Making a Foundry Furnace From An Old Water Heater, Part 1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Repurpose of a water heater into a foundry furnace. This is a great way for the do-it-yourselfer to build a foundry furnace that will last a long time, heat up quickly, be fuel efficient, easy to build, and not break the bank!
Water heater series:
Part 1- • Secrets Inside Your Wa...
Part 2 - • Making a Chicken Scald...
Part 3 - • Making a Foundry Furna...
Part 4 - • Making a Foundry Furna...
Luckygen1001's channel:
/ luckygen1001
Links to supplies used (affiliate links):
Non-firing refractory: amzn.to/2IZV51J
100HT ceramic coating (final coat): amzn.to/2SQa1zp
Ceramic blanket, 2600F: amzn.to/2IZVf9l
Satanite supplier: www.hightemptoo...
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That belt grinder trick is a great idea. Thanks
Now this is the best idea I've seen yet , we just recently found a gold vein on our property ,
Where we lived when I was a kid, we had gypsum rock in the local groundwater. It was nontoxic, but it would eventually build up inside your plumbing. People would use water heaters for ten or fifteen years and replace them because they'd be down to half their original water volume.
Turns out accreted gypsum rock is a pretty damn good refractory stone. We cut old water heaters in half (with substantial difficulty, but we did) and used them for firepits, barbecues, kilns, and, yes, foundries.
Leon the legend is looking very good and healthy
Very nice alpha-omega How To Video. You did good!
The Satanite furnaces are super efficient, light weight, speedy melters.
I mix the Satanite pretty thin for the first coat, it pulls a little deeper into the wool for better adhesion. If the hardware cloth gives up on you, tack washers onto the support rods, the wool doesn't weigh enough to pull loose. Two coats max on the lid wool. Mine has been hanging on for over 5 years.
Ahh yes. A realistic representation of ‘How To’. This is awesome info on a build. Thank you
Hello from Saskatchewan, Canada great videos thanks for sharing
Lucky is awesome, very helpful, a total pro. Lovely furnace upgrade. Very nice to see insulation in there, I didn’t do it on mine and I wish I had. Great video as usual.
To cure the lid contact area, just block off the center vent and use some spacers so the exhaust has to come out from between the lid and the case.
We used Kao wool at the Steel Mill where I worked. We made SS and are one of the Top Ten SS Steel makes in the world. That stuff is amazing ! Years ago I could have had some of it. Did not need it then. I did not know you could buy it from Amazon.
Awesome video
A circle burner for your torch would be a nice touch.
Love how you tell us about tool
seen them use a 100 watt lightbulb to dry out the cement , it dries a lot slower and is less likely to crack
Fkng outstanding job!👏👏👏👍👍👍👍
I subscribed. I NEED to make one of those. Devil Forge ripped me off, and I need a new furnace ASAP
Go over to thehomefoundry.org Someone is running a build thread on a lightweight furnace. I went a different route and used kaowool with a layer of Mizzou. I run used motor oil in a Kwiky burner. I film some of my bronze casting on the channel. Good luck!
I just had this idea and sure enough there is a video on how to do it. I am going to use the tank itself though and not just the skin. I have been a subscriber for sometime and just watched the video on tearing the water heater down. I watched the mini track hoe video and the dump truck video a while back, I realize now that this channel and my projects are very similar.
Waxpaper is a good thing to use when wanting to separate parts, in these types of applications.
Thanks for the build info. I would have put a 3" radius on each of the 4 base corners, for the sake of my and other's ancles.
Appreciate the info of the satanite costing less and performing better than the refractory.
I was thinking of using a 6 gallon trash can from the hardware store with a lid. Being galvanized would that be a good way to go. Propane bottles are more expensive and the trash can is already kind of made for it. Thanks for the awesome demo.
Be careful heating galvanized... the fumes are nasty stuff. personally id remove the galvanized and paint with some high temp paint for safety reasons.
Watching you work in the way you do things reminds me of the way my dad did stuff. He’s dead now
Sorry for your loss.
Awesome job!
New Subscriber!
Hey Man... I love your videos! The cannon is incredible!!! I have been wanting to try metal casting for years, but have always talked myself out of it due to the associated costs and dangers. But I think I am finally ready to go for it. I followed all your links in the description to try and extimae the total cost to build a casting foundry, and here is what I came up with...
1.) Ceramic Fiber Blanket 2600F 2" thick "x 24" wide x 12.5 ft. long = $126.49 + $40.30 shipping (Woah! What's up with the shipping?!)
2.) ITC-100HT Pint Ceramic Radiant Heat Reflection & Protective Refractory Coating = $55.00 + $20.74 shipping (Is one pint enough?)
3.) MEECO'S RED DEVIL 611 Refractory Cement = $32.47
4.) Satanite Refractory Mortar: 20 lbs: $62.35
Total: $337.35
If you don't mind a few questions, or if you might one day do an update video as kind of a Q&A, here are the things that I'd LOVE to know...
1.) I do not have a water heater to cannibalize. Any other ideas for a vessel?
2.) I do not have the equipment or experience to weld. Would you say it is impossible to build a forge without welding it?
3.) Do all of the things I have listed above look correct to you, and are the prices about right? i.e. would I need to order two of the Fire Blankers or is one 12.5 ft. role enough?
4.) Do you have a video on the burner?
5.) Do you have a video on crucibles? Where to get them, things to consider. etc?
Home I got Refractory cement at Home Depot got perlite at the garden center and play sand Lowes if you ask around you can get furnace bricks for bottom and sides and coat with cement. The 3 bags of refractory cement were less than $30.00 and perlite s used in soil for potting same just adjust your water perlite holds a lot. hope this helped
You can get free water heaters as people up grade all the time. Also anyone can weld may just take some practice. If you got a neighbor with a welder I’m sure someone would help ya.
That’s going to be nice
Inspired. Well done!
hey bro don't take it wrong, but coming from an old backyard foundryman a fifty-five gallon barrel is 22 inches across ( the same as lucky's ) much easier, only have to cut for height as well as enough left over for lid.
You can weld stainless steel with a mig welder. I do it all the time at work. U just need the right type of wire specifically for it if u want it all to be the same
Yep, I have learned that since publishing this video. Thanks!
I made a foundry out of a half barrel. Essentially did the same thing as you did with the kao wool and then I used satanite as a refractory coating. The satanite cracked as did yours. I kept adding, and adding, and touching up, and adding. I realized my ocd-need to have it smooth and pretty was not to be. That was a good idea with the refractory cement over the top.
How long did your furnace last before breaking down the in side ?
I húst subscribed, I like your way of Working, good job, keep it up. Presentation is good, detailed.
Thanks
Old Bob
As long as you use stainless wire you can weld anything that’s stainless.
Wish you the best ❤
2:22 sounds just like the Flight of the Bubblebee
Could a thermometer be fitted?
Will you look at that, the old furnace fits inside of the new one.
fun vids dude!!
You CAN weld Stainless Steel (3xx series) using Flux Core wire using 309 stainless wire, either to itself, or to carbon steel, without embrittling it with carbon.
for welding stainless it's because of the fumes, be careful
Your mistake? My guess is once the top is positioned over the kiln, the satanite bound to the wool become like a spring/damper for thermal heat, as well as the weight of the casting; this causing the insulation to sag when pulled on by the hardened satanite. It will sort of hang from the insulation, even with the reinforcement. ?
From what I understand when the ite is added to something it means that whatever it is added to is being opposed. So Satanite is opposing Satan. But I could be wrong and I thought I would add my 2 cents. I also like your build as it has helped me look into things that might be better than satanite. I am also going to pack my K-wool around the inside of my furnace like you did in the lid of your earlier furnace.
I guess Im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..?
I stupidly forgot my login password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Deangelo Kasen instablaster ;)
@Kenneth Daniel i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out atm.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later with my results.
@Kenneth Daniel It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D
Thanks so much, you saved my account !
@Deangelo Kasen You are welcome =)
10:00 there might be moisture trapped that can be explode later ......
Can I use a stainless steel liner made from a beer keg to help hold the cement mixture together?
how many hour/days did this take you ? you make it look easy
I know this is a stupid question but what type of insulation is that
Ceramic blanket. Also called kao-wool.
Thank you 🙏🏻
What’s that attachment on your drill called that you cleaned up the bracket holes with?
@Whoop !
Hie sir. What are the internal dimensions of your furnace
It be nice if there were some well-less ones.
7:55 as soon as I saw bare skin on the insulation I knew that was a mistake. LOL
I don't know what the hogwash about stainless steel is, the only thing that welding SS without SS gets you is less corrosion resistance. The process for MIG welding stainless or TIG welding stainless is EXACTLY the same as mild steel. The only difference with MIG is that you use Tri-mix as the shielding gas (He-Ar-CO2) and stainless wire. You can get self-shielded stainless wire too (flux core). For TIG, the only difference is the filler wire.
for the corrosion resistance...
@@Krack2805 If corrosion resistance is a consideration, it doesn't matter what process you use, you must still passivate the stainless after welding.
@@eformance so you are equating the corrosion resistance of all other materials to be the same as SS without passivation.
@@Krack2805 We aren't talking about "all other materials", we are talking a bout stainless steel. Using MIG vs using TIG has no bearing on corrosion resistance of stainless steel. I said that if corrosion resistance is a factor (for the application), then you must perform a post-weld passivation step. Passivation is even called out when simply machining stainless steel, if the engineer deems it necessary.
Whats that white stuff u put in inside
Ceramic blanket. Also called kaowool.
Just subscribed. Great videos, reminds me of myself a bit, here in Llangollen UK. Cannot beat a bit of tinkering in the workshop and ripping stuff apart ! Whats the drill attachment bit at 2.30 ?? Adrian
That's a die grinder with a carbide burr.
Why didn't you use the actual heater itself? This is just the cover.
Thermal bridging?
YEA LUCKY ! COOL DUDE
And yes, satanite was a trade name, and yes it was a reference to how hot a temperature it could withstand.
You should do a collaboration with Peter Brown
You two sound the same, why not?
I don't understand why you used the sheet metal skin to build the furnace. Seems like it would have been much less work had you used the top half of the water tank. You had to add a lot of steel to reinforce the attachments to the sheet metal that you could have done away with by using the heavier gauge steel.
Too small. Once insulated I wouldn't have been able to fit my large crucible. But it would make a good furnace doing that.
eugene what is the insolation that you used and ware did get it at? good show thank you.
ceramic blanket. Link in description.
is that a cotton???
am so confused
No. Ceramic blanket. Google it or search on amazon. High temperature insulation.
OK, then why does anyone use refractory cement instead of this insulation?
It lasts quite a bit longer than blanket does. When you fire blanket, if it is not well maintained with satanite or another coating, it will quickly degrade and become useless. You don't have to coat refractory and it will hold its properties for a very long time. They use that stuff for industrial use where replacing it once every two months is not applicable.
Yea it’s to big around to sit down inside
Do you sell them
cool beans
Used wax paper
welding stainless steel with a mig makes cyanide gas if not set up 4 ss
you should really wear a respirator, or at least a mask when working with that insulation stuff. super nasty to your lungs...
THIS!
I agree!
at around 8 min you can see he is wearing a P2 dust mask
I came across your video while looking for foundry that is close to what i had built etc. I just finished building my furnace and propane heater but I think i may not have enough heat to properly attain temperature. I built the foundry out of a 55 gallon drum. I found someone who had a ceramic shield drum about 2 inches thick and about 14 inches inner diameter and about the height of the drum but i had to cut off some since i cut the drum roughly 5 inches to have a shielded top etc. I also had kaowool and used this to help insulate the space between the ceramic shield and the drum added extra heat protection etc. SO i fired the propane heater and waited fro 10 minutes but it did not get a glowing orange heat. I am suspecting that i have too much volume that needs heating etc. I am debating whether or not to add a blower to the torch to ramp up more heat etc. your thoughts or anyone else etc I could provide pictures etc let me know.... Thanks guys!
It sounds like your burner is lacking. With a little insulation, you should easily be able to reach glowing temps. My burner has a high flow regulator (up to 30 psi, not a grill regulator), and a blower (vacuum cleaner) controlled by a router speed controller. The variable speed blower is quite necessary to get the flame to burn as hot as possible.
mistake in progress , thats so funny
It looked like you were doing some quick welds without gloves. Hopefully you don't still do that. The UV from the arc will increase risk of skin cancer.
THANK YOU for --- NOT ---- referring to it as a "hot.water.heater" as soooo many people do.
they say it, and I wish to ask them "if the water is HOT, then HOW do you HEAT it????
its either a water tank, or "water Heater."☝🧐
Cant weld stainless. Hundreds of times with my mig. Come on
I refuse to watch videos with the “Q” thing. I wanna watch a video....not a big “Q” videoo!
All the gear but not much idea? (writes the man with neither)
YOU flipped your lid
Mistake in Progress was priceless, hahahahahahah
Satanite? Meet Samsonite. lol
Samsonite meet the Israelites: Electrotherm Aerospace Forging and Heat Treatment {:{)...just sayin
My eyes, my eyes!!! 🤪
Go big or go home wright
fooling with ceramic insulation and no mask is not smart
All hail satanite!
Disliked for using satanic names products