Kiln Location for new fuser

Bruce Larion · Post by **Bruce Larion** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:00 pm

I am just expanding from Stained Glass into fusing. I am looking to purchase my first kiln. After a lot of talking, reading and studying I have decided on a Skutt model 1014. My question is location. The only space I have available is in the attatched garage. This once 2 car garage is also my woodworking shop. It is not heated although in South Carolina the worst temp I have ever seen in the garage was mid 50's. My question is, will the space be fine for my kiln space and will the lack of constant heat outside the kiln effect firing schedules and cool downs

Brock · Post by **Brock** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:15 pm

It'll be fine. Brock

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:26 pm

Brock's right. You'll find that there are folks on this board who have their kilns outside in the garage in the middle of Utah in the winter and in the middle of Arizona in the summer... the temperatures that we use for kilnforming are so much higher that moderate temperature variations won't affect your firings.

Tony

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 12:04 pm

i also have this kiln. a real workhorse, although the peep holes are useless for actually looking at the glass. i bought some protective gloves and lift the lid to look at the glass. you might want to hook up a pulley system to your ceiling as the lid is fairly heavy and you don't want to slam it shut when it's hot. i don't use the builtin schedules, but have developed some that work better. you'll have to do some testing to find ones for your particular kiln.

make sure there's a couple feet of space around it when firing. my stand has wheels so i can move it around. also, leave it closed when not using it; otherwise you'll get a buildup of sawdust in it. my garage is also my woodworking shop, and the temps run from 130 to 30. the outside temp doesn't affect the kiln much. it doesn't cool down lower than 110 in the summer though.

Carol · Post by **Carol** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 12:37 pm

[quote="charlie"]i also have this kiln. a real workhorse, although the peep holes are useless for actually looking at the glass. i bought some protective gloves and lift the lid to look at the glass. you might want to hook up a pulley system to your ceiling as the lid is fairly heavy and you don't want to slam it shut when it's hot. i don't use the builtin schedules, but have developed some that work better. you'll have to do some testing to find ones for your particular kiln.

Charlie

I have a 1014 also, and love the ease of computer control. It is my third kiln and the first with elements in the lid. I find my lid continually shedding crap onto my firings, something that never happened with my other kilns...another Skutt with side elements only and an ancient ceramics kiln. I think that almost every firing I've done in this kiln (couple of dozen now) has crap in the glass, even though I've taken to vacuuming the lid before every firing.

How do you handle this problem? Didn't find much in the archives besides vacuuming.

Carol

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 12:50 pm

when i first got my kiln, i vacuumed it out thoroughly. i also fired it very hot the first time, which it didn't state in the user manual. i found out about this in conversation with the factory.

the lid bits are caused by, i think, the expansion and contraction done when the elements turn on/off during firing. this movement of the coils causes a bit of abrasion in the channels holding the elements.

i've had a little bit of this occur occasionally. i'm really gentle when lifting/lowering the lid in hopes that i don't shake the bits out of the channel. i blow it out manually each time i fire. i don't vacuum the inside of the kiln between each firing; there's all sorts of crud on the bottom. i've had the kiln for 1 3/4 years and i think i've vacuumed 4 times. however, i do use a ceramic board shelf that is supported off the bottom with posts, and it is almost the same size as the inside of the kiln. there's only about 3/4" between the sides of the shelf and the kiln walls, so anything that makes it to the bottom of the kiln is likely to stay there.

there was some talk in the archives about some type of liquid ceramic that is painted on and in the lid channels after removing the elements. i may do that when the lid elements burn out and i have to replace them anyway. removing good, but fired, elements is a bad idea, as once fired, they get more fragile.

Bruce Larion · Post by **Bruce Larion** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 3:02 pm

Thanks to all for the responses to my location questions. Sounds like the garage will work great. Have somewhat of a concern now about my kiln choice. Is pieces falling from the lid common to kilns or is the Skutt 1014 just prone to this

Cathy Crain · Post by **Cathy Crain** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 4:08 pm

ANOTHER LOCATION QUESTION:
I am brand new at this too. I just bought and received a Skutt GM1227 with a vent system and have a location question as well.

I have a very large studio with heat & air cond. and plenty of room for the kiln to be inside and vent to the outside. I also have another room which has no heat and air where it could be located. It would be less expensive to have the electrician run the power to the main studio than the second location. It would also be more convenient if it were inside, but I have no idea how much heat or fumes with a vent system one of these things generates to the surrounding environment and don't want a $1000 air conditioning bill in the summer (of course a little extra warmth in the winter wouldn't hurt

) Which area would you suggest I locate it?

Cathy

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 4:15 pm

full time air conditioning a space with a kiln is just nuts. that's like leaving your oven open in your kitchen and trying to keep the kitchen cool at the same time.

if you can't shut off the ac to the studio, put it where there's no ac.

it'll be FAR cheaper in the long run to pay more to wire it elsewhere than you'll spend in ac bills.

this is predicated on how long your ac season is. here in az, that's about 9 months. in alaska, that'd be about 2 days.

which is longer and more extreme for you: heating season or ac season?

Al Bray · Post by **Al Bray** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 4:26 pm

I have the GM 1414 myself and love the kiln and controller.

I agree with Charlie's statment about the peepholes being practically useless. And if you think the lid on the 1014 is heavy, the 1414 lid is heavier yet. I really need to rig up a pully system...just dont want to void the warranty

In the manual that comes with them now (and is posted on Skutt's Websight)

http://www.skutt.com/pdf/glass_kilns/Gl ... Manual.pdf

on 7 page there is a section about Seating the Elements (which as Charlie states fires the kiln very hot the first time to relieve the stress and minimize the contraction and expansion of the elements on future firings).

Even though I was very eager to get to fusing when the kiln first arrived, I took the time to do this procedure and have been fortunate in that I have had very little kiln dust contamination.

But as a precaution, I also make sure I shop-vac the top element grooves before each firing and when the kiln is firing I try to minimize the "peeking", as much I can control myself anyway.

- Al

Cathy Crain · Post by **Cathy Crain** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 6:46 pm

Thanks Charlie, I really appreciate your response. You have answered my question as to the location of my kiln.

Cathy

Cynthia · Post by **Cynthia** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:29 pm

dadll wrote:Thanks to all for the responses to my location questions. Sounds like the garage will work great. Have somewhat of a concern now about my kiln choice. Is pieces falling from the lid common to kilns or is the Skutt 1014 just prone to this

Brick kilns with elements in the lid will drop brick crud on your work. Don't crash cool since this just hastens the decay of the brick, vacuum the lid on occasion. Treat the lid with care in opening and closing so you don't dislodge any loose pieces of brick crud and dust. If you really find this is an issue, which you might, you can coat the lid with a refractory cement that will seal it fairly well. I coated mine after a year of use, and have had crud free firings for 3 years. I expect that crud will still happen on occasion though.

I got my cement from Ed Hoy and it's aptly called, Kiln Repair Cement. It's a high-temperature refractory cement and any kiln manufacturer should have this type of product and instructions on how to use it .

Carol · Post by **Carol** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:54 pm

Brick kilns with elements in the lid will drop brick crud on your work. Don't crash cool since this just hastens the decay of the brick, vacuum the lid on occasion. Treat the lid with care in opening and closing so you don't dislodge any loose pieces of brick crud and dust. If you really find this is an issue, which you might, you can coat the lid with a refractory cement that will seal it fairly well. I coated mine after a year of use, and have had crud free firings for 3 years. I expect that crud will still happen on occasion though.

Thanks Cynthia, that's what I was looking for. I did seat the elements, open/close gently, minimize peeking. I dunno, maybe I'm just too picky or something. I will phone Skutt and make sure the refractory cement won't void the warranty.

Carol