PSA: I looked up the heat loss numbers for our old pouring ladles and it's worse than I thought

I was reading an old industry report from the 90s and it said our standard 500-pound ladles can lose up to 15 degrees per minute just sitting in the air before a pour. I always figured it was bad, but that's a huge chunk of heat. We've been talking about new linings, but maybe we need to look at pre-heating the ladles more, or even those insulated covers I used to think were a waste of time. Has anyone tried those covers on a production floor and did they actually help?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie1303mo ago

Oh man, that's wild! We did the same thing with some custom covers and it was a total game changer. Honestly made the whole pour way more consistent.

jenniferb533mo ago

We had the same problem with our smaller ladles. Boss got some ceramic fiber blankets and we made our own covers. Cut the drop down to maybe 5 degrees a minute. Big difference in pour temp. Pre-heating helped too, but those covers were the real fix. Cheap and easy to do.

linda_ward2mo ago

Right, cause nothing says "we've got this under control" like wrapping your ladles in what looks like a high-temp space blanket. But hey, if it keeps the temp from dropping faster than my coffee on a cold morning, I'm all for it. We tried pre-heating too and it was like putting a bandaid on a bullet hole. Those covers really do the heavy lifting. Sometimes the jankiest fix is the best fix.