$2000 of that is the safety testing because it's LPG, if it was mains gas it would be $500.. go figure..
we have a pow wow next week, a little problem solving chat with keith and kevin to see if there's anyway to save this project before i go 'forget it i've spent enough time on this one'...how's 5 years sound to you without our big gas kiln functioning??...yeh not happy jan....
options that i can think of at this point, put the kiln room walls up, get a big electric kiln for large scale work second hand would save us some $$.
do experimental kiln building small scale only in the car park- ie set up fire and take down each time alla Andrew Douglas style.
wood fired raku too.
build a small test gas kiln on wheels also car park job and fire with the raku burner setup......
that's about all i can come up with, happy for any suggestions.....
what a huge blow, There doesn't seem to be any way round that one, How come they didn't indicate that it would be such a huge ammount.Well that also gives me no chance to get my kiln up and running either.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got some good stuff for the club as well.Judy
Hey Ang, Just trying to catch up on here. Sorry to hear about the whole gas thing. What a pain. $7500!!!! I don't have any good suggestions really. Hope you get it worked out.
ReplyDeleteI was interested to see the image transfer posts and I like the carved plaster idea.
Just posted a comment to you but it didn't appear, not sure what happened. That's bad news for the club,Judy
ReplyDeleteThats about 3,500 british pounds! Wow! I just got some flexible hose and some standard plumbing fittings and did it myself, but then I don't have health and safety to consider. My propane tanks are standing about two metres from the kiln, chained to the structure of the barn. Not quite sure what they'd say to that.
ReplyDeleteSeems such a shame to have such a beauty and not be able to fire it. The build, fire, dismantle thing isn't particularly practical although you could leave bits of the structure in place (for example, having a level base would make the build much much simpler - that was 50% of the build.)
But, we only did it to try out Nic's idea - I wouldn't want to do the build/fire/dismantle thing that often unless you really wanted to change things or try stuff out every time. Could you not make the LPG thing less permanent? (ie you set up, fire and dismantle the LPG apparatus every time, but not have to build the kiln every time.)
Not sure what else to suggest - there's 101 kilns just in the two Ian Gregory books, all worth trying, but it isn't going to provide you with a regular way of firing.
Good luck anyway.
Disclaimer: I haven't counted how many kilns are in those books - it might be more or less than 101.
i Know andrew it's such a nightmare but i'm dealing.. thanks for the suggestions.
ReplyDeleteOk Ang this needs a bit of lateral thinking, how about making some fund raising mugs, or is it cheaper if you get one of those big propane holders installed like they do in some houses and they come and deliver the gas like an oil delivery I'm sure that has different regulations, and when they install the tank they connect it up to the kiln as they would a house. just a thought. when I moved my electric kiln down to our house 3 years ago they told me it would cost £1200 to upgrade the electric supply, so for that money I built my gas kiln which is twice the size.
ReplyDeletethanks paul i'll put it to our problem solving chat tomorrow night and see what he says, i think our biggest problem is that the club's in a public building..
ReplyDeleteGood luck Ang, what a bore after all the hard work you've put into this.
ReplyDeleteoh yeh totally...
ReplyDeleteJeez.. How heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteRather steep quote, but as you mentioned, having it in a public building and, I assume, in town, presents a completely new set of obstacles and regulations.
What is "mains gas"? is that natural gas? If that were case it would just mean changing your burners which would cost you considerably less than the quote you got.
Cheers! Anne
hi anne, thanks for dropping in, we don't have gas in the street hence LPG bottles we're not quite in town but on the outskirts of suburbia...and yes the plot thickens!! we have considered that the guy didn't want the job that or his mark up is considerably higher than the "average bear".. anywho i've just come back from our little pow wow tonight and keith is on the investigation trail of solving our dilema..i'll keep you all updated.... what a saga, i should write a soapie about this one!!
ReplyDeleteI thought you were installing a fixed big tank or mains gas, not bottles. Oh well. Good luck with getting it sorted, anyway - I know the feeling with peeps over quoting for a job they don't want (and how many builders stories have I heard of them doing just that and having the quote accepted...)
ReplyDelete