Using electric pots for smelting?

[quasi]

Propane and white gas prices are WAY up. I am considering turning to using electric pots for smelting. I don't wan't to gunk up my RCBS so I am planing on buying a couple of Lee Magnum Melter 20 lb ladle pots to smelt wheelweights with. Electricity costs in my location are pretty stable. I think it will be more convienient for me as well, I won't have to run out for more fuel , which has happened to me a lot.

Lock Stock and Barrel has these pots for around $50.00 each. Does this make sense to you guys or am I making a bad choice?:confused:

[Jon K]

That's how I do it............Don't smelt in a bottom pour pot........you'll only get it plugged up.

Jon

[runfiverun]

wow 20 lbs at a time?
a 5-gallon tank of propane will do what 800 lbs or so?
can do 200 lbs ingots in like 4 hours.
20 lbs an hour is more like 10 hours to do a couple of buckets.

[targetshootr]

I never tried it but it's hard to imagine how an electric burner could get a big pot as hot or do it cheaper unless it's commercial equipment. And you wanna smelt outside, too.

[GabbyM]

I've smelted over half ton of lead of all sorts on my current 20 lb tank of propane and it's not empty yet. I've three tanks and can have them filled for $12 each.

I f you do go electric look into getting a 220 volt stove element riged up. You just won't get much work done with a 110 volt unit. I've seen photos of guys smelters they made using a stove top element for heat sorce. Maybe on this site?

If you've natural gas you can run a pipe to your location. Maybe dual use it as a hookup for outdoor food grill.

[eli]

I use a Walmart single element electric burner (8-14 dollars when I bought it) and a stainless pot of 5-6 qt. capacity without any problems. I keep the unit dialed almost all the way up, with a cover of aluminum foil to control the heat. With a Harbor Freight multi-meter with temperate probe monitoring things, I get a good melt that is cool enough to float any zinc weights for removal. When I'm ready, I can bring a pot to high enough temperature for good mold fill-out.

Of course I make my melts outside on the carport, where I convert wheel weights to muffin tin ingots.

Cheers

[454PB]

Here you go, GabbyM.
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=10127&highlight=smelter

By the way, it is still going strong!

[dragonrider]

IIRC someone on this board built one that used 4 elec stove elements like the one in 454PB's post, can't remmeber who.

[VTDW]

I have been using 2 hotplates for a couple of years now. One to melt and the other to keep the mold hot. I learned quickly about smelting used WW in my Lee bottom pour.:mrgreen: Also, I don't get in any hurry for much of anything.

Dave

[miestro_jerry]

I find even at current prices for propane, that a Turkey Fryer does better than electric. I did 200 plus pounds of Lyman #2 and then 150 pounds of WWs plus and had used very little propane after it got up to temp.

Electric can be cheap or expensive, the people in Columbus Ohio pay the cheapest rates in the U.S. because of AEP. I live near an AEP plant and my coop is very inexpensive compared to other parts of the states.

I think this took me something like 3 hours to do all of those ingots. I have a short turkey fryer from Wally World, and a duct oven from HF. Every time I find an old propane tank, I exchange it for a new one.

Jerry