Joseph Fireborn Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Found a paragon xpress 1193 that works on a 20 amp,120V, and a plug receptacle which I happen to have in my garage already, thanks to the previous owners having a large fridge in there. It is 11'' wide x 9'' deep, inside dimensions, and 3 inch firebrick. My plan is to bisque a ton of test cups in my main kiln. Then run test on some test cups every single night using this small kiln and adjusting my glazes and firing process along the way, saving my results in insight. I have already read every thread I could find about test kilns and I understand about ramps and replicating that in the test kiln to produce similar results across the board. I have a few questions: 1. Does anyone have any experience with these controllers? Are they easy to program. I know it isn't as simple as my L&L one, but it can't be too difficult, it has up to 8 ramp cycles according to paragon, which should be plenty for what I need to do. 2. Do I need to vent this thing? The power outlet is not near my other kiln, so I didn't know if I needed another vent. I understand the smaller kilns in general don't need vents, but this one is a decent size. It has a peep hole in it, so I am assuming I could use that for a vent if needed. I could just crack my garage door for fresh air to circulate, also the plug in is beside my hot water heater, which has a vent above it, so maybe some of that stuff will go out there(long shot?) I only will be firing this thing at night, cause I work in my garage during the day, so not to worried about any fumes and again door will be cracked. 3. How is the electrical cost of a kiln this size? Are we talking a lot less than a 2-3CUft one? 4. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Found it on online and the price is pretty good $495 and she never used it(sat in a corner for 8 years, because she got it for Christmas present and never followed up). The inside looks beautiful from the pictures. She has a picture of the elements at 500 degrees glowing, not sure if that is a good enough proof it fires properly or not. I am pretty excited about this thing. I love testing, and I think that being able to test every single night would be absolutely amazing, and allow me to further my work at a much faster pace than I am now. Fire at night, wake up, record results, adjust glaze, adjust cooling, try new layering effects etc etc, fire at night!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 boy, if you do not turn out to be the best potter the world has ever seen, we will be disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 boy, if you do not turn out to be the best potter the world has ever seen, we will be disappointed. haha. I dunno about that, but I definitely want to be a great potter one day in the very distant future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I use a 120V for my test kiln. Never had any wiring problems til I moved to texas. Evidently I had heavier wiring for the plug in Montana. In Texas it got pretty hot in the existing plug in a carport. I have it in my kiln shed now with adequate 120V wiring. So check with someone about what gauge it will require.Just alerting you. I have used mine for 20+ years. fired often to ^7 for a guaranteed ^6. I had to replace the switch once. It is a Crucible from Seattle. 11.5" diameter 9" deep.I can fire 10-12 mugs in there.I have fired lots of glaze tests. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I use a 120V for my test kiln. Never had any wiring problems til I moved to texas. Evidently I had heavier wiring for the plug in Montana. In Texas it got pretty hot in the existing plug in a carport. I have it in my kiln shed now with adequate 120V wiring. So check with someone about what gauge it will require.Just alerting you. I have used mine for 20+ years. fired often to ^7 for a guaranteed ^6. I had to replace the switch once. It is a Crucible from Seattle. 11.5" diameter 9" deep.I can fire 10-12 mugs in there.I have fired lots of glaze tests. Marcia Thanks for information. I can ask my electrician to come check on the gauge. Going to check out the kiln tomorrow and if everything looks good get it going. One thing is it doesn't come with a stand. So I am going to have to order that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 That sounds like a great size mine is only 7"x7" on the interior a bit too small, when I built my studio my electrician put in a separate breaker and heavier wire for it. I had ran it only regular house wiring for years but he didn't feel comfortable with lighter wiring. As for the electric bill I have never noticed a big increase on it when I have fired it a lot. Between my kilns and my husbands welder and big compressor our bill can vary month to month. Have fun with it. Denice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 I picked up the kiln and a stand and a small 10'' shelf to go on the bottom to protect from glaze drips. I will be firing it tomorrow while I organize my mess of a garage... Excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 When you are using a small test kiln like this do you need to down-fire? [To replicate the cooling characteristics of the main kiln useed for production firings.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Yes. In fact my large kiln fires down already with a schedule, to 1900, I am going to modify that down to 1400, since most of the information I have read says that for the vast majority of firings past 1400 the cooling doesn't matter. So my plan is I am going to find out how fast my large kiln will cool from 1900 to 1400, then I will set a manual rate on my large kiln to make sure it always cools a little slower than that rate, then I will repeat that rate in my test kiln. So for example my fire down schedule will be something like, reach temp drop 100 per hour degrees to 2100, hold 30, drop 200 per hour to 1900, hold 30 drop 300 per hour to 1400, no hold. Again this is just an example, so that both of my kilns will cool as close as possible to the same. I hope that this will work anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 My test kiln is too small for down firing but I bought it before potters started doing holding and down firing. I am trying to get away from glazes that require so much manipulation. Tony Hansen contributes glazes to the Cone 6 Electric Fire forum that are glazes you just fire. It's a little harder to do that with oxidation C5/6 glazes but that is the direction I'm heading for now. Denice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 John Britt has a ton of recipes that he calls E1 firing cycles which are super simple, you just take them to cone 6 oxy and let them drop naturally with your kiln. I fired a lot of them in the beginning to that schedule and they looked great. I have modified most of them heavily now and use a downfiring schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Between my kilns and my husbands welder and big compressor our bill can vary month to month. This is why I do budget billing. It makes the busy months less painful. My electric bill at my shop can vary from $250 to $500 a month. On budget billing it's about $375 every month, and comes out almost exact at the end of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Bridge Pottery Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Congrats on the new kiln. I don't actually vent out any of my kilns but have good extraction from the room. Also not really around when firing as I have plenty else to be doing. You can work out full power usage of the kiln. I think 20Ax120V = 2400kw. Multiply by the time and cost then probably half or more the value to get a better estimate. My test kiln only has off or on, no temperature control. My firing cycle is on for 6-7 hours you would be surprised how close they can look to a pot from my main kiln. No slow cools on either. If the elements glow and it hasn't been used that is a pretty good sign that it will work right? You could take a mutimeter, test resistance of elements and work out if they are the right spec. You can mostly see with the eyes how old an element is anyway so a good look would probably tell you of any obvious problems. I don't really know what a dollar is worth but it seems like an ok price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Kiln is firing on perfect schedule so far. Up to 1000 now. I am firing with the peephole out the entire firing so that any gasses escape. I am not in the garage today because of it, but the door is opened so air flows in and out. At night I will fire it when I am not in there and with the door about a foot cracked. The kiln was a pretty good deal, when I picked it up i examined it the best I could without being an electrician. The inside bricks had 0 cracks or marks or scuffs. The lid and bottom had no cracks either. All of the elements were seated very nice and looked like my other kilns elements when I first got them. The wires all looked intact and when I turned it on the temp reading seemed accurate. The TC also looked in fine condition. I adjusted the controls and temp to make sure all the buttons worked and then I turned it on, watched it climb about 15 degrees and said good enough. He had already posted a video of it firing to a high temp. So I got the kiln for 495, brand new the kiln is 1000 on paragons website, and 800 on clay king, so I saved around 300 bucks. I am pretty happy with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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