[TheForge] Ice in the Slack Tub

[Jerry Frost]

This is a seriously goot thing to bring up Ralph. Stock tank heaters and 
bucket heaters are a potential fire hazard.

There are a few differences that make them a more acceptible risk in a shop 
than in the barn:

First, your shop floor isn't covered in straw, hay, sawdust, etc. At least I 
HOPE it isn't! Your shop should be a reasonably fire resistant structure to 
start with.

Second, you won't have animals who might like chewing on cords living in 
your shop. Probably anyway, I may be way off on this one. <grin>

Third, you'll be right there on a daily basis and an occasional peek will 
tell you if the cord is degrading, etc.

For the most part, unless you live in really cold country a bucket heater 
should be enough to keep the slack tub thawed and Bob's dipper swinging 
free.

Sorry Bob, I couldn't resist after all. <grin>

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.


From: "Ralph Sproul" <brhlbsmt at mcttelecom.com>



> Cheer up Jonathan, I waited 40 years for a shop with heat.........then I 
> put
> up this real nice propane ceiling furnace three years ago, and now it's 
> too
> expensive to run it!   :-(
>
> I've used those cattle trough heaters as well to keep the quench tank from
> freezing - but near here two barns have burned down last winter due to 
> them.
> When the cords get stiff, and that protective wire that comes on some of
> them rots off and the connection where it goes into the heating element
> looks funky - ditch it - why burn down your shop keeping a quench tank in
> tact.
>
> Ralph
>