Electric to Gas Kiln Conversion

           Well, I finally made it out to get things on the gas kiln shopping list- propane, sabersaw blades, stovepipe, and firebrick. Two barbeque tanks from Sheetz and a narrow stovepipe with elbow, rectangular flange, hood/cap, and screw clamps came back in the car. A phone call and a drive to a local brickyard turned up forty heavy firebricks rated to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit.After warnings from friends that I'd need more fuel, I picked up a 40lb propane tank from Tractor Supply (I eventually tried to get a second but no luck- and I wish I'd been able to).

Electrical elements pulled out of the sides.

           Back at the farm, I cut the two torch holes in the bottom ring of the old electric kiln, then the slot between them for the exhaust/chimney. I tried to make the latter hole equal to the former two combined to balance the draft. I had already cut the old heating elements at the ceramic plugs in the wall and removed them- several broke on the way out, despite trying to be gentle. The straight pieces of wire that secured the elements were pulled as well. Next, I assembled and test-fitted the chimney, drilling a hole through the stovepipe about halfway for a piece of threaded rod. The rod had a nut at one end to hold it in a spring that was attached to the kiln’s lid hinge. The other end passed through the chimney and was secured with a wingnut.

Torches and stovepipe placement. Torches needed to be suspended outside the kiln so they could get enough air

           I carried the kiln sections, chimney, and bricks over to the ca. 80’ sand ring nearby and began to set it up in the center. I dug pockets into the sand down to the red clay below to seat four bricks that would give the kiln’s steel stand a stable footing. With all the fall leaves cleared from the ring, I set up the floor, rings, and lid, then added a cinder block behind and attached the chimney. The block would support the stovepipe and torches. The firebricks would hold the torches but I didn’t make them into a chimney, wanting to see how well the pipe worked first.

First incarnation, minus gas hoses.

           With rain forecast for the next day and a package of Seger cones only due to arrive the day after, I found four old 4x4s and some boars and rigged a simple frame over the kiln, eight feet high. This I covered with three sheets of galvanized tin roofing after another run to Lowes. I left the sheets loose in case the heat got too high and I needed to pull it off but the stovepipe didn’t do much more than warm the boards in the end.

           Kiln packing was simple as this was mostly to be a bisque firing- I stacked the more fragile and smaller things inside the larger, and made sure to turn jugs and other handled forms so their handles pointed inward, out of the direct path of flames. I threw some play sand between the nested pieces and tried to keep the like-clays together lest things get stuck together/melt. I had pieces made from five different clay sources in the kiln, several of which I dug myself, so I didn’t know what to expect.