Frozen propane tank

[B Finnigan]

I just fired up my new forge and attempted my first crucible melt. The forge got up to white hot temps, enough I could not look at it without sun glasses. The seven gallon tank was frosting up and about one hour into the smelt the gas flow started to taper off. Would the orifice be the spot that freezes? It is a 1/8 " hole in a pipe cap. Should I remove the cap and just use the 1/4" pipe inlet? I managed to get something that looked liked cast iron out of the crucible except it was very crumbly, not enough heat duration I guess.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Forge pic showing hook ups.

 

While it is running.

Edited November 12, 2005 by B Finnigan

[Bob Geldart]

Use a larger tank or find a safe way to heat it. Try standing the tank in a bath of warm water. Place some beers in the water. When the tank next freezes you'll have some cold beers with which to drown your sorrows!

[Jeff Pringle]

Yeah, what he said!

I use a 10 gallon tank and put in a tub, run a trickle of water from a garden hose over the tank to keep it from freezing.

[B Finnigan]

Thanks for the help. I will try a couple of space heaters since I do not have a tub that will hold the tank. I have never had a tank freeze before and I was not sure if it was the orifice or the tank. Now that I know it's the tank I can get back to the sand bakery.

[Bob Geldart]

You could try using a two tank system connected via a changeover switch. Available at all good camping stores.

[B Finnigan]

That sounds like a good idea too. The space heater seemed to work on my second smelt, ice formed but the forge still kept blasting. While I was sitting and watching it I got an idea to make a heat exchanger to pull a small amount of heat from under the forge and direct it onto the tank. It seemed so odd that the forge was at 23-2400 deg. and the tank that was only 2 1/2 ' feet away had frost on it.

[Greg Thomas Obach]

the liquid propane in the tank is turned to a gas....and in the process requires energy.....so a warm water bath is a good idea... I use an old aluminum garbage can.... (with a little silicone on the joints).... works fine

 

ofcourse when I ran my crucible furnace .... I kept the water well away from the furnace.... water and molten steel don't mix...

 

my set up for the furnace was just abit different........ had very long hose to keep the propane away (out of the forge building )and.... attached a garden hose to the hot water tank in the house.......so when the water became chilled... I just cracked the hose and instant hot water to refill the outside garbage can...

 

Greg