J Loose
01-15-2002, 08:35 PM
I finally fired up my high temp salt tank today and tested a couple pieces... :smokin:
It is 4" x 36" deep stainless tube with a stainless 13" thermowell in the bottom. It is in a 1/4" x 14" x 33" pipe lined with inswool and coated in refractory. There are two venturi burners: one at the bottom and one halfway up. This was a test fire w/o the thermocouple or the temp controller... primarily to melt the salt and make sure the atomosphere pressures inside the tank are working right. The burners / exhaust port still need some work since it set off my carbon monoxide detector with open windows and cross-ventilation! Tomorrow I am setting up the flue to take the gas fumes safely out of doors. The salt fumes don't seem to be too bad although I will be setting up a direct ventilation system for those too.
I used a 50-50 mix of sodium chloride and calcium chloride. It appeared to be working fine on the test pieces and I was surprised how little it took to fill the tube.
With my hand held thermocouple I measured temps of 1250 F at the very top of the melt, so I suspect I will bave to tweak things, but a piece suspended in the middle of the pot hardened fine. Once I get the thermocouple in the bottom I should have a better picture of the heat dispersal.
Molten salt is -wierd- stuff...
I'll update ( create... ) the salt tank page this weekend or so with pics and info.
Look for some nice LONG blades in the next month or so!
It is 4" x 36" deep stainless tube with a stainless 13" thermowell in the bottom. It is in a 1/4" x 14" x 33" pipe lined with inswool and coated in refractory. There are two venturi burners: one at the bottom and one halfway up. This was a test fire w/o the thermocouple or the temp controller... primarily to melt the salt and make sure the atomosphere pressures inside the tank are working right. The burners / exhaust port still need some work since it set off my carbon monoxide detector with open windows and cross-ventilation! Tomorrow I am setting up the flue to take the gas fumes safely out of doors. The salt fumes don't seem to be too bad although I will be setting up a direct ventilation system for those too.
I used a 50-50 mix of sodium chloride and calcium chloride. It appeared to be working fine on the test pieces and I was surprised how little it took to fill the tube.
With my hand held thermocouple I measured temps of 1250 F at the very top of the melt, so I suspect I will bave to tweak things, but a piece suspended in the middle of the pot hardened fine. Once I get the thermocouple in the bottom I should have a better picture of the heat dispersal.
Molten salt is -wierd- stuff...
I'll update ( create... ) the salt tank page this weekend or so with pics and info.
Look for some nice LONG blades in the next month or so!