Joanne Van Bezooyen on tue 19 oct 99
Well, I've finally converted my old electric kiln to natural gas by
purchasing a Summit Kilns conversion system ($200). My husband took
over the project and didn't believe me or anybody's advice as he'd never
done anything with gas before. Now that the conversion is here, he sees
how simple it is.
I'm ready to go, except for one hesitation. I really don't know "how
much" to turn up the kiln (open the valves) because there are no gauges
with numbers (example: turn up to #1....30 minutes later turn up to #2,
etc.) I am nervous to fly by the seat of my pants on my first firings
not knowing "how much",...do you understand???
The only thing I can think of to do is to make little black marker lines
around the valve and number them, but then I still won't know "how
much"....but can at least record what I've done. I will then have
screwed up a number of loads...??????
So......HOW do I do this? FLame size? Flame color? Do I have to lay on
the ground? Yuck!
Joanne in Tucson
Hank Murrow on wed 20 oct 99
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Well, I've finally converted my old electric kiln to natural gas by
>purchasing a Summit Kilns conversion system ($200). My husband took
>over the project and didn't believe me or anybody's advice as he'd never
>done anything with gas before. Now that the conversion is here, he sees
>how simple it is.
>
>I'm ready to go, except for one hesitation. I really don't know "how
>much" to turn up the kiln (open the valves) because there are no gauges
>with numbers (example: turn up to #1....30 minutes later turn up to #2,
>etc.) I am nervous to fly by the seat of my pants on my first firings
>not knowing "how much",...do you understand???
>
>The only thing I can think of to do is to make little black marker lines
>around the valve and number them, but then I still won't know "how
>much"....but can at least record what I've done. I will then have
>screwed up a number of loads...??????
>
>
>So......HOW do I do this? FLame size? Flame color? Do I have to lay on
>the ground? Yuck!
>
>Joanne in Tucson
Dear Joanne; You can make a cheap manometer to measure the relative gas
pressure at your burner by installing a 13/16" brass hose bibb between your
valve and the burner; connected by a 'tygon' tubing 3/16" diameter to your
manometer. Now if you have $45 to spend, just order a plain u-tube
manometer from Dwyer Instruments. Alternately, mount the tygon tubing into
a routed plywood frame to form a "u" about a foot from bottom to top and
fill one half the tube with water dyed with food coloring. If all goes
well, when you turn on the gas the fluid will rise on one side and fall on
the other. the distance between the two 'marks' is the relative gas
pressure. 3" up and 3" down = 6" w.c. more or less. You can make " markers
or a scale on your plywood panel as seem good to you. If 6" w.c. is what
you have, I suggest starting out with half to 1" w.c. with a small amount
of air. Turn up in 1" w.c. increments and half turns of air. Would need a
more specific picture to give better directions. Whatever you do, make sure
the air shutter is closed before lighting so you're lighting a "slow"
mixture to avoid bangs. Let us know what you do and how it works out. Hank
in Eugene
stephen baxter on wed 20 oct 99
Joanne.
call your gas company and ask what the line pressure is. then get a gas
pressure gauge of the correct pressure and install it after the valve. This
will tell you what pressure you are using. The orifice in the gas burner
will determine how much gas over all goes in the kiln . You should have a
pyrometer installed on your kiln. the first firing go slow and average 300
F an hour. mark down the gas pressure and
Next time fire slower or faster based on the gas pressure and the
pyrometer.
Steve
----------
> From: Joanne Van Bezooyen
> To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
> Subject: firing a conversion kiln
> Date: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 5:01 PM
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Well, I've finally converted my old electric kiln to natural gas by
> purchasing a Summit Kilns conversion system ($200). My husband took
> over the project and didn't believe me or anybody's advice as he'd never
> done anything with gas before. Now that the conversion is here, he sees
> how simple it is.
>
> I'm ready to go, except for one hesitation. I really don't know "how
> much" to turn up the kiln (open the valves) because there are no gauges
> with numbers (example: turn up to #1....30 minutes later turn up to #2,
> etc.) I am nervous to fly by the seat of my pants on my first firings
> not knowing "how much",...do you understand???
>
> The only thing I can think of to do is to make little black marker lines
> around the valve and number them, but then I still won't know "how
> much"....but can at least record what I've done. I will then have
> screwed up a number of loads...??????
>
>
> So......HOW do I do this? FLame size? Flame color? Do I have to lay on
> the ground? Yuck!
>
> Joanne in Tucson
Pottery by Dai on wed 20 oct 99
Hi, Joanne - please tell me where you got the conversion kit for your
electric kiln. This sounds VERY interesting! Thanks in advance......
Dai in Kelowna, B.C.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Well, I've finally converted my old electric kiln to natural gas by
>purchasing a Summit Kilns conversion system ($200).
Joanne Van Bezooyen on thu 21 oct 99
The conversion kit is from Summit Kilns in Florida....there are several sizes
available for different sized kilns.
Pottery by Dai wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hi, Joanne - please tell me where you got the conversion kit for your
> electric kiln. This sounds VERY interesting! Thanks in advance......
> Dai in Kelowna, B.C.
>
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >Well, I've finally converted my old electric kiln to natural gas by
> >purchasing a Summit Kilns conversion system ($200).
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