My Lee 10lb pot absolutely pisses out lead when heating up to temperature.... Any help?

[Blowtoad]

Okay this is a recent occurance, but now it's happening constantly and I'm seeking advice. When bringing the pot up to temperature the lower section of lead melts and just flows out of the spout. Not drips- Flows. It's untenable.  The lead at the top of the column is still solid at this point- the lower area is liquid and flows until it's empty and I have a hollow cavern under the solid section. During this time I am unable to adjust the spout tube because it's stuck in place by the solid top layer.

Now, once the leaking bottom section of lead has made its escape all over my work table, the solid top layer eventually melts down and I have no problems. I can fill it back up full when hot and not even a drip. I try to pour with a mostly full pot, and have had no prior problem brining a full cold pot up to temperature- until recently where it's been a nightmare. Typically I set the dial to max, then back it down to 6-7 to pour.

I now resort to basically emptying the pot at the end of sessions and slowly feeding it lead once at temperature, but this doesn't seem normal. And again this hasn't been the case until recently. Any idea what's going on and how I can address this issue? Thanks lads

[Apdriver]

Typical of the Lee pot. You need to clean out the spout as some contaminants have made their way or it may even be oxidation. I always place a small Pyrex cup under the spout to catch the lead coming out when I do this. Wear gloves to protect yourself. After it heats up, take some wire or a hook bent in a 90 to keep you out of harms way and probe the hole. Open the spout and probe. This will loosen the oxidation-debris and should fix you back up. Always keep a catch pan under that Lee when heating it up. Saves some aggravation as it always will drip some. Shouldn’t pour out though. This is just how I do it. 

[Fishermanbt]

X2 on the above mentioned. Heat up pot. Use a spinner bait wire or paper clip in vice grips to insert into the discharge hole from underneath. Rather than Pyrex I use a cleaned out tuna fish or cat food can to catch the lead. Low profile and won’t pop from thermal shock. Work the handle up and down a few times while scraping around and up/down in the hole with the wire. Then use a flat screwdriver to twist the plunger rod left and right a few times followed up with a few quick lead flows with no wire. Sometimes the plunger with accumulate some scale on the end of it.
See if that helps. If not, I’d suggest empty your pot, take the plunger out and give the inside a good scrubbing with a wire brush and steel wool. 

[psilvers]

As mentioned above, use a piece of wire bent at 90 degrees, so that you keep your hands out of the way. I put my Lee pot on a cheap cookie sheet, so that any drippings are caught. You can get them at a Dollar store for a bit more than $1. I keep it on the sheet when pouring, as well.

 

Pete

[william cohen]

Those spouts are a pain in the butt. They plug up and are high maintenance .

[mjs]

I use a small drill bit and use it by hand to clean the spout. Seems to scrape the junk off fairly well. Think I got the idea here. 

[Jig Man]

5 hours ago, mjs said:

I use a small drill bit and use it by hand to clean the spout. Seems to scrape the junk off fairly well. Think I got the idea here. 

Me too.