How to use a melting pot
Updated: 2026-10-21
The first time you heat a melting pot, the useful question is not the star rating. It is whether the thing in the bowl is wax or metal, and whether the plug on the flex is one you can put in a UK socket. This is how to use a melting pot for those two cases: set the bench, heat, pour, clean, and stop if it misbehaves. It is not a ranking. The price rows sit on the [melting pot comparison](/hub/workshop/melting-pot). Products Compared is passing on maker warnings and review themes, not a lab method.
The first time you heat a melting pot, the useful question is not the star rating. It is whether the thing in the bowl is wax or metal, and whether the plug on the flex is one you can put in a UK socket.
The first time you heat a melting pot, the useful question is not the star rating. It is whether the thing in the bowl is wax or metal, and whether the plug on the flex is one you can put in a UK socket. This is how to use a melting pot for those two cases: set the bench, heat, pour, clean, and stop if it misbehaves. It is not a ranking. The price rows sit on the melting pot comparison. Products Compared is passing on maker warnings and review themes, not a lab method.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Heat | Control | Pour | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Marsheepy Marsheepy 600 ml double boiler | Hob jug | Hob and a thermometer | Pot rim | 8.0 | about £9.98 | View offer |
| Alternative |  JULWHISPER JULWHISPER 1.8 L wax melting pot | Mains | Keep-warm 70–80 °C | Spout | 7.6 | about £29.99 | View offer |
 Prince August Prince August solder melting pot | Mains, 250 W | Thermostat dial | Ladle, not listed | 8.4 | about £29.95 | View offer |
Set the bench and the plug
Put the pot on a surface that will not burn, with the cable run behind the bowl so you do not drag it through a pour. Keep paper, wicks, solvents and tea towels off that patch of bench. HSE fire guidance is simple on this point: keep ignition away from anything that burns. Wax is fuel once it is hot, and solder is a burn risk long before it is a fire risk. Stay in the room from the moment you switch on until the pot is unplugged and cool enough to touch. A shut-off is asked on the Bienslys and ZEROMX listings and not answered, so do not assume the pot will save you if you leave.
If the pot is electric, look at the plug before the first heat. UK domestic kit needs a BS 1363 connection, with a BS 1362 fuse if you are converting a lead. In this set a UK plug is claimed on the Prince August bullets and in the JULWHISPER title. Several other wax pots do not mention a plug in the technical lines. One Prince August reviewer opened the box, found a US plug, and blew the fuse on first use. That is the check. A holiday adaptor is a stopgap you should not build the session around. Hob jugs have no flex. Their hazard is the saucepan under them, which can boil dry if you walk off.
Heating metal
Use the solder pot only for metal it is stated for. The Prince August listings in this set run a thermostat from 200 to 450 °C at about 250 W. The maker’s own page warns that hot metal burns, that the pot is not for cooking, and that children under 14 should not use it without an adult. Wet or damp ingots can throw melt. Dry the metal, and do not drop a cold damp offcut into a full basin. Ladle rather than tip. The about £39.95 listing includes a metal ladle. The about £29.95 listing does not print one in the technical lines, so have your own before you need it.
Wash your hands after leaded casting alloy. Lead is outside COSHH, and HSE’s lead guidance treats industrial work above 500 °C as a higher fume case. These pots stop at a stated 450 °C, which is under that line and still not a reason to melt leaded alloy beside food or in a kitchen you use for dinner. Tin pewter and leaded casting metal are different alloys. Do not assume a hobby ingot is lead-free because the packet says pewter. If what you are holding is soy, soap or chocolate, stop. That basin is the wrong tool for soy.
Heating wax
A hob jug goes in a saucepan of water, not on a bare ring. Reviewers of the Marsheepy 600 ml jug and the Plumaire 400 ml pot describe exactly that: a small stainless bowl in a pan, used for balm, leftover tealight wax or a first candle. Keep water out of the wax. If the pan boils hard, turn it down. The jug has no thermostat, so a separate thermometer is how you know you have reached the pour on your wax sheet, not a guess from the steam.
An electric wax pot is stirred, watched, and unplugged when the pour is done. JULWHISPER states a hold around 70–80 °C. Yaskyly’s bullet says soy scorches above about 85 °C and points you at 75–80 °C with the thermometer in the kit. Ksedcon lists 220 V and 300–600 W, and one reviewer melted 500 g of soy in two to three minutes on high, which is fast enough to overshoot if you look away. Fragrance goes in off a roaring heat if your wax sheet says so. Do not copy an American 185 °F recipe as if it were the UK rule for every soy. Speed is not a reason to leave the room.
Cleaning is ordinary and imperfect. Listings suggest a wipe or hot water on a non-stick wax pot. Reviewers of the Marsheepy jug still report wax stuck to the steel. No scouring method was tested here. Let the pot cool until the wax is soft, not liquid, then wipe. Do not immerse a mains base. The ZEROMX listing asks whether the inner pot is dishwasher safe and does not answer.
When to stop
Stop if you smell burning, if the plug or the breaker trips, if wax spits, if plastic cracks, or if the temperature will not climb or will not stay put. Unplug it. Do not open the element, and do not keep resetting a fuse to force another heat. Two reviews in this set describe fire, and they are single reports rather than a percentage. One Ksedcon reviewer says a metal holder got hot enough that something on the table caught fire. One WUDLEP reviewer says the 10 litre unit caught fire from the inside about two minutes after switch-on. Either account is a return, not a troubleshooting project.
A dead control is the same decision. Bienslys texts include gauges that would not rise and switches that died after one use or after four or five uses, plus wax that spat across a kitchen. A Prince August heater that stops in the first week is a failed element, not a dial you should pin on maximum to compensate. One buyer of that solder pot burnt a unit out by leaving it on high. Return it. If you employ people to melt lead, the Control of Lead at Work Regulations are the employer’s problem, not a hobby footnote. Gold, silver, copper and aluminium are outside this method entirely.
Common questions
How do I check the plug?
Look at the pins. A UK domestic socket wants a BS 1363 plug. If the listing claimed a UK plug and you have a US flat-pin plug, do not force it through an adaptor as your normal setup. One Prince August review describes exactly that mismatch, and the fuse blew. Hob jugs have no plug to check.
Can I put damp ingots in a solder pot?
No. Prince August warns that wet metal can throw melt. Dry the ingots first, and do not drop damp scrap into a hot basin. The same page says the pot is not for cooking and that hands should be washed after leaded alloy. Ladle the metal out. Do not tip the basin like a jug.
How do I melt wax over a pan without a mess?
Set the jug in water, not in a roaring dry pan, and keep the water below the rim so it cannot splash into the wax. Stir, and read a thermometer against your wax sheet. Pour slowly. The Bolosa jug’s V spout still dripped for one reviewer, and the JULWHISPER electric pot is often criticised because wax runs down the outside. A cloth under the mould catches the drip. It does not make a bad lip accurate.
What if the temperature will not rise?
Unplug it and return it. Bienslys reviews include pots whose temperature would not climb and controls that died after a few uses. Pinning a solder-pot dial on high to force a dead heater is how one buyer burnt a unit out. A pot that will not control can overheat wax. That is a fault, not a technique.
What if it smells of burning or the power has tripped?
Switch off, unplug, and keep ignition away from whatever is hot. Do not open the casing. Two single reviews in this set describe a fire, one on a Ksedcon session and one inside a WUDLEP pot about two minutes after switch-on. Treat smoke, a trip, or a burning smell as the end of the session and the start of a return. A child should not be left to run any of these pots, whatever a lid bullet implies.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Updated October 2026.
- SI 2016/1101 regulation 35 (retrieved October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: COSHH basics (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: L132 Control of lead at work (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: Fire safety (retrieved October 2026)
- Prince August solder melting pot (retrieved October 2026)
- Crafts Council: Pewter casting lesson (retrieved October 2026)
- Candle Shack: Soy wax (retrieved October 2026)