Naomi. Posted November 24, 2020 Report Share Posted November 24, 2020 Hi everyone I'm very new to ceramics, been taking classes for a while but recently set up on my own and bought myself a little 40litre kiln. It's a Cromartie hobbytech 40 Lt-3 I've fired it a few times for bisque ware just with the kiln sitter to a cone 06 and has all been fine. Then today I fired it and it produced a lot of smoke, I had to open up more windows and doors. It got me thinking about ventilation. Am I at risk if I sit in the same room with it whilst it's firing, for either bisque and or glaze with the door just ajar and no other ventilation? Slightly worried I'm causing myself harm. Atm there is no controller just the kiln sitter and it does seem to be working ok, haven't fired to glaze temperatures yet. In addition to any advice regarding ventilation any advice in general for glaze firing would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Naomi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted November 24, 2020 Report Share Posted November 24, 2020 Indoor kilns must be vented. You don't want to be breathing in all that stuff that burns out of the clay and glazes. For a small kiln like yours it may be sufficient to just have a fan in a nearby window blowing out, and possibly another fan blowing fresh air into the room. If that doesn't work, then you'll probably want to invest in a downdraft vent, which the kiln manufacturer may have available. Otherwise, you can hook up just about any brand of downdraft vent to any kiln. Visible smoke? If there was actual smoke coming out of the kiln that would be odd unless there was something in there burning out. Clay or glaze itself shouldn't produce smoke. Was there a lot of wax on your pieces, or newspaper inside of sculptures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naomi. Posted November 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2020 Hi there, thank you so much for your reply Luckily there are windows on one side of the room and a door opposite so I can vent it well until I can get something better installed. Well it wasn't smoking like a chimney but it built up and set the smoke alarm off, then I noticed how smokey the room was. But leaving the door wide open stopped it building up again. No wax on these pieces and nothing else that I can think of that could be in there, unless something got in accidentally of course. I'll update when I open tomorrow after it's cooled down, fingers crossed they fired ok. Thanks N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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