FIRING: PART 2 – MORE INFORMATION
MEASURING TEMPERATURE – THE OPTIONS
There are several ways of measuring and controlling the temperature of the kiln as it fires, which we touched on briefly in the last instalment, but here we break things down for a more in-depth understanding of what’s happening and how things work.
DIGITAL PROGRAM CONTROLLERS
Most modern electric (and gas kilns) come with a digital programmer, which is very simple and convenient to use because it allows the firing schedule to be set in stages or ‘ramps’, which change automatically and then switch off. More sophisticated controllers allow for staged ramps, both rising and falling, so that cooling can be controlled as well as heating. Also, some have features that control an electronic damper that can be set to close at a set temperature.
Choose a digital programmer if you want to feel confident about leaving the kiln to fire itself. An added safety feature can include a safety over-fire device, which would shut down the kiln if it fired beyond the pre-set number of hours.
Many controllers will have firing schedules already programmed in – for bisque, earthenware, stoneware, etc – but the manual will provide full
