Kiln power usage

[steiconi]

Electricity is really expensive here, so I've never had a kiln. We're planning to go solar, and I'd like to make sure we have enough capacity to run a kiln.

Right now, I just need to anneal beads, but I'd like to be able to fuse sometime.

So what's the wattage of a typical kiln that can do both?

I'll have to estimate how much I'll use it, but I'm trying to get an idea of how many watts per hour I'm looking at.

our solar set up will feed excess power to the electric company, and they pay for it, but if we don't produce enough, we have to buy what we need, so I want to make sure we have enough for all our plans.

thanks!
Lee

[Alaska]

It is kind of asking 'how much fuel does a car take'..... Well, is it a VW or a Hummer - city driving or country, etc.

Kiln sizes vary greatly from small to large. Are you doing boro or soft glass? How much capacity do you need? Do you wish to anneal dozen of beads at a time of hundreds? Interested in 110 VAC or 220 VAC?

Most of the kiln manufacture publish their kiln wattage requirements. Thus, that is an excellent source of information.

A small kiln might be in the range of 700 watts with a larger kiln at 1500 to 1800 watts. But again size is relative to your needs.

As an example, a Paragon F120 kiln is 1680 watts for a chamber that is 1/2 cubic foot. Will this fit your needs or is something smaller or larger desired?

[jaci]

I think I have an AIM that was a 13 amp and the chili pepper I think is even less than that, both standard plugs. I have been told that it's about or less than a refrigerator, and should cost about a dollar a day, let's day for inflation sake 2...if not constantly ramping up and down. Most of the energy is used in the initial ramp up. Then a small amount is used to maintain the heat. These are smaller kilns as well, so keep this in mind. But it is very possible also to batch anneal once a week or month and keep your costs low. You can even set a cycle so you can play with works you would want to go directly into the kiln while you batch anneal the others. just might make you torch more!!!!!! Lol

[Dale M.]

Not only is it important to know what wattage (amperage) your kiln draws, but something that will have big influence of electrical usage is "on time".... Kilns turn/off during heat/annealing/cooling cycles... So kilowatt hours use will have some influence on your solar array and whether you may or may not need to draw from commercial... Ask kiln manufacture what average on time is, it could be something like 15 minutes out of 60 or something more or less..... Obviously it will be high during ramp up, but less at ramp down, but you should have some "ball park" numbers for calculations....

Dale

[GLASSFREEK]

Most kilns when there up to temp average a 50/50% duty cycle, if you go with a smallish kiln say 8 amps and under 1 square foot thats well insulated you may be looking at more like 65 off 35 on when at full temp.

Mike

[steiconi]

Thanks, those are great answers and enough to get me where I need to go. Maybe I'll keep it simple and tell the solar guy we need a second fridge...

[Speedslug]

Aye and remember that you can have more capacity than you use but you can not use more capacity than you have so going for two "extra refirdgerators" will allow you to use it more often or get a bigger kiln at a latter date.