Converting an Electrical Kiln to Gas

[yedrow]

I got this DLS kiln in Mississippi several months back with the hope of converting it to a gas kiln. I was wondering if anyone had ever seen such a thing, or knew if this was possible or not. In my mind I drill out 2 or 3 burner openings on each side of the bottom. Someone suggested trying to tune it in as an updraft and putting a flue in the back if that fails. The walls are hard brick and it had 1.5"-2" inch fiberboard over that. I was thinking that it fired to cone 10, but that may just have been an impression left by the immensity of it. The interior is approx 33" deep, 48" tall, and 36" wide.

 

Pic 1 is the roof.

 

 

 

Pic 2, interior with door on right.

 

 

pic 3, left wall.

 

 

pic 4, right wall.

 

 

pic 5, door.

 

 

mo' do'

 

 

[Mark C.]

I think that is all possible but I would cut a flue in the back bottom and make it a downdraft..

Add a stack up the back for draw and you will have a nice even firing kiln-

Mark

[Marcia Selsor]

I agree with with Mark. What are you using for burners? Forced air or venturi?

2? 4 ?

I prefer downdrafts too. You could look at some floor plans of some commercial kilns like Bailey's or Geil's.

They use about a 4.5" height for under the first layer of shelves. 2-3 fingers space between the shelves and back wall and a bricks width

along the sides. So , do you have shelves? You'll need to plan the layout of the shelves. I know a lot of kilns have burners in the floor, I have always thought too much crud can fall in there. I like burner ports in the back on each side of the flue. Just a personal preference. Forced air and the stack doesn't need to be much taller than the kiln. Natural draft with venturi you need to go a lot higher.

 

Marcia

[yedrow]

I'm used to a downdraft so that is probably the best idea. It was my plan to put venturi burners in the bottom. The Geil at work has venturis in the bottom so that is what I'm used to. I've never tried forced air. Much of what I've been told steers me away from it, but beyond that I don't know.

 

Marcia, I have some 12 x 24 cone 11 shelves that I plan on using eventually. Ultimately I will plan it around advancer shelf sizes, and save to get them. The Geil doesn't have a very high stack and is natural draft. I was assuming that I could make it the same way.

 

I'll be working out of Lou's book on kilns though I also have both the Olsen book and Rhodes book. I'm told that Nils Lou's book is the better of the three.

 

I've spent the day moving some brick from an old kiln. I may actually attempt to build a 16 cu. ft. Minnesota Flat Top kiln out of that first, just to get some idea of the process before I cut on the DLS kiln.

 

Joel.

[Mark C.]

Joel

Nils is a good book.

If it were mine and it is 36" wide I would put two bag walls (bricks piled) front to back next to your 24 inch shelves with 1/2 inch space on each side-that takes 5 inches for bricks total which leaves about 3 inches of combustion space (a little tight but enough. I would put two burners on sides blasting into bag walls-4 total-natural draft. The taller the stack the better the draw.

I like side burners at least 2 per side.

Mark

[yedrow]

Mark,

 

Why side burners? Intuitively the fire moving from the bottom up, and spaced out by several smaller burners, should result in a better fluid flow and lessen the impact of the flame on opposing surfaces. The Geil is like this, but most if not all other kilns I've seen have large burners blowing in from the back. I've never quite understood that.

 

Joel.

[Marcia Selsor]

I agree Nil's book is excellent.

I agree with Mark's front to back bagwalls. I am more use to 2 burners from the back with flames running the length of the bagwalls.

Mark likes side burners. Just a matter of preference.

 

Marcia