I have a turkey fryer base/burner I got at lowes last year. I originally bought it for doing small batches of hot salt bluing, but then got into casting and started using it for that too.
I have been using it with a old non stick frying pan (that was no longer non stick) that was retired from the kitchen. I have melted down several pounds of lead with it, but it seems to take a long time, even with small batches in it. (it will hold about 20 pounds I think).
When I first fire it up, I can only turn the gas up a little, if I crank it up, it will just blow itself out. After running for a while, I can slowly turn it up a little more, but am still limited as it will blow itself out. The regulator knob says 10 psi on it.
I recently tried to use it with a cast iron dutch oven I got from harbor freight on clearance. It took it a very long time to melt anything (even with the lid on to try and trap heat). The lead on the outer edge also did not want to fully melt. Once I had a pool of melt, when I added more ingots, it took a very long time for them to melt. Longer than it does when I add one to the frying pan.
I am thinking it is just not powerful/hot enough to keep larger quantities molten and melt new that is added in. Maybe a little weak for the frying pan too, but it does work with it.
Looking for suggestions on what I should check. If I turn up the gas, the flame will lift up off the burner head and if I turn it up more, it will just go out. I will have to turn it down to re light.
Am I getting too much gas and not enough air, or too much air and not enough gas?
It has a sheet metal disc over the opening where the gas goes in, that you can turn, but turning it does not block anything off to any extent. It does not change the flame any. I can block it off with my fingers and the flames get taller but turn orange instead of normal blue.
If there is not really anything I can do with this one, I will start looking for a different one. If I start looking for a different one, any suggestions would be great.
Here are a couple pictures if it helps: