Monday, November 27, 2017

Firing a Kiln with an Automatic Controller

Fired my kiln overnight last night. Apparently the transformer is too far from my home to run my kiln efficiently to top Cone 6 temperature and run my heat pump which heats and air conditions my home. I noticed this when the temperature on my kiln was struggling to get up to the top temp on a glaze load. Another potter mentioned that my transformer might be too far away from my home. This is even after I had the electric company install a new transformer. Once I turned off the heat pump my kiln temperature climbed right up as it should.The first two years we lived here it was not a problem. Not sure what changed? More people on the line?

When I fire my glaze loads I turn off my heat pump completely. Gary said even when the heat pump isn't cycling on and off, the pump still draws a lot of electricity on standby. I never realized that fact. If I had not been watching my kiln closely I never would have known about this problem; one of the benefits of having a kiln with an automatic controller. Keep an eye on how long it takes your kiln to fire even if you don't have an automatic controller. Keeping a firing log is a good idea. Firing times tell a lot about your kiln and how it is operating. Automatic controllers records and maintains a lot of useful information

A question came up on clay buddies, a pottery group on fb, about firing kilns without enviro-vents. When should a person lower the lid and should they leave one vent hole open. My Skutt manual says to keep the lid propped open till 1000 F and to keep the top vent hole open during the whole firing. My manual also says to keep a fan blowing on the controller during the hole firing. That's why you see the fan aimed at the controller. This is the third Skutt kiln I have had and so far this practice has served me well.

I just finished a glaze load overnight and the kiln is now cooling down.  I just inserted the top vent plug so the kiln can cool down naturally. I won't open the kiln till the temperature reaches 150 F. At 150 F I'll prop the lid open and remove the vent plugs to allow the kiln to cool down to room temperature. When you spend so much time making, bisque firing, glazing, and glaze firing, no sense getting impatient the last few hours. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

8 comments:

  1. Yes, the studio has a van pointed at the kiln's controls...a Skutt as well. We have 2 of them and they run one at a time, so our elec. seems adequate, being in the heart of Black Mountain, and I've never even looked to see the transformer that is feeding us. (I'll check to see if one is visible, but I think a lot of the newer renovations downtown have buried utilities).

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  2. Hi Barbara, thanks, you probably have commercial electric service there which in many circumstances is much more adequate than rural, we live on a 1/5 acres and the transformer is at the bottom of the hill and we live at the top; too expensive to have pole up near the home and it runs underground up to our home, but still in all, the electric was fine when we first moved here and now it isn't? I suspect the electric company is feeding too many folks off of too little amps or watts or whatever it is that they provide. Never had that problem in Florida but transformer was closer to our home, never had that problem in California either. I talked to the repair man and he said that was all they could do was replace transformer, we have enough electric breakers to run everything in our home so should have enough to run my kiln with room to spare and it was wired by an electrician but something is not quite right and running without adequate power is very hard on appliances and shortens the life of the appliance, the same is true of dishwashers, microwaves, refrigerators, why when we remodeled our kitchen in California the electrician said he needed to run a separate line to each appliance and gave each one a separate breaker.

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  3. Hi Linda, I'm a fb clay buddie. I love your work. Great post. I'm still not sure why to keep a lid propped when people have a vent system. So many opinions. I just got my kiln and am doing my test firing now, without the environment because I haven't found anyone who can poke a hole in my wall and install it.. . Cheers, Marcia

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  4. Hi Marcia, thanks, you don't have to keep the lid propped if you have a vent. only if you don't have a vent; I don't have a vent so I keep it propped, the vent takes care of taking all the noxious fumes and outgassing of particulates, etc out of the kiln and vents them to the outside, without the vent the open lid allows moisture and outgassing of chemical burn off and particulates. if you are firing your kiln indoors in a place where you are living, do not fire without leaving windows open as the fumes are dangerous, my kiln is on a back porch separate from my home with windows which I leave open. Hope that helps.

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  5. Sigh. Good luck with the firing - I hope it went exceedingly well.

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  6. Hi Sue, thanks, so far so good, almost cooled down, since we have cold weather it cools down quicker than it does in summer.

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  7. Can't help much with kiln problems since all my work is fired at the studio. Would love to have a wheel and a kiln at home - (maybe one day).
    Anxious to see what comes out of your kiln when it's cooled down.

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  8. Hi Rian, thanks, I know what the problem is with the electricity supply so I can work around it, I suspect that the electric company has not updated their grid and that we are not receiving the same amperage or watts or whatever it is we get from them.

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