Aluminum Precision Products (APP) Cleveland Division expects to cut monthly operation costs up to 71 percent by converting a heat-treating furnace from electricity to natural gas, in a joint test conducted by Dominion East Ohio. Furnace Combustion & Controls Co., a division of The Furnace Works Inc., of Sheffield, Ohio, completed APP's furnace conversion, which included a complete rehab of all steel, ceramic fiber insulation, mechanical, PLC and electrical systems, in April of this year. The new natural gas burners heat the furnace to its 940F operating temperature within 45 minutes to one hour, an improvement over the electric furnace, which required five hours. In addition, the natural gas-fired heating reduced batch time from the former five hours to four hours and ten minutes, saving 50 minutes per batch. The furnace is used to heat treat aluminum forgings.