A retired guy at the diner said our old cupola furnace was a waste of gas

I was grabbing coffee at Lou's Diner and got talking with Frank, who ran a foundry here in town back in the 80s. He said our shop's old cupola furnace probably burns 30% more coke than a modern induction setup for the same iron output. It hit different because we've just been running it the same way for years without questioning the cost. Has anyone here actually switched from cupola to induction and seen the fuel savings?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_avery9d ago

Man, that hits close to home. We ran our old cupola for way too long because it was just what we knew. The gas bills were crazy, but we wrote it off as the cost of doing business. Finally switching felt like a gut punch, seeing the real numbers side by side. The savings on fuel alone paid for the upgrade way faster than we thought.

charliew999d ago

Did you see that article in Foundry Monthly about this? They had a case study where a small shop saved enough on coke in two years to cover the new unit. Makes you wonder how much cash we're all burning for no reason.