Lisa or Ginny on mon 24 feb 97
When I started making pots I was working in a studio where we fired to ^6
in a Skutt. Now I'm working in a university studio where all the kilns
are gas, and though I'm sure we CAN do lower-fired ware, most things are
fired to ^10R.
My partner and I are currently on the hunt for a new home. We will
either buy an existing home and property, or build our own home on land
that we buy. Either way, I'm looking at studio space and having my own
kiln at home.
There are advantages to electric oxidation firing, namely that I don't
have to hang around turning up the kiln every 30 minutes, am less likely
to get burned, AND I know that x glaze is going to look basically the
same from one firing to the next.
OTOH, the gas firing has its draws as well, in that I CAN do reduction,
and I've been led to believe that higher fired ware is stronger.
My questions are, which is cheaper, electric firing or gas? and Which
kiln is cheaper, and is it more expensive or less to build your own gas
kiln? (**by cheaper, I mean less expensive, not lower quality.)
--
Lisa Skeen
Living Tree Pottery
Greensboro, NC
YesIAmRU?
Email: lpskeen@nr.infi.net
Talbott on wed 26 feb 97
Lisa...
Firing a gas kiln in comparison to an electric kiln, all things
being equal, ie. volume of kiln, firing temps, insulating factors, etc., is
generally three times cheaper than using electricity. This is based on
paying $1.10 a gallon for liquified propane (LPG) and paying $0.11 per KWH
of electricity, as in my case. Having done the figures on the above values
$1.00 worth of electicity gives me 31,026 BTU's of heat energy and $1.00
worth of propane gives me 82,727 BTU's of heat energy. (The above is based
on 91,000 BTU's per gallon of liquified propane and 0.000293 KWH = 1 BTU.)
So if you divide this out, propane is actually 2.67 times cheaper to use
than electricity at the above rates.
During a typical ^10 glaze firing in our 40 cubic feet internal
space kiln, we use 50 gallons of propane at a cost of $55, not too bad.
Had we been using electricity this would have cost about $147.
Building your own gas kiln, doing most of the work yourself, is far
cheaper than buying one pre-built. Just the shipping costs on those
monsters is enormous... I checked on the shipping price for a 40 cubic feet
gas kiln, that was not even a car kiln, before I decided to build my own
and shipping alone was over $1000.
If you do build a gas kiln MAKE SURE that you build a CAR KILN and
that way you will SAVE YOUR BACK..... You will never regret having a car
BUT you will regret not having a car E-V-E-R-Y-T-I-M-E you load and unload
your kiln... And that is my nickel's worth on that...!
Take Care... Marshall
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>When I started making pots I was working in a studio where we fired to ^6
>in a Skutt. Now I'm working in a university studio where all the kilns
>are gas, and though I'm sure we CAN do lower-fired ware, most things are
>fired to ^10R.
>
>My partner and I are currently on the hunt for a new home. We will
>either buy an existing home and property, or build our own home on land
>that we buy. Either way, I'm looking at studio space and having my own
>kiln at home.
>
>There are advantages to electric oxidation firing, namely that I don't
>have to hang around turning up the kiln every 30 minutes, am less likely
>to get burned, AND I know that x glaze is going to look basically the
>same from one firing to the next.
>
>OTOH, the gas firing has its draws as well, in that I CAN do reduction,
>and I've been led to believe that higher fired ware is stronger.
>
>My questions are, which is cheaper, electric firing or gas? and Which
>kiln is cheaper, and is it more expensive or less to build your own gas
>kiln? (**by cheaper, I mean less expensive, not lower quality.)
>--
>Lisa Skeen
>Living Tree Pottery
>Greensboro, NC
>YesIAmRU?
>Email: lpskeen@nr.infi.net
1ST ANNUAL CLAYARTERS' GALLERY - NAPLES, MAINE (Summmer 1997)
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brad Sondahl on wed 26 feb 97
Talbott wrote:
>
> Firing a gas kiln in comparison to an electric kiln, all things being
Snip
During a typical ^10 glaze firing in our 40 cubic feet internal
space kiln, we use 50 gallons of propane at a cost of $55, not too bad.
Had we been using electricity this would have cost about $147.
snip
I question some of the basic assumptions here. Firstly, although
electricity may cost more per bpu, very little of it goes up the flue
(no extra charge for poetry). My seven cu ft electric kiln fires to
cone 10 for about $3 electricity (doesn't count wear on elements of
course). Compared to the quoted 40 foot kiln, that figures to $18.00 for
cost to fire 42 cu ft. Of course electricity is half as expensive here
as was quoted, so make it $36.00, and electricity is very comparable to
gas.
Further, if you use full hexagon shelves, very little of the stacking
space is wasted. A small kiln is more likely to be packed efficiently
and fully than a large kiln. Of course, the smaller the kiln, the less
space needed to store the pots to fill it, making the studio space
decrease as well.
Brad Sondahl in oxidizing Idaho
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