On 2026-05-21 listings pulled from Made-in-China, an induction copper/bronze/brass melting-and-holding furnace paired with a continuous casting machine was quoted at US$10,000-30,000 per set with 1-set MOQ, while a Shanghai AXD heavy-machinery holding furnace was listed at US$10,000 per set MOQ 1 [S4]. A separate 10-tonne regenerative aluminium melting-and-holding unit sits in the negotiable 1-piece custom-build tier, indicating the band steps up sharply once capacity crosses roughly 5 tonnes [S1].
Holding furnace — 保持炉 / 保温炉 — is the equipment that keeps molten metal at pouring temperature between melt and cast [S5]. The cost problem is not the box but the refractory lining, the heat source (gas burner vs. electric resistance vs. induction coil), and the tonnage class, all of which move the price 3-5x across a comparable 1-tonne benchmark [S3][S4].
Price bands by capacity class, 2026 trade data
1-tonne-class units on the Chinese wholesale channel sit in the US$10,000-30,000/set FOB band, with multiple competing models and visible video documentation [S4]. For a 10-tonne regenerative aluminium melting-and-holding furnace, the listing is negotiable on a 1-piece MOQ and is positioned as a short-lead-time custom build, which on industrial channels typically lifts the entry price well above the 1-tonne floor once crucible, regenerator and burner skid are bundled [S1]. The size-to-price slope is not linear — refractory mass and burner sizing scale with tonnage, and shipping a 10-tonne unit consumes more container slots than a 1-tonne unit.
A practical rule when reading RFQs: a 1-tonne box at US$10,000 is the floor for a basic electric-resistance holding furnace, and 5-10 tonne regenerative gas-fired units move into custom quotation rather than posted catalog [S1][S4].
What drives the cost: refractory, burner, induction coil, control
Refractory selection is the single largest swing factor on delivered price. Alumina-silica castable suits aluminium and copper holding; magnesia or magnesia-chrome suits iron and steel melt-hold duty because it tolerates basic slags. Stoichiometric settling of inclusions in the bath — modelled against Stokes' law and opposed by thermal convection — is the metallurgical reason the holding section exists in the first place [S2]. A taller, well-insulated holding chamber with denser refractory pushes cost up linearly with lining mass.
Heat source is the second axis. Electric resistance holding furnaces — 电阻保温炉 — are simple, low-maintenance, and sit at the lower end of the band [S3]. Gas-fired regenerative burners recover flue-gas heat and can cut fuel cost 20-30% on a continuous holding line but add burner skid, regenerator brick, and combustion control, pushing the capex band up versus a plain resistance unit [S1][S3]. For copper/brass duty, channel or coreless induction coils coupled to a holding launder are common; coil copper mass, kVA rating, and cooling skid all move the spec [S4].
The deeper spec frame — types, capacity, refractory, burner, controls — is covered in the Holding Furnace 2026 Buying Guide for engineers building a spec sheet before requesting quotes.
Comparison: 1 t electric vs. 5 t gas-fired vs. 10 t regenerative
Three reference configurations pulled from the 2026 trade listings: (1) 1-tonne induction copper/bronze melting-and-holding, US$10,000-30,000/set, 1-set MOQ, induction coil + launder + continuous-casting machine as a paired line [S4]; (2) 1-tonne-class resistance holding furnace, lower band of the same listing cluster, simpler controls, electric-resistance elements [S3][S4]; (3) 10-tonne regenerative aluminium melting-and-holding, negotiable, custom build with short lead time, regenerative burner skid and full refractory package [S1].
On four decision criteria — entry capex, lead time, fuel/opex, refractory life — the 1-tonne resistance unit wins on capex and lead time but loses on fuel flexibility; the 1-tonne induction unit wins on throughput and temperature uniformity and loses on coil cooling infrastructure; the 10-tonne regenerative unit wins on per-tonne opex at continuous duty and loses on capex and footprint. The same trade-off shape applies in adjacent capital equipment — for example, a truck crane 2026 price & cost guide shows capacity, boom length and brand tier drive most of the swing, and that pattern is the norm for heavy industrial kit, including steel plate cost drivers where grade, spec, MOQ and freight account for the bulk of the variance.
Standards, sourcing channels, and MOQ mechanics
Trade-channel MOQ on Made-in-China for 1-tonne-class holding furnaces is 1 set [S4], which is friendly to first-line evaluation but rare on the 10-tonne custom tier where 1-piece MOQ is negotiable and effectively means "one project, one quote" [S1]. Incoterms on these listings are typically FOB or EXW Chinese port, so freight, inland trucking, and refractory-installation labour sit outside the headline number and must be added on top.
For process specification, the relevant reference points are refractory composition (alumina-silica, magnesia, magnesia-chrome) selected by alloy chemistry, holding temperature window, and the inclusion-settling requirement of the downstream casting step [S2]. Where CE / GB furnace-safety standards apply on export, the buyer's QC scope should be written into the PO; this is not a standardised line item on trade listings. Capacity numbers on catalog pages should be treated as nominal melt-and-hold mass, not as a pour-rate figure, and the holding chamber volume in litres is a better proxy for batch-to-batch metallurgical consistency.
Common failure modes and what they cost
Three failure modes hit operating cost and are worth pricing in. First, refractory erosion at the bath line forces a reline every 12-36 months depending on temperature and alloy — refractory grade is therefore a capex lever with an opex tail. Second, induction coil water-cooling failures on copper/brass holding lines stop the line within minutes; redundant pumps and water-flow interlocks are standard spec on higher-tier units. Third, burner skid flame failure on gas-fired units is a common root cause of cold-shut defects in the cast product, so a flame-rod or UV scanner with auto-purge is a standard safety ask. [S1]
Inclusion settling, modelled against Stokes' law and opposed by thermal convection in the holding bath, is the metallurgical reason holding furnaces exist as a separate station from the melter [S2]. Skimping on holding time to save fuel is a false economy when downstream rejection rate is sensitive to inclusion content — the holding furnace should be sized to the metallurgical residence time, not the melter's pour rate.
Who a holding furnace is — and is not — for
A holding furnace is for foundries and cast houses that need a controlled-temperature reservoir between melting and casting, where metallurgical consistency and inclusion control matter more than melt throughput. It is not for shops that pour direct from a single melter to a single mould line without a temperature buffer — in that case, the melter itself acts as the holding stage, and adding a separate holding unit is wasted capex. [S2]
Smaller jobbing foundries benefit from a 1-tonne electric-resistance or induction holding unit with a 1-set MOQ at the US$10,000-30,000 price band [S4]. Continuous aluminium or copper mills running multi-shift benefit from a 5-10 tonne regenerative or large induction unit on the custom-quote tier [S1]. When the workload pattern is a few heats per week, the holding furnace can be a smaller pit-type resistance unit and the capex drops back to the lower end of the band [S3][S4].
Trackable signals for the next 90 days: (a) Chinese wholesale listings for 1-tonne holding furnaces continue to show posted prices in the US$10,000-30,000/set band, which is the cleanest benchmark to watch for the entry-level capex floor [S4]; (b) 10-tonne regenerative units remain on negotiable 1-piece MOQ, so any posted price on that tier is a signal of a specific project's commercial terms rather than a market reference [S1]. For engineers comparing the per-tonne capex shape, the helical gear reducer 2026 price and cost guide and the variable speed drive 2026 cost guide follow the same size-and-class tiering pattern, useful as a sanity check on per-kW or per-tonne benchmarks across capital equipment.
For component-level specifications, see holding furnace, linear guide, and crossed roller guide.