First Soda Kiln Firing...

Well, the first firing was definitely an experience. Sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog but I took tons of pictures and notes so I can share the full thing.
Finally got everything loaded in the kiln and closed it up tight at 7PM on May 22nd.

Turned on one burner to 1psi. Temp rose 92 degrees in 20 minutes so decreased to 1/2psi. Had to lower to the needle barely above zero psi to decrease temp rise. By 8pm temp rise slowed and we were at 244 degrees. Hubby and I sat watching the sunset and pretending we were sitting by a gourgeous fire (lol, which we were, sorta)!

At 11pm were at 401 degrees, had tested the safety valves and trusted them to work so we headed to bed, fingers crossed. I woke up at 4:30am and dud a quick kiln check. All good and temp 540. Back to sleep. By 6:10am I gave up on attempting to sleep and headed down to kiln sit. Temp was now 566.

Russ and I settled down with our coffee (in mugs made by my fellow potter Christy), still in our pjs to kiln sit. 6:40 psi increased to 1/2 and second burner fired up. 6:45 temp 608, 7:45 temp 720, 8:30 temp 766 burners increased to 1 psi, 8:45 temp 812, 9:00 temp 845, 9:30 temp 882 burners increased to 1.5 psi, 10 temp 942, 10:05 increased to 2 psi, 10:30 temp 1021.

11 am issued started... Psi dropping. Checked everything and noticed propane tank was freezing up.

Yikes! Did an emergency tank swap (we had several tanks fortunately). At 11:30 we did a quick tank swap that caused about a 40 degree drop in temp according to the pyrometer and restarted on a smaller tank at 4 psi. By 11:45 the small tank started freezing. Temp dropped to 1108 before we were able to hook up our larger house tank and temp was rising all running well by 12:05 temp 1169. At 1:18 psi was 4.5 and the 3rd tank was freezing up too! Uuuggghhh...we wrapped the tank in a warm towel, found an old heating belt I used to use on my car boys for beer brewing and pushed onwards. 2:00pm temp 1440 and psi 6, 3:00 temp 1665, 4:00 larger (3rd tank) was empty so swapped out. We filled a large storage tub with warm water and placed the tank in it to keep from freezing. I've heard since then from several people that this is a BAD idea but others say it is effective and not dangerous. I still have mixed feelings so planning on avoiding this choice in the future by looking into purchasing/renting a larger tank. Sad part is that a year ago I had them remove a much larger rental tank because we weren't using enough propane at the house to justify it and had purchased the smaller tank as a replacement...sigh...

Sent my boys out to get a refill on one tank as I was afraid we'd run out before the end of the firing. At 4:15 temp 1733, closed damper to 2. 4:30 temp 1761 psi 8. 5:42 psi 10 damper3, 6:50 temp 2041 psi 13 damper 5. 7:50 noticed blockage buildup near rear burner causing burner to back up. Knocked off blockage (appears to be melting brick) using an angle iron, damper at 7. 8:00pm temp 2182, Sprayed soda 3 seconds per opening (6 openings). Allowed temp to return and did again a total of 4 times. 8:22 decreased to 9psi. 8:25 removed first test ring. 8:28 temp 2194 added round of soda, 8:37 removed 2nd ring, 8:45 added soda temp 2215, 8:55 temp 2228 added soda and removed 3rd ring, 9:00pm temp 2230 added soda one last time psi 7.

9:40 pm pyrometer reads 2225 and cones down. 10:00 burners shut off all bungs opened and damper opened. 10:45 temp 1781, kiln clammed up damper closed and bung holes closed.

may 24th 6:00am 1152

31 hours post firing temp 582

May 27th, temp 320, second wicket layer removed and kiln unloaded 10:00am.