pretreatment tank

[bzer1]

I'm building a pretreatment tank(dip tank) and need to heat the iron phosphate. I'm using a 30 gal steel drum(new) on it's side and need to find a submersible heater that can keep the contents at around 100 f. I doubt a fish tank heater will do the trick as most that would be big enough will not hold the temp above 78. I thought of using a hot water heater element and thermostat but would rather use a real submersible heater. I'm also at the end of my budget, so money is getting tight. Please help!!!

[etyrrany]

Have you though of using tea kettle elements. Maybe like 3 or 4 would do the job. You could probobly find some nice doners at the local Salvation Army or thrift store. The only difficult part would be hooking them up some type of thermometer/on-off device.

etyrrany

[non-stick]

http://www.caswellplating.com/supplies/heaters.html

there ya go. 17 bucks and it should do what you're looking for. The plating guys use em all the time. Hope that helps.... Russ

By the way.... welcome to "da boards".

[bzer1]

Wow that was fast. Thanks for the replies.

etyrrany: I was going to use a heater element from a water heater but decided against it because of the wiring and temp control problems. I even looked at some of the hamilton beech electric dutch ovens in Wal-Mart.

non-stick: Thanks for the welcome...I've been lurking for a while...I'm really just getting restarted in PC and this forum has been a great help. I hope I can contribute to this growing knowlege base. I saw those heaters and wondered if they would heat about 25 or so gals or would I need a few of them? My biggest problem is volume. I've found heaters that will do the job but they're very pricey. I will post some pics of my setup when it's done so maybe others can copy it.

[tomg552001]

Depending on how fast you want the solution to come up to temp, one will work. For the price, and a quick heat up, i'd use 3, or else you'll be waiting 5-6 hours for it to heat that much solution up.

[mcaswell]

It would be best to invest in a 1000 Watt Heater. We can supply them, with a controller unit, for approx $300.00. I doubt our 300W heaters will get that amount of solution up to temp.

you may be able to take sand hogs and the stats they use in elect. heaters .. weld on a bung but them in wire them up and that may work ... some are 110 and some are 220... i build a steamer out of a little 40 gal tank and it works great ....