Turkey friers ?

[Hootmix]

Need to buy a frier to melt lead. " But " is the 5psi regulator big enough to reach 800+ degrees or do i need " BIGGER "?

coffee's ready, Hootmix.

[MOA]

I might be wrong an if so I'm sure someone with more knowledge about regulators will chime in but I've heard to look for a red colored regulator knob. You might look for info on the product as to what the BTU's the burner puts out.

[358429]

I think mine is regulated for 10 psi I can check when I get home.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211112/a2e2ef491b79cf733de82d0211862d11.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211112/8a959529b4082a97e5f1ca4a99e71c95.jpg

I use mine with different stainless steel pots for different purposes, either casting bullets or smelting the weights or cleaning the lead.

A one quart saucepan full up with frozen lead weighs 22 lb.

The turkey fryer will have it molten in four minutes. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211112/eb4ad22acec6cbe4f5b36e682d0008a9.jpg[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211112/9d231da711bf41364dfd3a0e37fa54fb.jpg[/IMG

There is no way I would go back to using the Coleman stove.

[Hootmix]

Yes Sir, 358429, that's what i'm talking about. I'v got right at 300# cww & stk. on's to do. That looks like a 5# bottle, how long will it last, more or less?

coffee's ready, Hootmix.

[GregLaROCHE]

I have a big three ring burner. I’ve taken apart the small (normal) size regulator and got it to put out more volume and lead melted faster. I think about getting a higher volume regulator, but they cost a lot more than the normal ones. It may speed things up, but it could also raise the total amount of propane used.
If your burner only has one ring, a normal regulator should work. It probably says so somewhere on the packaging.
One of the most important things is to fashion a ring/skirt around the burner up to the pot, to minimize heat loss.

[Springfield]

You are much better off with the high pressure 10lb regulator. I had a 5 lb and it took much longer to melt the lead. But then I have a pot that holds over 100 lbs.

[Mitch]

I would say it depends on how much lead you want to melt at a time 50 to 100 lbs takes alot less BTU than more.then there is the weight that you burner will take.

I cut my 20lb grill tank at tall as i could and it will hold 400lbs of pure lead loaded to 1/2 inch from the top.I prefer a bit less so i have room to mix and stir the melt.I keep my alloy batches 300 to 350lb the same with cleaning up the lead i get from the scrap yard.I use the Bayou Classic SP 40 double jet burner.I have no problem with the pot full.there is no need to beef up this unit to handel the weight.It is like you are thinking you can turn up the heat and let it fly and melt lead in a hurry but you can over do it alot and use alot of propane wit this unit.Baypu Classic makes many different burners so i am sure you can find one that fits your needs.Bayou makes a nice well built unit.

[358429]

Hootmix best get your coffee ready.
Bought that thing at ace hardware this spring.
The turkey cooker runs many hours of heat per bottle of propane.

I feel safe with 100 pounds in the pot, if the cooker legs are on bricks to prevent sinking in the soil.

Have not timed it ok, I do know I get more useful work done faster, and it lasts longer per bottle, than the coleman.

With the 100°F weather done, and the mosquitoes mostly dead, I will be using it more frequently now.

[Hootmix]

Well i use big cast iron skillet, maybe 20-25lbs at a time, only have 3 Lyman 4 -hole moulds and 1 cornbread mold, dump them all on a 1/8th. inch plate 24x24, so i can't get in too big of a hurry.
coffee's always ready, Hootmix.

[MOA]

I used a turkey fryer for about 6 years. Came with a cast iron Dutch oven. I was smelting lots of lead roofing boots I got from a roofing contractor friend and some wheel weights when available. Saw on this site those who were using chopped propane tanks. Since I'm still smelting lots of lead for mixing alloys I decided to get a tank wherever I could find one someday. The old setup I had is a good setup for smaller lead quantities. But trying to melt 600 pounds in a little unit took days. I just posted my new smelting setup on the project thread if your interested. Same burner and regulator off the old setup, I just cut the burner frame apart an attached it to the new tank holding frame.

[contender1]

I got an old plumbers burner many, many years ago. Then,, as the craze happened to get a turkey fryer,, I've managed to find some good deals on used ones at Goodwill, yard sales etc. I also enjoy cooking for a crowd occasionally, doing a low country boil. As such,, I have 4 burners. The plumbers one, and the turkey fryer ones. When I want to smelt lead,, I can run a couple of pots at one time to really reduce my alloy into ingots. But, generally, I just use one burner.

[Slugster]

When I went electric with my homebrew hobby, i started using mu DarkStar propane burner for melting large batches of lead. No problem getting temperature that you need to make casting alloys.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

If you got some of this ceramic insulation blanket an cut a ring of it to fit around your pot and made a lid you could conserve a lot of heat.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/UniTherm-Ceramic-Fiber-Insulation-Blanket-Roll-8-Density-2300F-1in-x24in-x60in-for-Kilns-Ovens-Furnaces-Forges-Stoves-CF8-1-24X60in/305879916?g_store=&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=Shopping-B-F_D22-G-D22-022_004_INSULATION-NA-NA-Feed-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D22-G-D22-022_004_INSULATION-NA-NA-Feed-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen-71700000076017798-58700006490415250-92700066966870867&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhMOMBhDhARIsAPVml-HFCSDFby_A7bRc_gnyGpajxYrm024A_QpA4pk2n1eVqghSIwSU vRoaAkJ8EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[rockrat]

I use a turkey fryer and a dutch oven. I can melt about 150 lbs in it. Takes awhile to melt that much, but it works well

[Farmall-130]

Here’s a picture of my turkey fryer. I’m not a high production guy. I only cast for 45-70 with single cavity Lee mold. Works for me. 1/4” steel plate doughnut holds pot off the burner. Gives a place to warm mold. Oven thermometer is used as a reference temperature only; doesn’t directly reflect lead temperature.


291688

[358429]

The boxhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211114/85453e58e3fe39394f7ffb7d09b3ed2c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211114/527673ebcf8d0be2f9805062a4e450d5.jpg it came packaged in.

[Hootmix]

Really want to thank everybody for your in-put. "Now for the rest of the story", about a year ago a friend loaned me a old ( did i say old ) turkey fryer base & 10 gal. tank, took for ever to melt lead. SO, i took it to the shop and cleaned every thing, blow'd out the lines, cleaned the regulator , got the grease & dirt off and "ta da " 20 lb. regulator, fixed all the leaks. My skillet ( cast iron ) really does hold 80lbs.+ of CWW's.
From set up to firing the burner i poured 60# of ingots in just under an hour. Yes i think i'm happy, just 300# more of CWW's to go, not counting Stick-on's & pure sheets ( thanks to a good friend ). Kept my thermostat at 600-650* ( it's almost accurate ).
coffee's ready, Hootmix.

[Buckdane]

I took some sheet metal and made a wind deflector that goes around my CI sauce pan. Keeps heat concentrated on the pot so heats up quicker. Side benefit, it keeps end of handle of ladle cooler as it's out of the rising heat area.

[RogerDat]

I'm using a $40 fish fryer from wally mart. I bought it because the frame was square corners and straight angle metal legs at each corner. Use under a 110# capacity Dutch oven I bought for$23 from Harbor Freight, back when they had 20% off anything coupons.

Since then I have seen several turkey fryers that looked suitable for as little as $10 at garage sales and one nice multi ring model at an estate sale I would have considered a deal if I didn't already have the problem solved.

Yes to skirting or some form of wind block. In my case since I have straight sides to the burner I hung sheet metal off of each side to block the wind.

I'm sure more BTU's would be faster but I find the biggest factor is how good is the contact with the bottom of the pot. pipe stacked upright only touching a bit on the bottom is slow compared to say WW's that are covering the bottom of the pot. When I'm doing a bunch of smelting I keep the last half inch of lead in the pot, let it harden, then remove and label for what type of lead it is. I'll put that in the bottom of the pot next time I do that sort of lead again. Melts faster being in full contact with pot bottom and make heat transfer better to have the new metal stuck into molten lead a half inch.

I also have a propane torch as well as a big weed/roof material torch also from Harbor Freight. Once things get heated I can hit the pile with these to speed things along. The weed burner on a 20# tank as a supplemental heat source is very fast. Can rapidly liquify things such as sheet lead that can take a long time to melt since they stick up out of the pot and shed heat to the air. Couple minutes with the big torch and the sheet metal is a puddle. I sometimes use the small propane torch to "knock a corner off" so that a piece will fall down into the pot so it makes contact with the bottom or the rising molten pool.

I also tend to do other stuff in the garage when the scrap lead is melting. Lord knows there is always plenty of picking up needed out there. No problem keeping busy for the time it takes a pot to melt. Back and hip doesn't really allow for two pot batches. I imagine if I started washing down pain meds with brown liquor I could make it through two batches. Assuming I didn't dump it on myself or set the place or myself on fire.

It was in the high 30's last night and I had no problem melting a batch of plain lead. That would have as high a melting temp as any alloy I would be doing and the cold ambient temp would require the most heat input to overcome. Worked fine. Single burner, red knob, fish fryer. Which I think is a turkey fryer with a different set of pots included. Too small a pot to fit a turkey. Plus basket liner for lifting out fish.

You can see the single ring burner in this picture. I use the pieces of angle iron across the burner so I can set a small pot on top for doing smaller batches. Before I got a Lee 20# pot I was sometimes casting from this burner. Hot plate can't keep up with winter temps in Michigan. Also working next to that burner was more comfortable for the operator.
291737

Side view, can see the square shape. This was before I added the sides hung on as a wind block. I'm in garage but there is a door just out of view and the front door open with an exhaust fan running so the breeze on the burner was a significant heat loss.
291738

[Hootmix]

Heat shields !! (next project ). Sorted CWW & Stk-on's this morning, 38# of Stk-on's, and 246# CWW's ( man i need more moulds )separated all CWW's into 60# +-, buckets, 60#'s seems to weigh more than it use to:roll:.

coffee's ready, Hootmix.

[kevin c]

Heat shields are good.

I have a high pressure regulator for my double jet burner. Lots of BTU’s, but the biggest differences in terms of speed of melting, maintaining temp, and propane conservation when using my 250# capacity processing pot were gained with a thermal jacket around the pot ala Cosmic_Charlie and a wind screen below it as per Buckdane.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=228451&d=1538985277

[Hootmix]

kevin c., that's some serious melting ( smelting ), i like it. I will build a wind guard around my fryer, i agree about trapping the heat.

coffee's ready,, Hootmix.

[kevin c]

Another trick for rapid melting is to play a weed burner on top of the pile as the burner heats the pot from below. Be warned, though: I’ve found that this applies so much heat in a small area that even dry ingots can spit molten metal, I’m guessing either from interior impurities heating and vaporizing or from microscopic gas pockets releasing pressure (I don’t think it’s water, since I see it from under the melting surface being heated, even when half the ingot or other solid lead object is already gone). Full body PPE and a thought for protecting your casting area definitely advised.

[MOA]

I incorporated a heat shield in my fabrication. It's an important part of the features a good smelter has for efficiency. Also having a cover for your pot is as important as having a shield too.

https://i.postimg.cc/15qw5Wnr/20211107-180850-1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/tY9YBNzs)

https://i.postimg.cc/SKhGj4Vm/20211108-121455-1-1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/tsB6mLLc)

https://i.postimg.cc/kGq78bLj/20211113-113605-HDR-1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/sQHFCvjS)

https://i.postimg.cc/ZKN501wq/20211110-150541-HDR-1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/LnHpb0Kd)

[Hammerlane]

I use a Cajun banjo with a 55 gal barrel cut in half, as the wind shield. Also cut a hole in the top which is 1 inch smaller than the pot. Cut a lid from the bottom half not used. This way all the heat stays around the pot, less gas used. my thought on size is you can always cut it down but you never can cut it up any higher.