Stephani Stephenson on sat 9 may 09
Bill, you are omitting a whole class of electric kilns!
The big behemouth square kilns!
I use an 8 cubic ft Cress CH8 electric
it has 7 inches of insulation all the way round including the top.
it is FABULOUS in glaze development
onetime the kiln shutoff and as son as it went off I left town for a week=
=3D
.
When I returned, the kiln was still warm.
I usually have to speed up the cooling a bit by proppong the lid in vario=
=3D
us increments.
This kiln is also an electricity miser, and only needs a 50 amp breaker.d=
=3D
raws 35.
it is an old style cone/kilnsitter shutoff.=3D20
i 've fired aventurine glazes in it, and the complexity of my glazes impr=
=3D
oved
...galactically!
i purchased my kiln for $100. hardest part was getting it to the studio.
i have it on blocks now, in case i need to move it I can do so easily wit=
=3D
h a palette jack
Tony, in my head i still see the warmth of color coming from variation in=
=3D
gas kilns as=3D20
possibly more interesting in some situations. but a lot of people think s=
=3D
ome of my glazes=3D20
came from a gas stoneware firing. when in fact they are a lower fired, fr=
=3D
om an electric=3D20
kiln. and it is all about the cooling.
Stephani
Bill wrote:"I believe the most important issue in answering your question=
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is cooling.
Most gas fired kilns are much better insulated than most electric kilns (=
=3D
top
loading, sectional) that one would find in many potter's studios. A well
insulated kiln will cool slowly. The exception with electric kilns are th=
=3D
e
newer front loading electrics, with much better insulation, that might ma=
=3D
tch
the slow natural cooling of gas fired kilns."
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