BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > CRAFTING CORNER

Recovering Wax

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The15thMember:
Okay, if it's just on low.  Sometimes turn the pot up to high for just a little while at the end, to get the last stubborn bits to melt, and I don't know if I'd be comfortable doing that then.  But a little patience on low would probably work too. 

animal:
the only way I can see it catching fire is if you somehow got the wax in contact with the heating element itself and it could get oxygen to it.
The way my crock pot is made, I don't see any way to make that happen without trying really hard to make it happen.

Mine actually has an aluminum liner between the crock and the element.. pretty sure if I removed the liner, tossed some wax on the element, reassembled everything and turned it on, it would make a bunch of smoke but no flames.

Can't speak for all models of the things, though.

with water in the crock the temp will be regulated to a little over 212 ... as long as the wax is below 350 (whatever the boiling point of the wax is) it shouldn't ignite from a spark. ... at 450 or so it could spontaneously ignite.

I never put oil and a thermometer in a crock pot and left it on, but I'd bet it would be under 350

The15thMember:
Yeah, it's probably not too big of a risk.  I just know how hot the exterior of a crock pot can get, and I'd be worried about having something in contact with that for potentially like 6 hours, but it's probably not hot enough to actually cause the cotton cheese cloth to burn or smoke.  If you were using some synthetic fabric though, it could melt it. 

animal:
uhh .. If it gets that hot enough to melt polyester on the outside (unless the crock was completely empty or wrapped in the fabric) I don't think I would use it at all.

Pretty sure there's a thermal limit switch in all of them to keep them from getting that hot. .. never actually took one apart, tho.

The15thMember:
I just looked up the melting point of polyester, so I'm apparently wrong about that.  :grin:

I was just thinking in terms of what I'd be comfortable setting up and leaving relatively unattended for long periods of time, but I guess my concerns are unfounded.

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