Is it difficult to run a kiln?
I’ve been thinking of buying a small kiln–and by small, I mean really small, like one of the kilns in Paragon’s SC line. My question is, are they difficult to run? Also how much energy to they take up–would it cause a significant spike in my electric bill?
I’ve also been looking at Paragon’s Xpress-E13T model, since it has a larger interior. I also like how that model can handle high fire clay and I would love to do some work in porcelain. My question is, how much more costly is it to run a kiln when it’s firing high fire clays? And, does anyone know where I can get shelves for this model?
They’re not too difficult to run. If you’ve ever programmed something with limited buttons, like a coffee maker, you should have no problem programming one of the controllers that Paragon uses. If you want to try it out, they’ve got an interactive demo on their website:
http://www.paragonweb.com/VideoInfo.cfm?VID=28
For power consumption, the SC2 is rated at 1.4 kW. For a cone 06 firing, assume that the kiln will be at full power for 4 hours. For a cone 6 firing, it will probably be closer to 8 hours. So take that time, and multiply it by the rated kW, and you get 4 x 1.4 = 5.6 kWh and 8 x 1.4 = 11.2 kWh.
Now, pull out your electric bill, and take a look at what your power company charges per kWh or kilowatt-hour. Mine charges me $ 0.15 (broken up into about 5 lines of separate fees), so that SC2 would cost me about 5.6 kWh * $ 0.15 / kWh = $ 0.84 per cone 06 firing, and $ 1.68 per cone 6 firing I did.
Multiply that by the number of times you plan to fire it per month, and you’ll know how much your electric bill will go up.
I couldn’t find the Xpress-E13T on Paragon’s website, but the E12T has 2.3 kW of power in it, about double the power of the SC2. So my cost per firing would be about $ 1.68 for a cone 06 firing and $ 3.36 for a cone 6 firing.
Call Paragon or your local dealer. They probably have shelves that will work for you. If not, e-mail me with your general area, and I can give you some sources to call.
