Bill Merrill on sun 16 dec 07
It is very interesting the way people go about building a gas fired
stoneware kiln. One would think that the first thing ti decide
(construction) is what size of shelves you are going to use. Using the
shelves one can lay a footprint of the kiln on the floor around the
shelves. This way you can deal with the combustion area and how much
space you want around the shelves. You can also figure where and how
many burner ports you plan on having and the top view of you flue area.
The door size can also be shown. Then you know and can plan on how many
brick you will need in each vertical row of height. When doing a plan
this way it may help you decide on what burners are best suited fir your
kiln design. I have built flat roof kilns for over 30 years. The
design is not a Minnesota flat top kiln. Each row of brick are
indepentant and one person can put each row in place. I have over 600
firings on my kiln and the roof is like new. I will send on your
request pictures of and how to build this system. The rows don't sag
because of angle iron on the top of each brick and nichrome wire going
under the rod running through the brick. The wire is twist tied on the
apex of the angle iron. Don't get me wrong I love arches, but building
a kiln this way you only need straight brick. There are so many good
burners being made there shouldn't be as many issues as there appears to
be when firing a kiln. One must then consider the proper regulator
sizes and what amount of BTU's are needed for the system. =20
=20
If I can help anyone, feel free to write and I'll send pic's etc.
=20
Regards,
=20
Bill Merrill
=20
billm@pcadmin.ctc.edu
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