rod oven question

[JD in Socal]

You don't need a heat lamp; a regular bulb will give you the small amount of heat that is needed in the enclose & insulated space.

I don't know how critical it is to maintain the temperature of the rod oven, but that lightbulb is going to burn out sometime and the heat will go away. Go to your local gunshop and you can buy a heating element that is made for this purpose. They look like small metal rods that plug in, and stay warm to the touch. In the enclose space of a gun safe, they keep the temperature just warm enough to prevent moisture from being a problem. I don't know the heat requirement for a rod oven, but I know these heating elements run for years with no problems.

JD

[Ray C.]

I read something saying 140 was a good temp.

[rcnemo]

Rod Oven Question

Using a fridge for a rod oven is very common for some of the smaller shop that I get into. Most of the ones that I have seen have metal shelving and use only about a 100 watt bulb. A heat lamp will concentrate too much heat in a small area and create a hot spot that could cause some damage.

My best advice is to just be careful... the whole idea is to keep the moisture out of the rods.

Nemo

[Bart]

This subject of a Rod stabilizer is a little over my head, but I do know that those that use Refrigerators for cold smoking meat never exceed 90 degrees. I've seen these refrigerators after years of use and the shelves are sagging from the heat, but there is no charring of the plastics. If you need more than 90 degrees of temperature than you might be exceeding the limits of a refrigerator.

You can buy heating elemets that are used for smoking. Put it on the bottom the frig, but you will probably need to add some ventilation to help control the temp.

Or try and find some sort of a heating elemet that has a thermostat to help control temp.

Hope this helped a little.

Frank

[burninbriar]

I might be mistaken here but I think the refrigerater idea is more for a dry storage facility than for use as a rod oven. I think you should, as you seem to be, be very cautious of making it hot as to be used as an oven.

[barstow151]

I put that thermometer in there and it's not quite up to 150 degrees yet, I suppose it is just gonna keep getting hotter and hotter since the heat light is in an enclosed unit, and just wondering what the melt temp. on the plastic on the inside door of the fridge, thought about riveting aluminum on the inside door and pull off all the plastic shell, just don't want to lose the insulation, I was thinking maybe a flood light might be a better option, but want to keep the temp up if I can, without having a problem

[burninbriar]

I've heard of people just useing a light bulb ? I dont have one so hopefully some one else will get in on this.

[barstow151]

I'm trying to make a rod oven stabilizer out of an old fridge, does anyone have any ideas how to do this with out burning my garage down, I've got a 150 watt heat lamp in there and had to shut her down last night cause of the heat, I got a thermometer today I'm gonna go put in there just to see how how it gets before it starts melting something if it does, I've got almost 200 lbs of rod in there right now, any information would be helpfull.