Paula K

Thank you

Hello - I'm a complete newbie and have just bought my first kiln an electric Rohde 43 top-loader. It has a vent at the bottom and an exhaust air socket at the top right. There are no peepholes and it uses a Stafford controller. The instructions say to leave the bottom vent open until the kiln reaches 600 degrees then close it, and the shop told me to put a bung into the air exhaust opening also at 600 degrees when bisque firing. Apparently this is to increase the kiln efficiency to reach the higher temperatures. Does this sound right? What about when doing glaze firings? Should I also use the bung in the exhaust when glaze firing? I've never fired a kiln myself before - my work previously was fired at the school I attended. Thanks in advance