Francoise Melville on wed 10 apr 96
Marie-Claire,
When I lived in Europe I had an small electric kiln in my living
room. It was a German one made by Naber, and approved in Spain at least,
for domestic use. It was a one section kiln, complete with platinum-rhodium
pyrometer, and an automatic shut-off which included the pre-programming of
soak times up to one hour. The outside of the kiln certainly never got
unbearably hot, and I lived happily with this kiln for seven years. So did
my canaries, cats, dogs and parrots.
All my studio potter friends had similar set-ups and one had a 70 litre
propane-fired kiln in his study. He lived on the lower floor of a duplex
type dwelling, and the actual propane tank was outside, propane being
considered dangerous in Spain, wheareas butane is not. (Anyone know why?)
This kiln - made in Catalunya - was also approved for domestic use by the
autonomous province of Andalucia. I note that the North-American kilns,
though good, are relatively poorly insulated and consume much more wattage
than the European ones, where electricity is a far more expensive commodity.
For instance my Naber kiln was rated at 2.200 watts whereas an Olympic kiln
of the same internal dimensions is rated at 5.500 watts. The same applies
to the electric kilns made in Catalunya, and, I believe, most other
European-made kilns I was told that these kilns were all far, far safer
than the average kitchen range. I remember seeing a few (very expensive)
American kilns advertised in the Spanish magazine "Ceramica" and thinking :
who on earth would ever buy one of those power-gobbling, poorly insulated
things? Well, beggars can't be choosers and I'm using one now in my garage.
It's old but it does its job and electric current is cheap in British Columbia.
When I lived in Europe, my house and all those around me were made
of bricks or stone, cement and concrete. Up to the age of 50, when I came
to Canada, I had never seen or heard of anyone in my neighbourhood having a
house-fire - potters or otherwise. Since I have been living here in B.C. I
hear of fires occurring nearby at least once a month. One was right across
the street from me, no kiln there either. So I believe you are right in
thinking that the paranoia is justified by the fact that in this region at
least, 100% of the houses are entirely built of wood, and most have plastic
siding too. When I first came here I was amazed that such structures could
be allowed to exist. We have smoke-alarms all over the place, and in Spain
I didn't even know such devices existed!
Sorry, this is getting too long....I hope that neither I nor my
wooden house ever get 'flamed'.
Francoise
Port Edward, B.C.
Northwestern Canada
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