Vince Pitelka on mon 4 jul 05
> I have been very interested in Paragon's new Super Dragon, that lovely
> front-loader
> big enough for my pots. I believe the walls are just 4 inches thick,
> though. Bailey's
> has large commercial-style front-loaders with 7 inch thick walls, and I'm
> told that the
> exterior stays cool--safer to work around and should be more
> energy-efficient. The
> higher cost of a commercial-style kiln should eventually be offset by
> long-term
> savings in energy costs. Pottery kilns are so woefully under-insulated,
> for the most
> part. Energy expenditure is such a sizeable portion of a potter's
> budget--when will
> more manufacturers start to respond with products designed to counter it?
Liz -
They are responding to some degree. The 4" wall thickness is a big
improvement over the 2 1/2" of IFB in a standard toploader electric. The
L&L frontloaders have 3" of IFB backed up by 2" of compressed ceramic fiber,
and that gives much better insulation than the 6" of IFB in the Baileys.
That said, I do agree that 2 1/2" of IFB should NEVER be considered enough
insulation in a kiln, and that a large amount of heat is wasted in those
kilns, especially when they are fired to cone 6. One of the problems I have
with even some of my favorite kiln-makers is their claims that a kiln with
only 2 1/2" of IFB is capable of firing to cone 8 or 10. It may be capable
of doing this ten times, but after that there will be degradation of
performance and a large waste of energy. I believe that a kiln with only 2
1/2" of insulation should never be rated for or used for anything more than
low-fire. Otherwise we are wasting energy, and that is too precious to
waste.
The solution is for every kiln user to send feedback to the kiln-makers, and
to purchase only the kilns that have thicker insulation.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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