zinc ones with the lead if you miss any and they get in the pot
mule

[Notwithstanding]

I sort my WWs before smelting into COWWs and SOWS. I keep the pot between 650F to 700F which melts the lead and floats the zinc and steel WWs. I crank the temp to about 750 once this scrap has been removed. This helps to pour nice ingots.