Maybe someone here can help me - I am interested in pottery and have the opportunity to buy an 2 cubic metre electric kiln 2nd hand. The trouble is it hasn't been fired up for about 30 years. I don't know much about kilns and haven't had a chance to look it over so would be buying it 'as is', although the outside looks fine. I'm not sure how much it would cost to repair because I don't know about that stuff, but I'm wondering if the costs to repair all the potential problems (worst case scenario) like elements and thermostat is going to be sky high. Should i take a chance and buy it for repair or is there potentially not much price difference between a complete overhaul and a brand new kiln?

spoeklet - 2020-10-06 15:55:00

buy a new kiln elements are expensive to replace by an electrician I have had an old kiln which took endless hours to reach temperature. or alternatively join a pottery group and hire their kiln occasionally.

centaurus2 - 2020-10-09 15:11:00

A 2cuft kiln for a Potter would be useless.Those sized one were made for ceramic painters and would not get up to the Temparature needed to fire raw clay.
If your pottery takes off the size would be very inconvenient.

axelvonduisberg - 2020-10-09 16:49:00

Cool - thanks. It would be for porcelain dolls too but sounds easier just to buy a new one

spoeklet - 2020-10-09 17:25:00

You say you are "interseted in pottery" my MIL did it for years and owned her own kiln, which was 2 phase power and expensive to run.
My advice to you would be to join a club and use their kiln until you decide if you really like it. The outlay is big money, cost to run it, cost to have it wired in,
AND you will need heavier cabling to your shed, (ex electrician here)from
your main switchboard. Some things to ponder for you anyway hope this helps.(you cant just plug these into a 10 amp socket)

Edited by bill1451 at 11:28 am, Sun 25 Oct

bill1451 - 2020-10-25 11:26:00

Kiln's are straight forward to restore either brick or fibre construction, I wind my own elements and do a lot of manual to automatic controller conversions, best to get a Sparky to look at it and quote, you don't know until you ask :-) most home kilns are all single phase limited to a 32A circuit, with good insulation not expensive to run, approx $10-15 each firing... good luck!

itaddict - 2020-12-07 18:45:00