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ivor/nils/art of firing

updated wed 21 mar 07

 

mel jacobson on tue 20 mar 07


nils is in hawaii building a kiln.
that is why he missed nceca for the first time
in years.
and, we missed him in our room.....and, he was missed.

nils is a ferocious reader of industrial writing, manuals and
books. that passage is, i am sure from a source of that type.
he will validate it for sure.
i have forwarded your note from clayart.

the natural gas industry of america has loads
information on ovens/furnaces and heat treating.
mountains of information. most of it never before
seen by potters. nils reads it all.

a big industrial furnace/such as alcoa will burn three million
dollars worth of gas a year. think of a ten percent saving.
they will work hard to make a one percent saving. they
don't mess around with heat....nothing wasted.

feriz is now working on a system to coat
car engines with itc...hold in the heat all the
way to the tail pipe.
increases mileage and power.
he claims that a car engine is a kiln.
and if you let the heat out, you lose power.
the exhaust/manifold system is the chimney.

as he says:
`most potters give away about 50 percent of the
kilns energy up the stack.`

that is why i always turn the kiln on full in the early
stages, and decrease the fuel as the kiln heats.
the energy in the kiln does not need as much fuel
when the air is hot. most of that gas goes out of the
stack as unburned fuel in a poorly regulated kiln..

that is why my neighbors never know when i am firing.
not an ounce of smoke ever at my chimney's top.
mel


from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/

Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html