PNW Kiln Building (3) -- Burner Configuration

Scenes from kiln building class at Pottery Northwest http://www.potterynorthwest.org/ -- here we are shown the two possible configurations for the burners: A 3-burner configuration vs. a 4-burner one. The main advantage of the 3-burner system is the significantly larger firebox size (this will be a soda kiln, where we plan to dump soda compounds into the firebox, using the Gail Nichols approach) and the proximity of ware anywhere on the shelves to the source of soda vapor, i.e. the fireboxes. The main concern, of course, is whether we'll have enough power with just three burners. In other words, say we wanted 600,000 BTU/hr for the whole kiln. Then in a 3-burner system, each burner will have to deliver 200,000 BTU/hr. But in a 4-burner system, each would only need to give 150,000. Of course, this 3-burner configuration is also kind of weird looking... but that's a different story. And yes, there is also some worry about cold spots with this 3-burner configuration, especially the right front corner. The game plan for fixing this, if we need to, is to tweak openings to the flue channel to favor the front (i.e. have more slots in the front), so as to bring the draft more towards the front. (We hope!)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• soda
• fired
• pottery
• kiln

[pensandcalls]

What???????? It should would be nice to know what they are aguing about.....