Tenyoh

Bill and Neil, it seems I have to ask myself how much time I want to spend while firing. Based on the information, I am going to talk to a potter who knows a bit more about gas kilns than I. Thank you very much.

High Bridge Pottery, they said because the gas kiln does not come with a controller, I have to watch the temperature rise very closely. Because I am firing pieces I have spent more than 10 days on, they wanted me to go safe. The 3 responses above are telling me I can bisque in a gas kiln, and I am willing to learn how to do it. Before deciding which kiln to get, I am going to get bids from contractors. Thank you very much.

Yes, I will definitely consider a load splitter. It will probably prevent the current from going short while running the large kiln. Thanks a lot.

You may find load splitters practical. With EV chargers becoming possible most load splitters will delay one load while another load is in use. Not saying it fits your need, but might be something to explore. A popular load to delay would be an electric dryer - if you have one.

It a tricky one to decide, will the initial cost to get an electric kiln up and running save you money in the long term with lost ware and time you could be doing something else. 
 
I have semi automated a gas kiln adding a controllable valve onto the pipe but that is not the easiest thing to do. It just meant instead of turning it up every 20 minutes the computer did that for you. There was no brains really, the first firing I did have to turn it up via the computer and record what was set and run a simple program to repeat that for me the next firings.

You can definitely bisque fire in a typical hi-fire gas kilns, but Raku kilns are tricky for bisque firing. They have a lot of power, and are designed to go fast. You may have to do something like keeping the kiln partially open at the start and slowly closing it. Get as many safety options as they offer.

Most gas kilns can be fired by hand regulating the gas valve periodically as you climb. Also regulating the damper as well. Automatic gas kilns that can do this effectively are generally very expensive and automatic reduction gas kilns generally even more so. In the end, not difficult and a good skill to have. Gas kilns generally need to be supervised for the whole firing. Set it and forget it electric style firings not so much.

Did they say what was tricky about it? I have bisqued fired in a gas kiln before, the only tricky part was not going too fast at the start as the kiln had no pilot flame so it would like to climb fast on the lowest setting on the main burners.
 
Before electric kilns were common place everybody used to bisque with whatever fuel they used.

Bill and Neil, it seems I have to ask myself how much time I want to spend while firing. Based on the information, I am going to talk to a potter who knows a bit more about gas kilns than I. Thank you very much.

High Bridge Pottery, they said because the gas kiln does not come with a controller, I have to watch the temperature rise very closely. Because I am firing pieces I have spent more than 10 days on, they wanted me to go safe. The 3 responses above are telling me I can bisque in a gas kiln, and I am willing to learn how to do it. Before deciding which kiln to get, I am going to get bids from contractors. Thank you very much.

High Bridge Pottery, they said because the gas kiln does not come with a controller, I have to watch the temperature rise very closely. Because I am firing pieces I have spent more than 10 days on, they wanted me to go safe. The 3 responses above are telling me I can bisque in a gas kiln, and I am willing to learn how to do it. Before deciding which kiln to get, I am going to get bids from contractors. Thank you very much.

Bill and Neil, it seems I have to ask myself how much time I want to spend while firing. Based on the information, I am going to talk to a potter who knows a bit more about gas kilns than I. Thank you very much.