LEE Pro 4-20 240 volt Unit

[seagiant]

Hi,
I'm looking at getting a 20# pot. I was actually looking at the 40# Magma but they just went way out of my range. I love RCBS tools but that $300. So I'm wondering about the Lee. Has quality come up any in the past few years? Do they still leak bad? Is the 240 volt better than the 110? Any info would be appreciated. When I use my Lee 6 cavitys the little 10# pot can't take it. Anyone have a used one for sale? Thanks!

[454PB]

I own three Lee pots, two 10 pound bottom draw and one Pro-4-20. The oldest of these is 35 years old, and still works as it did when new. The newest (Pro-4-20) is about 9 years old, and has melted about 500 pounds of lead. I guess I'd have to say the quality has not changed for 25 years that I know of. Since I've never had a problem with any of these, they are good quality. You should know that the 20 pounder will actually only hold about 17 pounds, unless you are using pure lead. Mine are all 120 volt....I have no idea what the advantages of the 240 volt is, it probably heats up more quickly.

The 10 pounders tend to leak worse, because the valve enters the spout at an angle. Still, with proper care and cleaning, it's controlable.

I've been checking temperature control recently, since I now have an RCBS lead thermometer. I'm impressed, it only varies about 20 degrees during a casting session that empties the 20 pounder.

I noticed recently that the Pro-4-20 was on sale for $70. That means you could buy four of them for what the RCBS costs.

[Razor]

I just got my Lee Pro 4 20 pounder 110v...
Works great...
heats up in 20/30 minutes..
leaked when first reaching pour temp but a simple tweak on the adj screw cured that.
Like 454 said..less than $70..
Razor

[AZ-Stew]

I don't know that they leak any less (mine has a slow drip, but not too bad, and it can be mitigated with a flat-blade screwdriver), but they don't heat up any faster, or not noticibly so. You will have to buy and install the plug at the end of the electrical cord. The 220V pot comes without the plug.

The reason I bought the 220V model is that it is used in my workshop and I wanted to draw as little electrical current as possible. Current draw causes heat due to resistance in the wiring of the shop and wastes electricity due to that heat, first to create it, then to remove it to keep the shop cool. Since the 220V and the 110V pots are both rated at 750 Watts, it's easy to see that: 750(W)/110(V)=6.82(A). While this is not a great deal of current draw, the 220V pot only draws half that much 750(W)/220(V)=3.41(A).

I'm not a raving "Greenie", but when I built the workshop I designed it to be as energy efficient as possible. It's insulated at R30 (except for the walk-through doors and the R-18 insulated garage door), the lights are all flourescent, allowing me to very thoroughly light the shop without drawing a lot of current or creating a lot of heat from incandescent lighting. The water heater for my photo darkroom is tankless so it only draws current when I actually need hot water. I don't have to keep a tank of water hot all the time. All the shop wiring is 12ga to minimize resistive energy loss.

We replaced the heat pump and roof covering on the house last year, giving us even more energency efficiency. All-in-all, I get the use of the well-lighted, air conditioned shop for free. Beats the crap out of working in the garage in the summer. No increase in electrical bills compared to two years ago before the shop was completed and the AC and roof were replaced on the house. It all adds up. Save a little here and there. That's why I bought my 220V pot.

Regards,

Stew

[454PB]

Your energy efficiency is admirable, AZ-Stew. Is your house full of compact flourescent bulbs? Mine is.

However, I must point out that a 750 watt element only costs (at 10 cents per kilowatt) 7.5 cents per hour to run, even if it was heating all the time, which it isn't.

I usually cast in cold weather and have my pot heating for 3 hours for a casting session, and end up with somewhere around 400 to 600 boolits in that session. I figure it used maybe 2 KWHS at a cost of 20 cents, and since my shop is electrically heated, ended up being free heat!

[Lloyd Smale]

It will make no differnce at all if there both the same wattage. It will be no more effecient either as your meter on your house measure watts not amps or voltage. The only advantage to a 22o volt pot at the same wattage as a 120 volt pot is the fact that you can feed it with a smaller wire size. If your house or garage is wired properly to begin with you will be wasteing money if the 220 pot is more expensive. A 120 volt 750 watt pot draws about 6 amps so any circuit with a 10 amp breaker without any other major load on it will power it just fine.

[TAWILDCATT]

Lee 4-20-110==$61.22
LEE 4-20-220==$64.62
MIDSOUTHSHOOTERS CAT.
THE 220 MAKES A DIFFERENCE in total amperage.less stress on wiring.you can load the line more.-- ---- --- ---

[Finn45]

Okay guys... what I'm wondering here is that do you all US guys have dual voltage 110/120V - 220/240 in your house/shop? As few posters have indicated, advantage of the higher voltage rating is minor advantage of the lower amperage... but it only applies if correct voltage is used, i.e. 110/120 for 110/120V pot and 220/240V for so marked pot... 110/120 V supply for the 220/240V pot will do no good, except that smelting time will be looongish due to about half wattage... I can easily split my voltage (220/240) to 110/120 (as I do for my 110/120 Lyman dipper pot), but converting it the other way would be more complex.

[454PB]

Yes we do, Finn45. The reason is that heavy loads would require twice the wire size. Our dryers, water heaters, electric heat, etc. pull enough amperage that it's impractical and expensive to use 120 volts. For instance, I use a 3000 watt 240 volt electric heater in my loading room, to run that I installed 12 gauge wire. This is a 12.5 amp load, if it were 120 volt, it would be twice that and require 10 gauge (8 gauge would be better). The difference in cost between 12 gauge and 10 gauge wire is about 80%.

I've split voltages too, but our electrical codes don't allow it.

I use to give power plant tours to students, and trying to explain the need for transformers was a challenge. The best analogy is water, to give a certain flow per minute you need X amount of pressure (voltage) and X sized pipe (amperage). I'd show them the size of the wire coming out of the generators at 2400 volts, then show them the size of the transmission side of the step up transformers at 69,000 volts. The comparison was obvious, from several inches in diameter to a 3/16" wire, both carrying the same amount of wattage (megawatts in this case). I think most of them could grasp the concept. I won't even mention polyphase use