How to heat quenching oil

Matthew Gregory

Matthew Gregory

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I recently built a large vertical quench tank to hold 5 gallons of Parks #50 (that I picked up from Darren Ellis at Harley's this weekend). It's an 8" diameter tube that's 25" tall, with a piece of square 3/8" plate for the bottom. The whole thing is sitting approximately 10" off the ground on angle iron legs at each corner of the 3/8" plate. I can easily fit a burner underneath, but what kind and where can I get it?

I toyed with the idea of making a venturi burner, but that seems like a bit much... maybe just a little camp stove or something?

Or maybe an electric heating element that I just submerge down into the oil?

I want to avoid using the old "heat up a big chunk of metal and dunk it" method, as it's the fastest way to gunk up this particular oil with flash and soot and defeat it's whole benefit, so that's out.

Any ideas?
 
MrPurple said:
.......Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Duct tape a hot plate to the bottom?? :D

Oh, wait, I bet you meant good ideas. :o

I wonder if they still have the old dipstick heaters around? Something that won't be too awfully hot. Know what I mean by those?

Have you seen a data sheet or gotten an actual recommendation on temp from Kevin? I wouldn't think that this oil has to be too hot.
 
ther are full submirsabial fishtank heaters that will get you 110 no prob
and inline tank heaters if you are wantign to pump the oil around
thefishplace has that kind of stuff and thats the way i would go just to keep down on the fire problems
 
how about a 1/4 copper line that you attach to a hot water source, and just sorta coil it in the tank.
 
The way I do it is too small an outfit for your tube but what I did was cut the bottom out of three large coffee cans and cascade them by soldering them together, with the bottom can not cut so as to hold the quenchant. That is my tube, so to say. It fits well in a standard size crock pot. With the can tube in the pot I filled the void in the crock pot with vegetable oil. The quench tube has the quenching oil in it. The crock pot has two settings, not counting the off position, high and low. With a digital thermometer probe in the quench oil it is very easy to regulate and extremely fire safe. I first started with water in the crock but while it did work proved less consistent than using oil to surround the can assembly. Occasionally stirring the quench helps keep it thorough in temperature. Works well but once I got in a hurry and bumped the assembly too hard. Oil was everywhere. A big mess but not fire.

rlinger
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I put a water heater element in mine and it works great..You can get the parts at home depot (get the smallest one that you can find)..You will need the element and the control unit , I think that they call it a thermocouple or thermometer..Anyway it is were you attach the wires and it has the temp selection dial on it and you need a cord to plug it in with. (the parts should cost around $25-30).. Be sure to mount the control unit on the oil tank because it contains a thermometer. I messed up at 1st and had mine mounted on a piece of wood and the thing would not shut off...
Good luck...Hope this helps....
Louis.
 
I use water heater elements on both of my tanks. I don't bother with thermostats. They heat up to around 150, and that's apparently the point of equilibrium, where there's as much heat going out as going in. Very convenient.

You can get livestock water heaters at places like TSC. It's just a water heater element on the end of a cord. Only problem is, the insulation on the cord tends to break down when exposed to some oils... Don't ask me how I know. :D
 
P.S. I use candy thermometers to tell me what the temps are.
 
I've a maker mount a drill with a paint stirring attachment to the oil container. This was to keep the oil moving and even heat throughout the oil. (there was an electric heater under the oil.)
 
I use one of those barbecue starting electric elements. It looks like a big loop with a 120 volt cord. I picked it up for next to nothing. I hang it over the side of my quench tank and stir the oil every now and then. I use a good digital thermometer to check the temperature and unplug the element when the oil gets warm enough. It takes about 45 minutes to heat 5 gallons.
 
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