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clean air

updated sat 1 nov 03

 

Ruth Armstrong on thu 23 oct 03


I recently bought a house that has two rental units on the first floor and I live on the second floor. It has a spacious, light-filled basement where I want to set up my pottery studio. I have no garage or outbuildings and live in the city where the houses are fairly close to each other. What can I do to ventilate the (electric) kiln and cleanse the air to make it safe and non-offensive to my tenants who live above it and my neighbors who are ten feet away?

Alycia Goeke on thu 23 oct 03


as for clean air...there has been a recent discussion on carbon monoxide
poisoning. there should be some info in the archives on this subject. it is
vitally important that you get a very good grade CO detector so you can monitor the
air quality concerning those potentially lethal fumes at high levels and long
term damaging fumes at lower levels. there are other things to consider as
well, carbon dioxide, poisonous fumes from using lusters, many more.

the kiln will need to be vented to the outside. there are several different
kiln vents available. bailey or axner have oline descriptions. call and talk to
someone there in tech. support and asked them what they recommend considering
you situation and kiln type. this will greatly reduce the fumes and odor of
your kiln. your tenants will be notifying you otherwise!

make sure when using the kiln vent while firing you have a secondary source
of fresh air coming into the studio, i.e., window open, door open, something
from the outside.

monitor your levels carefully and don't plan to work in your studio when your
kiln is firing. this may sound overly cautious but i have had experience with
this first hand and getting an overdose of CO is a very scary thing to go
through. one that forever changed the way i deal with firing my kilns.
good luck,
alycia

piedpotterhamelin@COMCAST.NET on fri 31 oct 03


Does anyone know the cubic feet per minute rating of the blower for this purpose? Are the fan blades used in the blower typical of all blower types or are they "special". I trust that they are metal and not plastic. Is the motor special..possibly having a heat switch to turn it off if the motor get too hot?
Thanks
Rick

--
"Many a wiser men than I hath
gone to pot." 1649
> as for clean air...there has been a recent discussion on carbon monoxide
> poisoning. there should be some info in the archives on this subject. it is
> vitally important that you get a very good grade CO detector so you can monitor
> the
> air quality concerning those potentially lethal fumes at high levels and long
> term damaging fumes at lower levels. there are other things to consider as
> well, carbon dioxide, poisonous fumes from using lusters, many more.
>
> the kiln will need to be vented to the outside. there are several different
> kiln vents available. bailey or axner have oline descriptions. call and talk to
> someone there in tech. support and asked them what they recommend considering
> you situation and kiln type. this will greatly reduce the fumes and odor of
> your kiln. your tenants will be notifying you otherwise!
>
> make sure when using the kiln vent while firing you have a secondary source
> of fresh air coming into the studio, i.e., window open, door open, something
> from the outside.
>
> monitor your levels carefully and don't plan to work in your studio when your
> kiln is firing. this may sound overly cautious but i have had experience with
> this first hand and getting an overdose of CO is a very scary thing to go
> through. one that forever changed the way i deal with firing my kilns.
> good luck,
> alycia
>
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