Buying my first kiln

Shiny Skutt Kiln 1027 in a garage — Skutt KM-1027

In 2022 I bought my first kiln, and I wanted to share the process of deciding, purchasing, and installing, with all of you. Hopefully it can help you on your own journey to being a kiln owner!

But I’d like to begin with a disclaimer: when I tell you I had/have minimal knowledge of kilns, I’m not exaggerating. A lot of people assume I went to art school for ceramics (I went to school for Art History), but I actually learned pottery the way many do: in a community studio. Well, technically it was a museum art school, but anyone could sign up for the class and it was taught similarly to those in community studios. We learned how to prep clay, throw on the wheel, trim, make handles, glaze pots, handbuild… But what this studio didn’t include was lessons on making glazes or firing kilns. So everything I’ve picked up over the years has been through my own research or just by being in the space and asking questions and observing. So my knowledge is limited, and I am learning as I go. I’ve tried to answer your questions below to the best of my ability, so check those out!

Deciding if you can have a kiln

There are a lot of choices that will go into whether or not you buy a kiln. Can you afford one (used or new)? Can your space handle the heat that the kiln will give off? Can you properly vent the kiln exhaust? Can you accommodate the size of the kiln you need/want? Will you be able to get the replacement parts you need, or have someone service your kiln if it has to be repaired?

What shouldn’t stop you from buying a kiln is this: I don’t know how to load/fire a kiln. Because you can absolutely learn as you go. There are tons of tutorial videos and books out there. New kilns also come with handy manuals to get you started, and new technology (touchscreens) literally walk you through every step of the way. Yes there will be growing pains, and you’ll mess up and need to troubleshoot, but you’ll learn and have fun.

Choosing a Kiln

The studio at which I learned pottery had four electric kilns: 2 Amaco Select Fire EX-270SF, 1 Shimpo ConeArt MX2827D, and 1 Skutt KM-1227. I can’t recall, but I remember one of them was about 40 years old. These things hold up if you care for them. (Not only did I learn at this museum art school, but I also worked there managing the school, so I had a lot of great inside info and was able to see how everything functioned up close).

We also had a wonderful gentleman who would come in to service them. He had opened a business that was exclusively kiln maintenance and repair, and as a skilled electrician, he curbed the market in our area and serviced all the studios and schools with kilns.

So when it was my turn to begin looking for a kiln, I knew I wanted:

A kiln that was common enough that I wouldn’t have any issue finding parts that needed replacing.
A kiln that had a reputation for quality and longevity.
A kiln that either I could service myself or easily hire someone to help me repair if necessary.
A kiln that even the most basic beginner could use successfully.

I ended up going with a Skutt. It is one of the most well known kiln company out there, and I’ve spent years seeing Skutts being used by both home potters and studios. I knew the Skutt that we used at our museum art school was great quality despite its age, easy to use, and never gave us trouble. I knew I’d be able to find replacement parts, and because these kilns are often used by home potters, I knew it would be user-friendly. Skutts can even be upgraded to have a touch screen controller with a corresponding app, and to me this was a huge selling point. I love being able to get the latest technology.

Once I knew I wanted a Skutt, I needed to choose the model and where to purchase it from. Skutt doesn’t sell directly from their website, but you can either use their “build a kiln” option or browse their many options to find the best one for you. This is where it begins to get a little complicated.

You will need to know what size you want, and what cone you’re hoping to fire to, as well as a number of specs that you might not understand (I know I didn’t): phase, volts, amps, watts… I’m grateful that my husband Patrick has experience with machinery and electrical requirements, so he speaks the language. I narrowed it down to two kilns that I thought would work for me, and he helped me choose one based on the other information.

I had been looking at the Skutt KMT-1227PK as well as the Skutt KMT-1027. The biggest difference for me was the size (the 1227 is larger). I knew I wanted a kiln that was larger than I currently needed, as I hoped and planned to grow my business and didn’t want to feel like I was lacking the space I needed. I also knew I wanted to begin firing cone 6, but I wanted the option to fire to cone 10 if I chose (both of these could).

I needed to know the total amount of amperage available to us and our home, so I could make sure I could run the kiln in addition to all the other things in our lives that take up power (like our dishwasher or washing machine). If you need to increase the amperage to your house it can be very expensive (you may just choose to run your kiln overnight when most of the other appliances in your house are not on).

We called a local electrician to come check out our house and let us know how much power (volts) we could manage. The most common voltages are 208 volt and 240 volt (we could use 240v).

I also needed to figure out if we could accommodate single-phase or 3-phase power (most houses have single phase, while most commercial buildings have 3-phase. Each phase will work, you just need to know what you have and buy the corresponding kiln).

An electrician installed a 240v outlet in my garage studio, since all the outlets in the garage were too small and wouldn’t be able to fit the plug from the kiln. (He kindly let us know that if we ever bought a Tesla, that we could also use this same plug to charge it.)

Finally, I needed to decide the thickness of the brick inside the kiln. I went with 3” brick since they retain heat better and save money. The downside of 3” brick is that it will decrease the interior space of your kiln.

With all of this in mind, I was able to narrow it down to the Skutt KMT-1027. (Skutt recommends the 818 and 822 models for “home studios”, so I assume that’s more indoor spaces rather than larger garages. If you choose to go with a different kiln brand, you might compare specs to find a similar model.)

When in doubt, call the company or the supplier and ask for their opinion. They deal with these questions all the time and will know how to help you choose.

The Skutt KilnMaster Touchscreen Controller, still with it’s protective covering.

Purchasing A Kiln

I would suggest seeing if you have a local supplier that you can order your kiln from and then go pick it up if you have the means. Kilns are large and the shipping costs are enormous. I lucked out and ended up finding a supplier across the country that was having a great sale, and even with the shipping cost, it ended up being cheaper than buying it locally. I chose to add on a hollow core shelf kit, an enviro-vent to help exhaust the kiln, and the Skutt touch screen. An enviro-vent is a fan that for the 1027 vents air out the bottom of the kiln. It helps to direct any fumes out of the space as well as keeping the room temperature down and helps the kiln cool faster.

Buying a new kiln is great, however it might be worth your while to try and find a used kiln (due to the cost of a new kiln as well as your interest in pottery: you might decide after a few months or years that you don’t want to continue). As I said above, many of these kilns can last decades if you treat them properly. A used kiln might need some updates if it’s in disrepair, so before buying, ask the seller for information about the kiln’s condition (and history if they have it). Ask for pictures of elements and thermocouples, of any damage to the interior brick, and any other issues that might arise. See the questions at the end of this post for more details about buying used.

The Hollow Core Kiln Shelves I purchased. You can also see the kiln furniture below that came with the kit.

Accessories

We bought three additional items for safety:

A heat alarm - similar to a smoke alarm, a heat alarm will sense excessive temperatures rather than smoke. The one I have alerts to temperatures rising above 135⁰F & will sound an 85-decibel alarm.
A room temperature/humidity monitor - Essentially a high-tech thermometer, it can measure the room temperature so I can decide if it’s too hot to fire (shouldn’t fire over 100⁰F room temp, which happens during the summer here in southern California). It also has an app linked up to it, so I can monitor the room temperature from anywhere.
A fire extinguisher - for obvious reasons. You want to get a multipurpose A-B-C dry chemical fire extinguisher.

Installing A Kiln

Our kiln arrived in a large truck that couldn’t fit down our road, so Patrick and the driver had to push it on a flatbed up to our garage. It came in a big box with a lot of packaging (meaning a lot of stuff to recycle!) It came almost fully assembled, except for the stand, however to move it to its final location in the garage, we needed to take apart the separate sections which made it lighter and easier to move.

Skutt suggests that the kilns be at least 18″ from any wall if you have a circuit board (to minimize heat reflection), but if you don’t have a circuit board, it can be placed as close as 9” to a wall. Avoid placing it near anything wood or combustible.

We measured and decided on the exact location of the kiln, placed the base down, and began reassembling the sections and lid (which is the heaviest part). If you have a kiln with a lid lifter, you need to tension the lid so it's easier to lift and lower. Skutt has many wonderful videos on youtube to help you with all these little details.

Once it’s back together, you will need to put the controller box back on it’s hinges, reattach the feeder wires and thermocouple wires, and screw the box shut.

Before firing your work, you will need to vacuum out the kiln and do a test firing. Prep your shelves with kiln wash, load them into the kiln, and include a Orton large self supporting cone 04 cone (suggested cone, as well as suggested first firing) about 2” away from the thermocouple and at least 2” from the kiln wall. Your kiln will also come with peep plugs, which were designed to allow you to see cones inside the kiln as it fires (Never look into the peep holes without protective eyewear). If you have a vent, you will want to put the peep plugs into the holes during the firing; if you don’t have a vent, you will leave the top peep hole open/unplugged for the entire firing.

Your kiln will come with a manual, I suggest reading it. It will help walk you through all these steps, and might make you ask some questions that you will need to look up.

The inside of the kiln, showing the elements (the curly coils inside the walls), and the thermocouple (sticking out). The walls are what we call the brick, and it’s a soft material that can be easily chipped.

Your Questions

“What to check when looking second-hand? Any notable brands to favor or avoid?”

If you find a secondhand kiln you’re thinking of purchasing, first look up the specs of the exact kiln (as if you were buying a new one). If the manufacturer doesn’t exist anymore, it might be hard to get replacement parts if and when you need them, unless the kiln can use parts from other brands/manufacturers. You’ll want to know if you can handle this exact kiln: exterior and interior sizes (can you fit this into your space, including clearance from walls?); can you handle the power it requires (amps, voltage, phase); what temperature can it fire to (if you want cone 10 but it only can go up to 8 then you might pass); what type of controls does it have - manual, digital, kiln sitter (some older kilns can be upgraded to digital).

Then you want to know what condition it’s in. Try to get the age and history of the kiln. Then try to see it in person if you can, because photos can be deceptive. But you can ask for detailed photos if you know what to ask for.

Check the elements: elements will always need replacing eventually, so if the ones in the used kilns are very old you’ll need to factor in the cost of replacing them. You want to see elements that are sitting neatly inside the grooves of the kiln, not popping out or unraveling. You also want them to look clean and have no signs of corrosion. If you can be there in person to inspect it, ask for the owner to turn it on for about 10 minutes to check if they’ll heat up and begin glowing a little (a pyrometer and temperature reader would help you see if the temp is steadily climbing too).

Check the brick: kiln brick is soft and easily damaged. If it has some small dents and bumps or small cracks, that’s ok. But if there are large chunks missing or very large cracks, both of which could affect the kiln’s ability to retain heat, then this is probably a kiln you want to skip. The small dents and cracks can easily be repaired with kiln cement. Also avoid kilns that have crumbling or yellowing brick, or walls splattered with glaze.

Check the wiring: open the control box and make sure the wiring isn’t getting hard and brittle, or it might need replacing as well. If you don’t feel confident doing this, bring along someone who is, or even ask an electrician to look it over.

Lid and hinges: Open and close the lid, and test the lid brace if it has one. You want to make sure that they will not be a big issue for you down the line. Does a loose joint just need tightening or a full replacement?

Also, make sure it’s a ceramic kiln, and not a kiln for glass or metals.

As far as brands go, a good place to start would be to go to your local supplier and see what brands they carry. Then maybe cross reference other suppliers. Common brands will be your best bet, because then you can ensure you can buy parts from many different places if one place is out of stock. I’ve already mentioned Skutt throughout this post, but you might try checking out Amaco/Excel, Cone Art, L&L, Olympic, Paragon, or Evenheat (I’m in the US, and other countries might have different brands).

“How will it impact my home energy bill?”

One of the great things about my Skutt is that I can enter in my price per kilowatt, which is about $.25 per kilowatt hour. I can enter that into my kiln and it will spit out my total price per firing (a bisque firing for me is about $17). This price is dependent on when I fire too, as the price per kilowatt will be lower if I fire during off-peak power usage hours, and more if I fire during busy power usage times.

You can roughly calculate your power cost by taking the kiln’s wattage divided by 1000 to get kilowatts per hour then multiplying that number by the duty cycle of the firing. The duty cycle is the time in which the kiln is drawing power to heat (so not the cooling or holding time), a rough estimate for a bisque firing’s duty cycle would be 50% of the total runtime, and 65% for a glaze firing (taken from this guide).

For my Skutt 1027 Kiln the wattage is 11520, so my kilowatts per hour is 11.52 x $.25 from my electrical company gives me about $2.88 per hour when the kiln is heating. For a 12 hour bisque firing with a 50% duty cycle that gives me a $17.28.

“I just got a Skutt Kiln. Any good books to read about having your own kiln?”

Honestly I’d start with your manual, and then go straight to Skutt’s youtube channel. I’m a visual learner, so I do better with videos anyway and they have some really great, brief videos on how to set up your kiln and get started with firing. I’ve yet to dive into books about kilns, but I do own “The Electric Kiln” by Harry Fraser and “Electric Kiln Ceramics: A Guide to Clays, Glazes, and Electric Kilns” by Richard Zakin (I’ve heard a few recommendations for Zakin’s books).

“How to pick which size and vent/no vent, digital/or manual, anything you have to add?”

Hopefully if you read the blog above, you have a better idea of what to do in regards to size.

For venting, the enviro-vent that I have is a downdraft vent, so it pulls air down and out, helping to fire more evenly and vent out fumes. The kiln has little holes in the top of the lid, so the air is sucked into the holes and vented out the bottom, allowing the heat that would normally rise to the top of the kiln to be more evenly distributed throughout. If you don’t have a vent out the bottom, the top of your kiln might fire hotter than the bottom, and you might want a hood above the kiln to pull fumes upward and vent them out of your space. if you have a kiln running outside, it might not be necessary to vent as far as fumes go, but you may have the same issue of uneven heating. I’m speaking from my own experience with my Skutt and vent, and perhaps other kiln brands have other venting options to ensure even heating and fume extraction, so look into venting for the kiln you’re thinking about buying.

As far as digital vs manual kilns, I’d always say go with the most up to date technology if you can (so digital/touch screen). But everything else will be personal to you and your space. Doing your own research will help, maybe by first gathering the information you’ll need (again, all listed in the post above), creating a budget of what you’re willing to spend on both the kiln and all the accessories, and then shop around different brands until you can narrow it down to one you like. If you have trouble, call your local supplier (or even a preferred online supplier) and ask questions.

“I am intimidated by having to perform maintenance on a kiln - any advice for learning more?”

I’m a firm believer in learn as you go. Home potters these days need to be artists, photographers and videographers, business people, marketing agents, social media influencers, electricians and mechanics, and so on… We can never be experts at everything, nor should we try. You have a few options for when you need to maintain your kiln:

Try to do it yourself by watching youtube videos or reading books/manuals. There are so many amazing how-to videos out there by individual potters, schools or community studios, and the kiln manufacturers themselves. If you’re a generally handy person, this might be a great option. You could even get ahead of your maintenance and watch some videos in advance to know what to expect in the future.
Ask a friend who is more skilled at mechanics and electrical work, and bonus if they can teach you how to do it yourself to save you time in the future. Or tap into the great hive-mind that is the internet. Asking around can be great help if you have a network of friends and acquaintances to guide you. There are also online groups, like Clay Buddies on Facebook, with hundreds or thousands of other potters, all asking questions and answering them.
Hire a professional. Sometimes we need to know when to ask for help. If you have a particularly friendly hire, they might be able to show you how to do it yourself. But they might say no so they can get your business again in the future.

But a word of warning: Kilns deal with high heat and power. Unless you know what you’re doing, there is always the risk of danger when dealing with these high electrical currents and extreme heats. Safety first! So if you’re not completely sure you can handle the maintenance on your own or asssited, then hire someone who can.

“At what point should a home potter purchase a kiln? How many pots/year should be made?”

I’m not sure if there is necessarily a numerical answer to this question. You could buy one right away if you wanted. I think it boils down to a few things:

Do you have the money and space/ventilation for a kiln?
Are you interested enough in pottery that you won’t just buy a kiln and then want to sell it 6 months later?
Are you willing to deal with the maintenance and upkeep of a kiln and shelves?
Do you want a kiln at this point in time?

If you can answer all these questions with a yes, then maybe it’s time to get a kiln? There are plenty of smaller kilns if you make small batches, or larger sizes if you think you might grow your practice and need it.

One thing to consider is the cost vs your income. When I asked “do you have the money”, I’m asking because some people have the income to purchase a kiln for their hobby and don’t need to worry about a business covering that cost. But if you are hoping that the pots you make and sell will eventually cover the cost of purchasing your kiln, you might need to work out the math, including the cost of regular upkeep to the kiln and the cost to fire.

Additionally, you might find it cheaper to fire your work at a local studio or school, and that might be better for you at this time. But then again, the convenience of having your own home kiln, even if it costs you more, might be worth it if it saves you time and the efforts of transporting greenware.

Don’t let the idea of “only real potters have kilns” or “I don’t make a lot of pots”, or “I’m just a hobby potter”, etc, get in your way of purchasing one.

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