Much as I love my induction heater(s) and use them whenever possible, I still occasionally have to use my gas forge for some production work. Now I hate paying for propane to heat up the workshop just so I can go home with sweat pooling in my boots (which was why i got an induction heater). I'm also a health and safety wuss and never felt comfortable with gas and the risk of pumping the room full of gas should the flame go out whilst I'm elsewhere .... and conventional flame failure devices react to heat rather than temperature. *Tips: choose best drill press
So I decided to rig up a temperature controller for the forge and use a second thermocouple to monitor the output of a pilot circuit. I won't make this a "how to article" cos gas and electricity can be lethal on their own or together .... and really best played around with by people who know what they are doing. This post might be food for thought for some of those though.
Basically I've got two temperature controllers, two thermocouples and two gas solenoids. One controller measures a pilot burner near it's nozzle, the other measures the temperature of the forge near the wall near the work. The pilot controller is set so that it's output is only ON when the pilot thermocouple sees a temperature of over 900C. When this is so, it sends a signal to the other controller that you can dial a temperature in (good for bronze) and it switches the main burners ON and OFF around that temperature. Means there is always a pilot flame or a hot surface to re ignite the main burners when they go OFF. No pilot flame .... no main burners.
The pilot controller also switches of ALL the gas if it doesn't see a flame. but there is a spring loaded bypass button that you have to press for a minute or so to allow the pilot to get up to temperature (a bit like a conventional FFD).
This set up and the induction heaters save me a FORTUNE in propane.
It's also really rather advisable to use a carbon monoxide alarm/meter with any gas forge used indoors. People DO die from the stuff every year. No blacksmiths that i know of but there is always a first.
Source: best deep cycle marine battery
So I decided to rig up a temperature controller for the forge and use a second thermocouple to monitor the output of a pilot circuit. I won't make this a "how to article" cos gas and electricity can be lethal on their own or together .... and really best played around with by people who know what they are doing. This post might be food for thought for some of those though.
Basically I've got two temperature controllers, two thermocouples and two gas solenoids. One controller measures a pilot burner near it's nozzle, the other measures the temperature of the forge near the wall near the work. The pilot controller is set so that it's output is only ON when the pilot thermocouple sees a temperature of over 900C. When this is so, it sends a signal to the other controller that you can dial a temperature in (good for bronze) and it switches the main burners ON and OFF around that temperature. Means there is always a pilot flame or a hot surface to re ignite the main burners when they go OFF. No pilot flame .... no main burners.
The pilot controller also switches of ALL the gas if it doesn't see a flame. but there is a spring loaded bypass button that you have to press for a minute or so to allow the pilot to get up to temperature (a bit like a conventional FFD).
This set up and the induction heaters save me a FORTUNE in propane.
It's also really rather advisable to use a carbon monoxide alarm/meter with any gas forge used indoors. People DO die from the stuff every year. No blacksmiths that i know of but there is always a first.
Source: best deep cycle marine battery