Gentelmen;
I have a very real water-in-the-alloy story for you.
Here in Wyoming I cast in an unheated shed. I like to work at casting in temperatures well below freezing since the turkey-burner furnace I use makes things too hot for comfort when things get much warmer than 40 degrees.
~ Anyway; I typically run off a potfull of bullets and before I go inside I re-fill the pot with fresh alloy for the next time.
In doing this I necessarily have to pass pieces of basic material into the empty pot. This naturally includes passing things like handfulls of sub-freezing wheel-weights and Linotype ingots through the hot gasses being produced by the turkey-cooker flames. The cold material collects condensed water vapor on their surfaces from the gasses and PRESTO! As I put the cold metal into the hot pool of alloy in the pot - well below the surface in some cases - I have steam explosions jumping right at me. It really doesn't take much water at all to make things quite exciting.
The worst problem is with WW clips which accumulate condensed water droplets under the clips virtually instantly during their trip through the hot gasses.
The solution is to turn off the burner while adding material - then turn it back on to melt it into the preferred alloy ready for next time.
I doubt many of you cast in the cold over a turkey-cooker but if you do ~ Watch it!
Good evening,
Forrest