Hello mody454, the short answer is yes, they should be kept hot all the time(250F ideally) after they have been removed from their "hermetically" sealed containers. Many of the guys will keep them plugged into shore power until they get ready to travel to the job and then when they get there they will plug them back into site power or their welding machines, providing they are following the letter of the code. Best regards, aevald
i guess installing a power inverter on the truck and maybe an extra battery wouldnt work prob suck to much juice
They should be in oven after opening sealed container until time of use. Depending on which code you are working to you can take them out of the oven for a period (depends on code, weather conditions, type rod, site specific rules) and put in rod pouch. I've seen time vary from one hour to eight hours. I would bring rod oven in hotel room (didn't stay at the Mariott) when out of town or leave them pluged in at job site depending on security of job. I admit I didn't always do this but when working on anything to be RT or UT I did. Not a pipeline welder so can't say how they handle that in the field.
An inverter of significant wattage would work...depends on the wattage of your heating element......however overnight you are likely to lose your battery charge...running dual batteries of good enough depth could cure this. Provide details of your rod oven's electrical requirements and I will calculate out the draw for you. Allan is right in that 250f is the right temp but a airtight insulated container with nothing more then a 100 watt lightbulb in it will keep those rods dry.......mosture is the biggest issue with smaw rods as it affects the flux and also causes corrosion on your steels. For code welds/and or xray work I would only use rods that where maintained properly....
My $.02
Tommy
so i found some 10 lb rod ovens on ebay. so i could get an inverter to keep them warm during the day and pull the oven in to the hotel or what have you at night . but this means i have to buy rods in 10lb incriments though huh.
The oven suggested above by Lawrence takes 50lbs.
Right,
Fill the thing with 50 lbs in the morning and the harder you work the lighter the oven is to lug back :)
"Fill the thing with 50 lbs in the morning and the harder you work the lighter the oven is to lug back" LOL if you are burning that much in one day.....heck I would probably sign up as you bullganger cause you are making the serious bux!!!!!!
Buy your 7018 in 10 pound cans. I just bought 2 Phoenix 10# hot boxes. They are set at 300 degrees and are AC only. You can buy 115VDC hot boxes. I have one box for 1/8 and the other for 5/32. They are not designed to recondition rods, only to maintain them. I have 2 300# regular rod ovens which keep the big 3/16 and 7/32's and you can crank them to 450 degrees to recondition the rods. Most of the MR rods can be used without heating up to 12 hours out of a fresh can. If you are welding pipe, 10 pounds of rod is a lot to burn in a day unless you have Superfitter ahead of you and you dont have to wait for QC.
For the road you can buy a toaster oven and make a small channel that will fit in it that will hold 15 Lbs. Put it on Broil, and it will be a good recondition oven for $65.00, or $10.00 if you get it at a yard sale.
By cwf07 
Date 11-04-2007 00:38
Edited 11-05-2007 00:23
I have 3-50lbs rod oven on my truck I got a drop cord run out of my shop to plug them in a night I don't worry about them when i am driving the boxes are well installed. And also they warm your lunch up real nice.
I use a couple of 10 pound portable rod ovens that are mounted in the truck when in use I have them set up to plug into an outlet as you would plug in a block heater when on the way to the job they hold heat quit well and once on site I either plug them into what ever power is available or plug them into the welder as soon as it is running, I also use rod boxes that have a o-ring seal that work well to keep moisture off the rods if I do not use the whole box in a day. Some of the portable ovens are pricey but a necessary evil, I payed around $230.00 apiece for the ones I use.
I have a Phonex Dry Rod oven, and it is great. You can bring it up to temp in the morning(read plugged in all night), and it will hold heat till coffee break till you can plug it in again.
