Hi All,
I'm new here and to pottery in general. My wife is a potter and I am in the process of building her a pottery studio in our basement workshop. This room is pretty well sealed from the rest of the house.
I have a round electric kiln. I want to find out about ventilation of this kiln. I have read that noxious fumes are created both in the bisque firing and the glaze firing. I have acquired an truncated aluminum cone with a hole in the top used to suspend over the kiln - lowered by means of block and tackle.
I have 2 options for venting to the outside.
One is straight across the ceiling to the exterior wall, punch a whole through masonary block, install rigid 4" dia. duct with an inline fan and run it outside with maybe an elbow pointing up and a rain cap. I don't like this idea too much because the fumes will exhaust essential at ground level and then just drift around.
Second option is to tie into and existing duct chimney that is used by my gas fired hot water heater, this is a double walled chimney that goes all the way through my house and out the roof. It is also only about 6 feet from the kiln. If you have a gas fired hot water heater you may be familiar with the gap between the duct and the tank. This concerns me a bit if any kind of back draft occured. Also, would it be ok if they both were working at the same time?
Keep in mind I have no idea how much fumes to expect from this kiln. Is there a rule of thumb for CFM of ventilation? Any advice would be gratefully received...
Thanks
Zander