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Firing at night


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Dear All,

 

Do any of you glaze fire at night when the hydro is cheaper??

 

Here in Canada or maybe I should limit it to Ontario, there are different rates for different times of day and weekends are always lower. Thus, I got to thinking today, it makes sense to fire at night and check the digital display at frequent intervals as I would normally. Given that my kiln is in the garage, it will be easy to get up for the checks. Just another thing that dawned on me tonight.

 

Do you have hydro rate "cheap" times where you live and how do you manage this to really watch you kiln and the cones?

 

I am using one of the glazes I used in my old studio (matt black) and am trying out the Potter's Choice glaze salt buff and saturated gold. I will report my findings/results to the forum late, late, late tomorrow night.

 

Nellie

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I have a time of use (TOU) electric meter The rates are cheaper 6 pm to 12 noon- Monday-Thru Friday and all day Sat-Sun. I always fire electrics during the cheaper time (ALWAYS)

I have two gas meters one for House(small meter) one large commercial one for 3 Gas kilns and studio as well as backup generator. This large gas meter is flat rate at all times

When its your living you learn to pay attention to over all costs.

When I was learning I liked to fire gas kilns at night to see what the reduction inside was like-Now with oxyprobes it does not matter anymore.

I do like to salt fire at night so I can see what's happening better and the plume is less visible.

Mark

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Nelly;

If your Cone Art kiln has a computer controller, it should not be any problem to fire at night. When I was teaching that summer course in Saskatoon, my university students would unload the kiln first thing, then reload. I would put the kiln on when we left for the day at about 3-4:00 pm. I would always swing by to check on it. It shut itself off once because of a thunder storm and power failure. I just restarted it the next day. You can pump out a lot of work if you are firing and sleeping at the same time.

I live in Manitoba. I don't think we have these reduced rates for electrical use at night, but I will check.

TJR.

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Dear All,

 

Do any of you glaze fire at night when the hydro is cheaper??

 

Here in Canada or maybe I should limit it to Ontario, there are different rates for different times of day and weekends are always lower. Thus, I got to thinking today, it makes sense to fire at night and check the digital display at frequent intervals as I would normally. Given that my kiln is in the garage, it will be easy to get up for the checks. Just another thing that dawned on me tonight.

 

Do you have hydro rate "cheap" times where you live and how do you manage this to really watch you kiln and the cones?

 

I am using one of the glazes I used in my old studio (matt black) and am trying out the Potter's Choice glaze salt buff and saturated gold. I will report my findings/results to the forum late, late, late tomorrow night.

 

Nellie

 

 

I have a time of day meter on the shop, and fire most of my loads at night baby sitting them through the night. As my kiln does not have a sitter, I have to be particularly diligent about getting up and doing my checks regularly. Kiln on high I get 6 hrs of sleep, and then watch closely as it reaches ^6.

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Nelly;

If your Cone Art kiln has a computer controller, it should not be any problem to fire at night. When I was teaching that summer course in Saskatoon, my university students would unload the kiln first thing, then reload. I would put the kiln on when we left for the day at about 3-4:00 pm. I would always swing by to check on it. It shut itself off once because of a thunder storm and power failure. I just restarted it the next day. You can pump out a lot of work if you are firing and sleeping at the same time.

I live in Manitoba. I don't think we have these reduced rates for electrical use at night, but I will check.

TJR.

 

 

Dear TJR,

 

Yes, my Cone Art does have a digital controller. I did sleep but woke up periodically to check the kiln. Call it force of habit from the days when I drove back and forth at my old communal studio in the middle of the night to check the kilns. Another issue I always worry about is just plain safety. I can safely say, that I did check and all seems to have gone well. There is a slight bend in the front cone and the witness appears fairly straight (cone 6/7). I think all is well. When I open it later today I will know. But yeah, these digital kilns are incredible!!! Until I get the standardized Frog Pond Pottery glaze schedule down, I will stick to this before playing with holding temperatures. Do look into the rates. I wasn't aware of it until this summer.

 

Nellie

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Nelly;

If your Cone Art kiln has a computer controller, it should not be any problem to fire at night. When I was teaching that summer course in Saskatoon, my university students would unload the kiln first thing, then reload. I would put the kiln on when we left for the day at about 3-4:00 pm. I would always swing by to check on it. It shut itself off once because of a thunder storm and power failure. I just restarted it the next day. You can pump out a lot of work if you are firing and sleeping at the same time.

I live in Manitoba. I don't think we have these reduced rates for electrical use at night, but I will check.

TJR.

 

 

Dear TJR,

 

Yes, my Cone Art does have a digital controller. I did sleep but woke up periodically to check the kiln. Call it force of habit from the days when I drove back and forth at my old communal studio in the middle of the night to check the kilns. Another issue I always worry about is just plain safety. I can safely say, that I did check and all seems to have gone well. There is a slight bend in the front cone and the witness appears fairly straight (cone 6/7). I think all is well. When I open it later today I will know. But yeah, these digital kilns are incredible!!! Until I get the standardized Frog Pond Pottery glaze schedule down, I will stick to this before playing with holding temperatures. Do look into the rates. I wasn't aware of it until this summer.

 

Nellie

 

Nellie;

I have to look into the rates anyway for my own studio. I was firing in a co-op studio for $7.00 a bisque. I do have separate meter on the studio, so I will check it out and let you know if it differs in this province.

TJR.

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we had cheaper rates at night in Montana. I fired overnight there. If you are familiar with your kiln timing, it is easy to know when to check the kiln.

My studio was about 2 miles away. Often I would get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and drive to my studio to check the progress. My dog came with me.

I could usually get there within 20 minutes or less of shut off. I had a Bartlett controller for a large oval kiln.

It depends on the density of the load.

Here in Texas I have barlett controllers too. I fire at night but I don't know if we have cheaper rates at night. My kiln shed is 20 feet from my kitchen door.

 

Marcia

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