Fredrick Paget on mon 28 jan 02
Snail,
If you do this, and it is a good idea, be sure to keep it up off the floor.
I have this system on my little test kiln. I would put it under my larger
Cone ART to except it will take two men and a boy to do it as the kiln is
so heavy.
If you put the kiln right down on the floor with no freely vented airgap,
the heat leaking through the insulation will have no escape and will build
up to a surprisingly high temperature in the floor. That can cause the
concrete to spall and explode just like too damp greenware in the kiln.
Insulation does not prevent heat from going through it , it only slows it
down a lot, otherwise a kiln would never cool off.
If you are using the starch bonded insulating board under the kiln the
starch binder will burn out during the first couple of firings and leave a
weak, loosely bonded board. You should put a metal plate down first , then
the board and put the kiln on top of that. If you want to support the
bottom the metal plate will take the load.
The above assumes you have the usual stand that is supporting the kiln
around the edge and is entirely open in the middle under the bottom of the
kiln. You could cut a little off the legs to shorten them.
Fred
>Some folks recently have suggested putting a slab
>of refractory fiberboard under the floor of the
>kiln. Sounds like a great idea to me, since I
>tend to have a temperature gradient (cold on bottom)
>that needs evening out during every glaze firing,
>and since my kiln bottom is pretty badly cracked,
>I figure the extra support couldn't hurt.
>
>I'm wondering, now, whether that extra layer of
>insulation would let me use a shorter kiln stand
>or even eliminate it altogether. (My kiln shed
>has a concrete floor.) How much insulation does
>that sort of board provide, per inch? As a short
>person, I'd love to knock a few inches off the
>height of my kiln.
>
> -Snail
>
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From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
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