Kiln question on annelling

[Stacy]

The scenario is this:

You have set your kiln up for a bead session with 2 hours of hold time. You finish with time to spare and skip the segment so it begins to ramp down. An hour or so later you find that you have some more spare time to do some work and go back to your kiln. Is it ok to restart the kiln so it goes back up to the anneling temp and holds for however long while you work this session as normal.

Does that make sense?

[Ilona]

Hi,

I would like to know the answer to this one too.

[glassworks]

yep, as long as it is gentle ramp - no problem..

our OMG programme does the same thing - but is meant for use when you turn the kiln off by mistake and need to get back up there in a hurry!



i would take the temp back up to 500 and hold there, carry on working for a bit and all the rest - then take it over to 510/520 for a good 45 minutes before starting the ramp down..

[Stacy]

Thanks Q!

Thats great... I don't get to plan my times I grab them when I can and it was fine all the time I was using Vermey but now I'm doing bigger things they have to go in the kiln and this is just want i wanted to hear!!

[Lush!]

I've now increased my hold time to around 12 hours!  That way I can switch the kiln on and grab as many torch sessions as I like through the day and evening - and once I know I'm definitely done for the day I skip it onto the annealing step.

This is working really well for me now (thanks to Q for the initial programming and a few other FH'ers for more programming help)

[beadysam]

The scenario is this:

You have set your kiln up for a bead session with 2 hours of hold time. You finish with time to spare and skip the segment so it begins to ramp down. An hour or so later you find that you have some more spare time to do some work and go back to your kiln. Is it ok to restart the kiln so it goes back up to the anneling temp and holds for however long while you work this session as normal.

Does that make sense?

Ok, can someone explain the concept of spare time...   

[Stacy]

I've now increased my hold time to around 12 hours!  That way I can switch the kiln on and grab as many torch sessions as I like through the day and evening - and once I know I'm definitely done for the day I skip it onto the annealing step.

This is working really well for me now (thanks to Q for the initial programming and a few other FH'ers for more programming help)

Thats what I used to do but I was worried that the expense was going to be really high... my electricty bill for 18 months was in excess of 2 grand before we moved.. I still think there was a fault in the flat we had but I was worried that the kiln may have contributed to it.

[Stacy]

The scenario is this:

You have set your kiln up for a bead session with 2 hours of hold time. You finish with time to spare and skip the segment so it begins to ramp down. An hour or so later you find that you have some more spare time to do some work and go back to your kiln. Is it ok to restart the kiln so it goes back up to the anneling temp and holds for however long while you work this session as normal.

Does that make sense?

Ok, can someone explain the concept of spare time...   

Something I have way too much of since we moved here...   

[julieHB]

I've now increased my hold time to around 12 hours!  That way I can switch the kiln on and grab as many torch sessions as I like through the day and evening - and once I know I'm definitely done for the day I skip it onto the annealing step.

This is working really well for me now (thanks to Q for the initial programming and a few other FH'ers for more programming help)

Thats what I used to do but I was worried that the expense was going to be really high... my electricty bill for 18 months was in excess of 2 grand before we moved.. I still think there was a fault in the flat we had but I was worried that the kiln may have contributed to it.

My DH has been very worried about the cost of running my kiln (!!)  .  I have a Paragon SC2, which has a wattage of 1745, and I have also been curious to how much it cost me each time I fire it up.

At the moment we pay approx. 16p per unit of electricity (kWh) for the first 255 units, then 10.9p for any above that. The arithmetic is (appliance wattage/1,000) x (duration in minutes/60) = kWh.  In worst case scenario I would therefore spend (1745/1000) X (60/60) X 16p = 28p per hour.  In fact, we know the kiln is not firing all the time, you can hear it turning itself on and off according to the rate you have set, so the cost should be less than estimated.  I was actually quite pleased with that.

.....what a sad thing to do a Saturday evening....kids are munching Saturday sweets in front of a lovely fire whilst watching Lord of the Rings......have seen it before, so I estimate el-bills instead...

[glassworks]

LOL.. when we "burn" in a few of the kilns together we run them through a current meter plug - which basically adds up the juise you suck through the cables... we are amazed how little it costs to run the 6 kilns once they are at temperature - as julie says they are just "ticking" over... i have discovered that the TOTAL energy use for a firing is less (by about 15%) if you ramp up at 700deg rather than FULL... although for the life of me i cannot find a logical scientific reason why that should be - i can only assume that the elements are more efficient at the slightly lower current being pumped into them than at full whack?..

[Vicki]

I was told when I brought my SC2 last year that it uses 14p/hour of electricity

[julieHB]

I was told when I brought my SC2 last year that it uses 14p/hour of electricity

Vicki, I would think that is quite a realistic answer, considering that it only takes 20-30 mins to reach temperature, then it just keep it "ticking over" as Q so precisely put it.  My calculation above is based on drawing the full wattage all the time. But you have to check with what you pay per kWh.

Q, thanks for your comments, I might be persuaded to ramp at 700 deg/hour instead of "full speed ahead"   

[Stacy]

I'm surprised and happy that they are that cheap to run!! 

Now I just need to work out what cost us £2000.00 in electricty... I guess it could have been Peters computers.... he does have enough to remake the film Wargames about 5 times over!!

[glassworks]

an average computer powersupply is around the 350-500w mark.... each screen is roughly 150-200w... add them up, even in "standy" and viola... i only say this because i ran a server farm at home and had 18 machines running all day...

[julieHB]

Q, you keep coming up with very interesting numbers, I guess I'll spend the evening adding up the cost of all appliances that I tend to leave in standby....