Venting old kiln

[Tumbleweed Pottery]

Things are moving along in setting up my home (basement) studio. One thing my husband and I are very aware of is the need to vent our kiln. He has a vent he will be engineering to fit our kiln, but he's not convinced he will even need to drill holes in the top of the kiln. He thinks that the kiln is so old that it might not even be "air tight" like some. It's a 1969 Cress B-23-H. 

Are there kilns out there you can vent directly and still not need to drill holes in the top brick for? I'm not convinced. I think we will have to drill holes.

Thanks!

[Denice]

Have you fired it to check out how much gap you have?   I had a old Paragon that I didn't drill the hole in the top because it had  a leaky lid.  I replaced the old Paragon with a kiln from a estate sale  that was purchased in  1968 but only fired once.  I drilled a hole in the lid even though it was old model I knew it would have a tight lid.   Denice

[Hulk]

I started out with one small hole in the bottom - where the box fits up - and a small hole in the lid; from there, added a second small hole in the bottom, now it pulls well.

How leaky is the kiln, that's a variable, also how hard your fan pulls against the kiln is another key variable, and related, how much push required to move the kiln+ambient mix out the hose, and any pull required to make up the air to the space. imo, make up air should flow freely to the space.

[neilestrick]

L&L only recommends putting holes in the lid if needed. Try it without first. You can always add them.