Dave Earley

I just unloaded the kiln,  cone 9 down top and bottom.  Pot closest to flue exit  was under fired and it looks like heavy reduction all over.  I fired up to red heat with propane and then used waste oil nozzles which were hard to adjust for a neutral flame and temperature rise.  The suction nozzles needed only 1 or 2 psi.  I used about 20 lbs of propane and about 6 gallons of used motor oil.  the pots were single fired with mostly a simple ash glaze. I think the fire box is a little small for the oil burner since I immediately had a 12 to 18 inch flame coming out. 

I have put together 2 waste oil suction nozzles with electrodes to fire this kiln but after several attempts it keeps stalling  at around 1100 degrees F.  I don't think it is an insulation problem as I built it the same way as at first which fired to cone 10 with a different burner setup.  My best guess is the burners are not efficient enough to make the power needed.  I shut it off at 3:00 AM and will look at it for other problems, ie some collapse inside etc.

I will probably invest in some gas burners and go with propane. 

A good place for this post would be in the Equipment Use and Repair section to the left of here. This Status Updates section is just for general comments about what people have going on, it's hard to search so posting in one of the forum sections makes it easier to find going forward.