Poll: Do you babysit your Kiln?
I'm just curious. My hubby makes fun of me because I won't go to sleep
or leave the house if the kiln is running. My theory is - I wouldn't do that with the oven either, so why would I do that with something that tops 2000 degrees. He told me "why don't you take a poll and see how others do it"....so here we are. |
I was really attentive when I first got the kiln, but now, I turn it on and let it do its stuff whatever I'm up to!
Having said that, I probably wouldn't do it if it was in the house but it is in a brick-built pig-sty in the back garden... |
I usually torch in the evenings, so I torch, then go to bed.
I have it on a metal cart and it's in the basement which has concrete walls. |
I used to keep a closer eye on it, but I think that was mostly anticipation - wanting to see my beads come out. Now I just set it and forget it! But I don't leave the house to run errands. I DO have a VERY sensative smoke detector right outside that room, so I feel comfortable knowing that even if something does happen, I'll get a pretty early warning.
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I would never leave the house with the kiln running. Ever. Well, unless it was burning or something. :wink: I can't go to sleep for the night unless the kiln is off and unplugged. It's not because of the things in my house, it's because of the animals. I'd die if anything happened to them while I was gone because of some stupid mistake I'd made.
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I don't leave the property, but I do leave the building it's in. I don't leave the house with the dryer running, either.
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I can't bring myself to leave the house, even to do yardwork. If anything happened, I'm there to hear the smoke detectors and might be able to stop a fire from spreading. I have fire extinguishers in the kitchen, the laundry room and my studio.
I don't leave the house with the dryer running either, Deb. And I alway check to see if the coffee pot is off. |
My dh is a retired Fire Fighter and there would be hell to pay if I left the house while the kiln was on! I know cuz I accidently did it once!
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I'm so glad you aked. I was just about to ask the same thing. I am a kiln newbie and the first time I turned it on I checked it every 30 minutes or so. Now I leave it alone but I won't leave the house or go to sleep. But as I get used to it I imagine I'll be able to run out(quickly not all day or anything) while it's on. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable sleeping while it's on.
Ann |
I picked the last one but I'm never gone or asleep for that long. Sometimes if it's hot out I'll run a fuse or higher temp glass load to be hottest in the middle of the night. I wouldn't set it and then go to BFE for the weekend.
BUT..if it's stormy with a chance of power outages (caused usually by the village idiots hitting the power pole down the street) I stay up or plan ahead. My annealer will ramp back up AFAP if the power shuts down and then comes back on. Not good for beads almost done. Ask me how I know.:rolleyes: |
I live in a 100+ year old house, and I have the antique wiring.....
I voted, I don't leave the house - but I do other things and don't watch it like a hawk. |
I would never leave the house while the oven, clothes dryer or kiln was on.
Never ever. Or an iron. :D |
Someone is always in the house when the kiln is on - and a smoke alarm is right above it in the garage. Well, almost always, I did leave the house once for less than an hour while it was ramping down. Mike Crowley, who made my kiln, teased me about it - it's not like leaving an oven on since the kiln does have a program . . . but I still need to have it unplugged before going to bed, even if it means my staying up later than my bedtime!
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I've read too many posts about relays going bad and kilns overheating. I never leave the house with the kiln on. I don't leave the house with the dryer or oven on either. :)
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[-( I could never leave the house with the kiln on-I'd be scared to death all of the flamables in my studio would walk over to it and start a party!!! (I had a lint fire not too long ago, so now I'm extra nervous!)
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I usually don't leave the house with the kiln on but will go to bed when I'm done. I have a brick kiln and will just turn it off when I'm done making beads, it cools the beads slowly and I don't have to worry about a melt down because the power is off. I shut the power off at the fuse box too, my kiln has a dedicated line. It helps me sleep better anyway.
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I was incredibly careful the first few years that I had the kiln -- watching it like a hawk. But now I've even gone to a set-it-and-forget-it fusing schedule. And, I'm guilty of leaving the house to run errands if it's in a ramp down mode. But I have absolutely no problem leaving the dryer running and leaving the house. And, I've been known to turn on the oven to preheat when I'm running out to buy a frozen pizza. I guess I just like to live dangerously:cool:
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I thought I was going to be the single bad exception here but I guess not.
I have a brick kiln, on a stainless steel table, away from the walls in the garage. I get so little sleep as it is if I had to stay up and wait for it there would go the rest of the sleep I could get :lol: I ran home at lunch today and was able to make six beads (we had a gas leak at work) I had no problem leaving the kiln on. I know it will be just the right temp when I get home to remove my beadies and start fresh!!! |
Usually when the kiln starts to ramp down, I shut the windows and leave it alone. But it is in an outbuilding. The kiln is firebrick. The firebrick legs are on a fire resistant board. There is like 12" between the kiln and the drywall.
It would be a big deal if something happened out there, but no one is living or sleeping there. (Just lots of $$ in farm equipment.) I do try to make a point of shutting it off after it is done ramping down. I figure I keep tabs for the most part for the down cycle but I don't want the controller to malfunction and run for a day. I think something like that would be more likely to create a fire than my ramp down cycle. |
I do mostly fusing and get pretty large orders so I can't babysit the kilns, I do have digital controllers, but they can mess up.....
DH installed a timer on my kiln receptacles, so I set the timer to turn off when the kiln cycle should finish... I think he bought them at an electrical supply company for about $15 - $20 each and he installled them himself... really nice to have that added security |
I was a little freaked out about letting it go by itself at first, but I've relaxed a lot. I might be more paranoid if it was in the house, but it's out in the shop/garage. I do most of my torching in the morning, so I wouldn't really go to sleep while it's running, and I don't usually go anywhere. I picked the last one because if I did have to go somewhere while the kiln was on, I probably would.
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I torch until late hours, put the glass into the kiln, then go to bed. Done this for 3 years now with NO problems. Got a Jen-Ken, smoke alarm, fire department only a block away, torch in an outer building.. it's all good! I vote for your hubby making fun of you... ***evil grin here...lol***
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I tell myself that it's not really like an oven, it's designed to go much hotter, and cakes are more flammable than beads! Same goes for clothes in a dryer. I won't leave my oven or dryer, but I reckon the worst my kiln might do is turn my beads to puddles. That's bad enough!
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I usually stop beadmaking by 6-7 pm so I'm still up when it gets down to 500 so I can just turn it off before I go to bed. I mainly do that cause the program makes it beep a whole bunch of times to signal the end of the ramp schedule and it's a really loud beep and wakes me up. If necessary I can go to bed with it still running because I have a smoke detector, carbon monoxide dectector and a fire extinguisher in my studio so if something happened, I'd be alerted right away.
I would never, ever leave the house with the kiln, dryer, washing machine or anything else on. I'm a nervous nellie, I even unplug my hair dryer and put it away to make sure I don't leave it plugged in. |
I'm sure this won't make any sense, but since I have no problem with going to sleep while the kiln is doing its thing, I'm not so comfortable about leaving the house. My kiln is in the basement, and there's a smoke/fire/heat alarm almost directly over the kiln (coincidental). I guess my logic is that at least if I'm home, I can do something if something goes wrong. If I'm not here, well, who's gonna rescue my doggie??!!!
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I don't leave the house when I have any major appliance running (except the TV if the pets are watching and I need to run to the store) so the kiln is no different. I can hear it from the computer room so I know it's doing its job.
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Kiln or annealer? They are designed to operate at different maximum temperatures. Kilns up to 2400 F. Annealers up to 1200 F. Both have coils which can heat to over 2400 F. Kilns do fine at 2400 F... but some annealers burst into flames at 2400 F. If the annealer power relay fails closed, it goes into thermal runaway unless the control circuit has a 'policing monitor' which automatically senses the runaway condition and shuts down the power. Does yours?
Me |
I torch during the day and I'm done by ~4pm (kid home from school) then I ramp it down. It's all ways done by 9pm and then I turn the kiln off. I could not go to sleep with it still running. I will make short runs, ie the bus stop with it running.
dawn |
Quote:
Holy cow... I'll go ahead and start the washer/dryer and/or the dishwasher before I leave the house ON PURPOSE. Mine are pretty old and they are just SO loud. But... I won't leave the house when the kiln/oven/iron are on. |
I wish I would get an early start in the day but I don't so I do go to bed with it on. If there aren't many beads I will just turn it off and redo it the next time I torch. I do the same thing if DH wants to go to dinner, etc.
We have a smoke detector and it is on a metal shelf unit too. It sits a distance from the wall or anything flamable. |
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