Skutt Cone 10 vs larger Skutt Cone 8 kiln

[Autumn]

I was asked about the pros and cons of buying a Cone 10 Skutt, (6.4 cu ft) vs a Cone 8 Skutt (9.9 cu ft) for firing at cone 6.      I'd suspect one might run into element wear sooner with the larger kiln, but since I really don't know, I'm hoping someone might have some insights.   

Thank you.  

 

[Denice]

You need to pick your kiln size by the amount of work you produce or might produce in the future.  It is harder to fill a large kiln before you can fire it.  If you are a massive thrower you shouldn't have any problem filling it.   I am a hand builder so it takes me a while.   I have always had a big Skutt a medium size Paragon and small test kiln..  My Paragon is 50 years old and is to old to repair any more,  I miss having it around it was a lot easier to fill.   I don't know about C10 versus C8 all of my kilns are C10 and I get what I would consider long life out of the elements.    Denice

[Arnold Howard]

8 hours ago, Autumn said:

I was asked about the pros and cons of buying a Cone 10 Skutt, (6.4 cu ft) vs a Cone 8 Skutt (9.9 cu ft) for firing at cone 6.

If you are firing to cone 6, get a kiln with 3" thick firebricks rather than 2 1/2". Always get a cone 10 kiln for firing pottery even if you don't fire to cone 10. The elements in a cone 10 kiln generally last longer than elements in a cone 8 kiln. The hotter you fire, of course, the faster the elements will wear out.

Sincerely,

 

Arnold Howard

Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

 

[neilestrick]

Lots of people fire to cone 6 in cone 8 kilns. They work fine, however like you said, the elements won't last as long since you're closer to maxing them out with every firing. The L&L E28T-3 and kilns of other brands all fall into this same situation. The reason these 10 cubic foot kilns don't go to cone 10 is because they want to make them so they are plug and play, rather than being hard wired. That means a max of 48 amps kiln draw. At 48 amps on 240 volt single phase power, they can only generate enough heat to get a kiln of that size to cone 8. At 208 volt single phase they only get to cone 5. However on 3 phase power either voltage can get to cone 10. All brands make 10 cubic foot models that will go to cone 10 on single phase power, so you're not out of luck if you need a kiln of that size. However they have to be hard wired and they need an 80 amp breaker, which may or may not be an issue, depending on what your breaker box can handle. If you're set on  Skutt look at the PK models.

[Autumn]

2 hours ago, neilestrick said:

Lots of people fire to cone 6 in cone 8 kilns. They work fine, however like you said, the elements won't last as long since you're closer to maxing them out with every firing. The L&L E28T-3 and kilns of other brands all fall into this same situation. The reason these 10 cubic foot kilns don't go to cone 10 is because they want to make them so they are plug and play, rather than being hard wired. That means a max of 48 amps kiln draw. At 48 amps on 240 volt single phase power, they can only generate enough heat to get a kiln of that size to cone 8. At 208 volt single phase they only get to cone 5. However on 3 phase power either voltage can get to cone 10. All brands make 10 cubic foot models that will go to cone 10 on single phase power, so you're not out of luck if you need a kiln of that size. However they have to be hard wired and they need an 80 amp breaker, which may or may not be an issue, depending on what your breaker box can handle. If you're set on  Skutt look at the PK models.

Thanks to all for replies.  I am passing along the information to the person who asked me.