Help me pick a propane cooker for dying and waxing

I'm looking for an outdoor cooker for doing my taps but am unsure what to get. I find many different options ranging from 55,000 btu up to 200,000 btu. Rubber hoses vs high pressure metal hoses. I don't want to spend a ton on a real powerful one with fancy hoses if i can help it but in also don't want one that not strong enough to get a large stock pot boiling. I plan on waxing by melting pure wax in a pot that's inside another pot of boiling water to avoid burning it.

This is what i use
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076MM3XZP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I dont like scubas at all, too tall. Id rather have something close to the ground like this.......

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071ZM8YV...a1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Whatever you get, be sure it has a frame stout enough to hold the weight of your pots.

I want something close the the ground as well. I'm more concerned about how many btus would be good. Temps are cooling down fast so I might end up doing this on a colder day. Do you think 100,000 btu will be enough?

This! I'm not so sure you need super duper btus or high pressure lines but I do know many are rather flimsy intended for only a gallon or two of frying oil or water for seafood boil.

I use a #3 wash tub for dying and it's a pretty touch and go balacing act with that much water.

Mine is a 58k burner I got cheap from basspro years ago. I use a 20 gallon barrel with a lid to help heat it up. It works just fine It'll boil the water really hard if you wanted it to or keep it at a simmer like I do. Put the lid on to get it boiling and back on when you put the traps in and cool down the water with them. Just a board will work for a lid.



~ADC~

Scuba's rig has removable legs!

Looks familiar ADC lol.

Yellow barrels are where it's at.

I'm thinking of going with this one. Looks like it should hold some weight

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ba...th-hose-guard-210-000-btu/554BPHP17.html

That ought to work.

20 gallons water @ 8lbs per = 160lbs

I like that, too...but I'd like to see the legs angled out, like the one ADC is using.

I do just like adc's setup. If it is cold or windy a windbreaker helps a lot. I have also used an old garbage can with no bottom as a windbreaker, just slip it over the top of the burner. You may have to cut a hole for the hose. This really helps a lot with boiling time.

I built a Venturi burner for my homemade propane forge. Just put the pot on cinder blocks and used fire brick to build a little oven underneath, set up my forge next to it and direct the flame under the pot. I can forge stakes and boil traps without using extra propane

Set the blocks so I can overflow the pot with the hose to get rid of floating gunk, it spills out the opposite side from the burner. The setup cost me an hours work and $20 in parts to build the burner

I don't use the legs when I have a big vat on the thing. They are bolt on optional

I have been using my turkey fryer setup for about 12 years or so. I have 2kettles for the burner, one for my food use and one for traps. I like the center of gravity being lower and the stand having flared legs. The pot only holds about 7-8 gallons but I can do about 24-30 1.75 sized traps. Once heated up it does not take long to skim off the grime and trash off the top of the pots, add some water and lye etc. and do 3-5 batches of different traps per day if one has other projects going on such as lawn moving, weeding the garden etc. I dye with that unit as well and have used it to wax as well as one can control the heat fairly well.

Bryce

You know, my mother in law gave us an extra "smart cooker" a couple years ago. We already had one in our kitchen so was trying to be polite and accepted her gift of a second one.
That thing melts 10 lbs of wax very nicely and you can control the temp setting easily...and no flame concerns with the melted wax.
I did a bunch of bridger 3s, montana 2s, and DPs yesterday while I was doing other stuff in the garage anyway.
Plus i smile to myself when i think of what my mother in law would do if she knew what I was using her gift for!
Jim

Any low priced fish cooker will do. Oil will be heated to 350/400 degrees, and water boils @ 212. You can catch them for $49 regularly and on sale down to $29, especially this time of year.

You just need a weed tourch you can dye and wax at the same time, pull the traps out of the dye shake them off the heat will do the rest then have your wax bucket next to the barrel with the tip of the flame heating the wax bucket. Toss on a sheet of clean cardboard and your good to go.

I'd first check out all the local swap meets. I'm seeing them all the time. But I'm cheap.
just

X2