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flattops and itc, electric building (long)

updated sat 5 feb 05

 

Michael Wendt on thu 3 feb 05


John Brinley wrote:

>Using what I have on hand.
>I have an abundance(about 10,000) of old solid red bricks.
>Mine will be built and sprayed with ITC 100.
John,
for the price of the ITC you could buy some insulating fire bricks instead.
Miter them to make a 10 or 12 sided ring kiln which you can band on the
outside using scrap stainless from any local sheet metal shop pop riveted to
radiator hose clamps. If you lay the bricks flat rather than vertically, you
can cut the grooves for the elements into the top inner edges of the bricks
using a router bit mounted in a drill press. One brick per row will have an
angled cut to allow the element to get to the next row.
Buy the correct elements for a kiln the size you build and pin and wire them
in accordance with manufacturer direction.
Why waste all those hours building a kiln with low quality red brick?
If you are serious about having an electric kiln, start with good materials
and it will last for years and offer you far more capability in firing at a
much lower cost over the long run.
Say you save $500 on soft brick. The red brick is 6 times denser than good
soft brick so 6 times more power will be needed to raise the temperature of
the kiln. It will heat slower, take longer and so cost you six times more to
run.
If a typical load cost you $5.00 in a good electric, yours would cost you
about $30.00 each time. Over 10 loads, you would pay $250.00 more for
electricity and after only 20 loads, you would be at break even. By 100
loads, you would have saved $2500.00 over the denser brick kiln.
If you fire once a month, it will take you less than two years to break
even!
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
USA
wendtpot@lewiston.com
www.wendtpottery.com

Bill Karaffa on fri 4 feb 05


Just my opinion but if I was going to use soft brick on the hot face and the
red brick for the backup I would probably forget the ITC on the red brick.
Instead I would use it on the soft brick hot face where I would get the
greatest benefit from it's special properties.

Bill Karaffa
Firemouth Pottery and Gallery
http://fp1.centurytel.net/karaffa