Lili Krakowski on sun 19 mar 06
I have no doubt that electric kilns need to be vented. (Cough, cough)
Besides fumes that are toxic and kill you in the long run, there are those
that irritate your throat and lungs in the short run. (cough, cough)
And florine will etch your windows. (Someone wrote that someplace and I
checked and sure enough...)
Ok. Mitchell asked about connecting an existing vent. Of course he should
connect it.
But some years ago there was a discussion on ClayArt about venting. And a
FIREMAN wrote in and said that a specific KILN vent was not necessary, that
strategically placed fans would move the air out, and that--I hope I
remember this correctly--that is what firemen do when they want to clean out
bad air--set up fans that suck the bad air up and push it out of windows or
similar.
There is, of course, the problem of stirring up dust, and like that....but
in the opinion of those who know--a kiln off by itself (so no air would be
moved from beyond it) close to a window with an exhaust fan--would that be
enough...or must a vent be on the actual kiln?
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Snail Scott on sun 19 mar 06
-----Original Message-----
>From: Lili Krakowski
>Sent: Mar 19, 2006 9:25 AM
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Venting question
>...a kiln off by itself (so no air would be
>moved from beyond it) close to a window with an exhaust fan--would that be
>enough...or must a vent be on the actual kiln?
A fan in a window will certainly move air, but
it will move air from the entire room at once,
and a standard box fan does not move a lot of
air at a time. It's also far from certain that the
kiln will be in the optimum path of air movement:
its radiant heat, though modest, will tend to lift
the adjacent air (and fumes) up to the ceiling,
to settle out somewhere else in the room. So,
you've really got two sources of air movement:
convection and the fan, which may tend to
compete with one another in creating a dominant
air current. Also, if the kiln fumes settle out in
a place beyond the main draft created by the
fan, they could be there a while.
I used the fans-and-a-window system (one fan
on top of the kiln, and the other in the window)
for a long time, due to poverty and a pervasive
sense of 'making do with the minimum'. It does
help, I believe, far more than doing nothing, but
definitely not as good as even a substandard
hood-style kiln vent and far worse than the
direct-suction style.
Further, general room venting lacks the advantages
of direct kiln venting, including keeping a clean
atmosphere and helping to even out the temperature
gradient.
Is a window fan better than nothing? Yep. And it
might be a good idea for other purposes. But it's
not going to be an equal substitute for a kiln vent.
Everything is relative, and few of us are likely to
shell out for a high-efficiency industrial ventilation
system even if it's better than what we've got,
and we will all draw the cost-benefit line in a
different place than someone else. But to not use
a useful piece of existing equipment which would
improve both my health and my ceramics? I don't
see the reason.
Do I have a kiln vent? No. That's partly why my
kilns now live outdoors. But if one dropped into
my lap for free, you bet I'd use it!
-Snail
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