Metal Melting?

[gamerdude1989]

Anyone into metal melting?

I have a garden full of copper and aluminium.
Old heating boiler.. copper pipes.. electric 3 phase motors.. etc etc

So bought a metal melting furnace to melt it all down and mold in ingots..
Easier to weight up and sell too..

So far ive bought: Devil Forge furnace.. A handful of ingot molds, a pair of crucible tongs etc

My question is gas related.... How long does a propane bottle last you? and which size?
I ask because, Ive got a 19kg propane bottle thats empty.. Where i am, You must exchange empty for full... So if you exchange in a 19kg bottle, You have to buy a full 19kg bottle.. and they are costly..
If the metal furnaces last quite some time on a small bottle.. I dont really want to have to folk out for refilling a massive bottle...

and vice versa... Is you go through gas really quickly when melting.. Then i may aswell refill the large bottle...

Also... How do you know what pressure to set the gas regulator to?
Is it a set figure? one is good for all metals?
Or is there a set figure for melting each indivudual type of metal?

Many Thanks