My company recently purchased a new Electrovert Astrapak wave soldering
machine, thus sending our old Hollis machine to the Smithsonian Institution
(museum for the painfully antique production technology.)
    With the new machine installed, a question arises. In the past, at the
end of each production day we would simply turn off the old Hollis machine
and go home, letting the solder pot cool down overnight. With the "new and
improved" machine, our installer tells us that we should leave the solder
pot on overnight and on weekends. He says that the we would save energy by
not cooling and reheating the 500 lbs of solder everyday, and the energy
savings would be significant. He also says that most of his customers
operate this way, leaving the pot on all the time.
    I am nervous about this, especially now that we live in the land of
regulation (EPA, OSHA, local fire codes, etc). Using the 5 to 1 rule, ( 5
watts used to cool of each watt used to heat)wouldn't the HVAC cost blow off
any money saved keeping the pot on all night? Also, wouldn't I need to keep
the exhaust fans running all the time, in case something dropped into the
pot and started smoking?

My question to Technet is this.... How many of you keep your solder pots hot
all the time? Are there valid safety/cost issues here, or am I just
paranoid?


Respectfully,

Neil Maloney
Service Technician
Contemporary Controls
http://www.ccontrol.com
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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