Hello! I work as a studio technician at a community studio. We are currently rebuilding a (previously Salt) kiln and are planning to switch it to be a soda kiln (adding additional ports, ect) - the studio manager and I have been toying with the idea of mostly doing soda firings, but occasionally offering a salt firing every now and then. I understand when a kiln becomes a soda/salt kiln, the bricks hold the build-up and hence, once salt, always salt... Our curiosity is if there is any trouble or additional considerations with switching between the two processes, so long as the kiln is designed to accommodate both? Some specific questions are:
Should the wall/shelving wash be focumalted differently for both firings?
Would introducing sodium in both methods over time cause more wear and tear on the kiln rather than sticking with one process?
Are there any other things we should be considering when thinking this through?
Additional details:
We plan on building a ~30cu/ft cross draft kiln in a sprung arch design and would plan to use a pressurized sprayer to introduce the soda sprays. The kiln is outdoors and we are in Michigan so it gets pretty worn by the weather. We are looking to have more control over more subtle directional glazing affects than the salt kiln previously had, so soda seem ideal in terms of controlling the saturation of the sodium, hence the desire to change. Thank you!