Salt pot parts?

[Chris Moss]

hey everybody,

i am highly considering making a high temp salt pot. it seems pretty straight forward, however i dont know where to get a controller or solenoid. and i would assume it is forced air burner. right?

 

i also need to know where to get the actual salt.

thanks!

~Chris

[Howard Clark]

venturi burners are ideally suited for the task. E-bay is a good source for controllers and solenoid valves as long as you are not in a hurry, and don't mind not having the bestest, newest type of controller. I bought a batch of solenoid valves for a good deal very recently.

 

You need a normally closed solenoid valve, and almost any general purpose one will suffice. You don't want a great big one though. 1/4" pipe ports are plenty big enough. You can usually find an Omega CN 9000 series controller on e-bay most any day, used, for way less than retail, and they work fine. There are three of them up right now on e-bay as individual items, and a pair mounted in a box that has a ridiculously high price. The best deal at the moment is this one (at least in terms of retail vs. e-bay price for a current technology type controller. The 77000 series are really sophisticated, and will run nearly anything that requires heating): http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-OMEGA-CN77333-TEMP...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Chris Moss]

i have a venturi burner made by Rex price, a 1" burner. will that work? also, for a venturi burner where do use the solenoid? and then do i hook up the solenoid to the controller? and the controller is hooked to a pyrometer, correct?

 

so all i have to do is build a forge to house a stainless steel pipe for the salt, with a pyrometer/controller for the solenoid which controlls the gas for the burner. correct?

 

how much bigger does the forge part need to be? and how about burner placement? if i want a 30" tube, do i need a 30" tall forge? how about if i have a 3" dia. salt pipe how does Don fogg says a 14" pipe for the forge. is that with two layers of wool or one?

 

thanks for helping with the questions

~chris

[McAhron]

You can also build an electric one.I built a low temp salt pot using kiln bricks,kanthal,and a controller off fleabay.It works excellent.I only had to use one element but for high temp I'd imagine two at 220v would be neccessary.Whatever you do make sure you use thick tubing so a blowout is less likely.

[Chris Moss]

i have read that high temp electric salt pots have a tendency to shock the heck out of you because the vapor cloud is conductive.

something like that. however i have to admit.. the simplicity of an electric salt pot is very seductive.

[McAhron]

I havent been shocked.The tube is sealed from the kiln stuff so maybe thats why no fry.