islandplace3 on sat 9 mar 02
With the order of a new element from Eculids, came a note indicating
element life is greatly improved by leaving vent holes open. I assume
harmful chemicals are vented rather than coating the elements. I
left the top vent open during the last two bisque firing and did not
notice any appreciable length in firing. I had not heard this before;
does anyone else fire with the vents open on electric kilns?
Mike
Snail Scott on sun 10 mar 02
At 08:57 PM 3/9/02 -0000, you wrote:
>With the order of a new element from Eculids, came a note indicating
>element life is greatly improved by leaving vent holes open...
>I had not heard this before;
>does anyone else fire with the vents open on electric kilns?
> Mike
With bisque, always. For glaze, not usually.
-Snail
Bacia Edelman on sun 10 mar 02
Snail: Do you also leave the vents open for bisque when
you have a vent drawing toward base of kiln and out of
the studio? I have, since putting in the Orton Vent,
either left one plug out at the beginning or all plugged,
even for bisque.
So my question is again: even if you have a vent do
you leave plugs out for bisque?
I think I have learned that you do sculpture and perhaps
your method is due to varying thicknesses.
Bacia
At 08:49 AM 03/10/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>At 08:57 PM 3/9/02 -0000, you wrote:
>>With the order of a new element from Eculids, came a note indicating
>>element life is greatly improved by leaving vent holes open...
>>I had not heard this before;
>>does anyone else fire with the vents open on electric kilns?
>> Mike
>
>
>With bisque, always. For glaze, not usually.
>
> -Snail
>
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Bacia Edelman Madison, Wisconsin
http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts/bacia.htm
http://www.silverhawk5.com/edelman/index.html
Snail Scott on mon 11 mar 02
At 02:58 PM 3/10/02 -0600, you wrote:
>Snail: Do you also leave the vents open for bisque when
>you have a vent drawing toward base of kiln and out of
>the studio?
My kiln lives outside, so I don't have a vent. If I did,
I would think that the little holes required by most
vents would be sufficient, and not require leaving the
peepholes open too. (Just a guess, though.)
I've seldom had defects (bubbles, etc.) that I could
ascribe to an inadequately vented bisque, even though my
work is pretty thick by pottery standards. I have had
such trouble occasionally, when glazing earthenware with
low-fire frit-based matte glazes, which seem to seal
themselves over early in the firing and have a high
viscosity, according to something I read once. Higher or
longer bisque might have prevented that, but I don't
know how much the lack of venting may have contributed.
(I had a very brief earthenware period, when I lived in
a place with inadequate electrical service and couldn't
hit ^6.)
I use more engobes than glaze, though, so I may have
unwittingly 'dodged the bullet' in using less sensitive
surface materials. But I often single-fire with fine
results, so I don't really sweat the bisque firings
when I do them. When I bisque, it's usually because the
piece in question is difficult to handle for green-
glazing, or because it's part of a series that I want
to apply the final finishes to all at once (or think
about for a little longer), and in my small studio,
greenware left waiting around is in mortal danger of
being kicked, tripped over, or sat on by renegade cats.
Bisquing also allows me to true up the fit of multi-
part pieces that couldn't be fitted while green, more
easily than I could after full vitrification.
As for deterioration of elements due to outgassing,
I'm not sure I could tell. I've always owned
secondhand kilns and replaced elements one at a time
as needed, and my current kiln has about half homemade
elements so I don't have an effective way to compare
element lifespan with a theoretical norm. (The last
element that died appeared to have succumbed to a
chunk of exploded kid-project, not decrepitude.)
-Snail
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