John Baymore on sun 9 jul 00
John Baymore has great experience with this board and is
none too encouraging about dealing with them.
Actually...... that is a bit of an overstatement . The part most Mass=
.
potters don't like to hear is that you typically DO have to deal with the=
m.
They DO have jurisdiction in the State when it comes to gas kilns, wheth=
er
we like it or not. Death, taxes, and the MA State Fuel Gas Board .
Some people (who are nervous about such things as flame and explosions)
would say that it is GOOD that there are specific State regulations. =
Potters, who are usually very comfortable with fire, sometimes feel that
the formal approval process that is involved is unnecessary and overly
costly. Reality is probably somewhere in between . I have always fou=
nd
it basically just plain annoying to have to go to a central institution
rather than dealing with the local officials, but I have never had an
installation denied or turned down by the folks in downtown Boston. They=
have been reasonable to deal with, in my estimation. It is just a layer=
of government BS that one has to deal with in Massachusetts .
I've got to say here that I HAVE gone to do consulting on some kiln
installations that are so scary when I see them that it makes central
government regulation of such installations seem a really GOOD thing. I
think of the scene in the Monty Python Holy Grail movie with the rabbits
and think .......... run away.....run away......run away......... . =
But, all in all, most potters seem to have a "clue" when they put in gas
kilns. These "disasters waiting to happen" are few and far between. But=
unfortunately, it only takes one to affect the preception of ALL potter's=
gas kilns with the general public.
By the way......... it is possible that a local town government, when
approached about a gas kiln installation, will make a MISTAKE and NOT tel=
l
you that the gas kiln plans that you are proposing must be reviewed by th=
e
MSFGB. They probably have never dealt with a studio gas kiln either
and didn't think to look in the gas code book, and never even guessed tha=
t
the State would have specific written regulations to this unusual thing.
This is how some kilns go in without formal review. Were this the case,
you'd not know that this installation would then technically be illegal b=
y
state law. How this would affect things like liability and insurance
claims in the case of disaster or other such aspects ....... I haven't a
clue. You'd probably have some recourse via legal means against the loca=
l
town officials, after the fact. This would be the realm of the lawyers
.
In some more rural places, potters just put in kilns without any local
review at all (don't ask, don't tell.). The propane company "looks the
other way" (assumes that it was a legal installation) ....cause they get =
to
sell lots of gas. In this case, my guess is that liability issues and
insurance issues if a fire or other major problem occured would be a REAL=
problem for the potter (and probably the propane company too).
One situation that sometimes crops up in getting approvals in MA is that
the folks at the Mass. State Fuel Gas Board don't really talk "potter
lingo" everyday. They deal with engineers and big business people about
99.9999999999 percent of the time. So you have to deal with them in thei=
r
own language and on terms that they are familiar with. That forces US to=
move toward THEM in our methods of communicating. Gets closer to the mod=
e
of big business, engineering, and left brain stuff than we typically
use. They typically don't have the time (time is money) to learn about u=
s
and move in our direction.......although over the many years of approving=
the piddling few gas kiln plans that they get...... they are probably
getting better and better at relating to studio potters . =
On the "scale of things"...... studio potter's kilns are a pretty
insignificant issues for them...... but to us they are the lifeblood of
what we do.
That an "artist" heavily trained in ceramics would know enough to safely
design, build, and operate a gas kiln is a harder concept for them to
accept than the idea that that a state licenced engineer that has never
even SEEN a studio pottery kiln before could expertly approve such a unit=
's
installation. This is simply because they deal in the world where
engineers and architects are "god" all the time. Artists are some sort o=
f
weird, off the fringe, strange human beings that they don't quite know HO=
W
to exactlty relate with or evaluate the competency of. (terrible English=
)
Plus the engineer that has his/her stamp affixed on the plans adds a
"scapegoat" that can be pointed to if the whole thing goes awry and blame=
is needing a place to rest it's ugly head .
The Mass. State Fuel Gas Board is pretty specific in what they want in
order to approve an installation. Do that, and you'll have NO problems. =
Call and talk to them....ask questions. =
Basically, to do this you'll need a decent set of detailed plans. And th=
e
design in those plans, particularly of the gas train and flame safety
system, needs to meet the published standards in the general Mass. Fuel G=
as
Code. To "go over" well, these plans are far more FROMAL than most potte=
rs
are used to dealing with........ a xerox copy of a page out of Rhodes or
Olsen and an attached fast sketch of the VISUAL layout (what screws onto
what) of the burners is not usually enough.
These plans (unfortunately) are sort of like putting in a house
.......... you'll want a basic site plan, electrical and gas schematic=
s,
plan and elevation in typical section of the unit, artists conception, wi=
th
all dimensions, clearances, and materials labeled. Plans should be in
pretty close notation compliance with the engineering standards for most
any industrial installation....this is what these people USUALLY look at
all the time and find easy to read. Hand drawn sketches and vague writte=
n
thoughts are not usually recieved too well ....simply because they ar=
e
hard to "read"....meaning "understand" by someone used to engineering
schematics. You don't want them to have to think too much about what yo=
u
are proposing........ cause when they start THINKING....... it usually
winds up costing you money . =
Plans like this are not all that hard to do for someone who has a lot of
experience with kiln design and construction..... and a bit of drafting
skills......... but can certainly be daunting for someone who is more
inexperienced in this area. That is, of course, the INTENT of the
regulation. It is to make sure that a "qualified" individual or
individuals is/are involved in the design and installation. For whatever=
reason (see below), the State of Mass. is nervous about "unregulated" gas=
kilns within it's borders. Since they belive in the competence of
engineers........ an engineer is who they'd really like to deal with. Th=
ey
can "talk" to engineers.
What the MSFGB are used to dealing with day in and day out is what Camero=
n
Harman (who is here on list occasionally) does for his main living. Go t=
o
his Kilnman website and check out the industrial side of the site for mor=
e
industrial type kilns. What we do is quite different from this type of
stuff...... and pretty low tech. In some ways, it is amazing that they
approve site built craft potter-style gas kilns at all when you look=
at the current state-of-the-art in industrial units. =
But look at the price tags these things carry too!!!!!!
On certain jobs in Mass. (in certain more complicated sites) I have been
required to have a licenced engineer "stamp" the plans I have done in ord=
er
to get final approval from the MSFGB. This adds a layer of seemingly
unnecessary cost and time delay......... as the guy just reviews my
drawings and then adds his state stamp to those exact same drawings.....a=
nd
of course charges for it .
(more in second message part following)...................john
| |
|
