My emotional journey buying a kiln, or confronting the terror of operating a dangerously hot object in my garage.
It should not be a surprise that a kiln, a box of insulated fire, is thousands-of-dollars expensive. I’ve known I needed my own for a while. I love the community kiln I’d been using and the kind, knowledgeable staff took a huge mental load off my plate by managing the firing process. But I was on their time table, not mine. I needed the predictability of when I would get my pieces back. But to actually buy a kiln, I needed to overcome my fear of burning my house down.
Why I bought a kiln
As often happens, my practical side won out. The cost of firing was becoming unsustainable as my output increased. I spent over $1,000 on firings in 2024 alone. I had no doubt I would double that before year’s end. That money would go a long way to helping me purchase my own kiln. Besides, to make an earnest go of running a business, I needed to invest in the right materials.
I chose a midsized kiln (e23S-3 from L&L) that arrived at the end of January, on an unseasonably warm and sunny day. Not a lick of snow or ice in sight. I hoped that meant the kiln gods were already smiling at me, so long as I took the time to set up the garage to fire her safely. (I made a short Reel about it here).
pots waiting to get fired
A fear of fire
Even before the kiln, I’ve held onto this low-level fear of my house going up in flames as I sleep. (Which I can trace directly back to episodes of Unsolved Mysteries I should not have watched as a child). I know this is unlikely to happen. The kiln is brand new and incredibly wellmade. Worst case it would shut off, not explode. But also, who knows what’s on the concrete floor? This house was built in the 1960s.
The ambient temperature outside of the kiln could approach 500-degrees Fahrenheit. Though I live in Iowa, we frequently have Red Flag warnings, meaning conditions are fantastic for a fire due to the drop in humdity and an increase in wind and heat. I’m terrified an errant leaf from the neighbor’s towering oak tree will ignite before wafting across the dry lawn and setting that and the whole neighborhood on fire.
These fears aren’t completely unfounded. We know fires can spread easily across dry vegetation under high winds. But it’s very easy to safely fire kilns, especially brand new ones. Plenty of potters fire their work unattended overnight. The silver lining to all of my fears is A+ fire safety measures.
Protective measures
Cement board
Cement board is a noncombostuble material and will pretect the garage’s wooden walls. I covered the floor around the kiln and drilled the awkward 3’ x 5’ boards to the wall. Still, the kiln sits a very safe 2-feet+ from the walls (though 18-inches would suffice).
Fire blanket (and fire exstinguisher)
For a Christmas gift, my mother gave me a fire blanket. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You smother the fire instead of an extinguisher, which sprays chemicals to put out the fire. That creates a nasty mess to clean up.
Heat detetecor
I bought a heat detector for an early warning system since smoke detectors can malfunction in an unheated garage.
There were a few other things to ensure kiln safety: I bought a vent to pump out the toxic fumes the kiln gives off. Another potter recommended a Pet Cam to use for monitoring (genius!). I move the car out of the garage during firings and keep the garage door closed. I felt prepared in case I accidentally manifested my nightmare by thinking about it too much.
The first test firing, where I sat in the garage (a very safe distance away!) supervising the kiln while it rained outside, did wonders for assuaging my worries about creating a fire incident. Absolutely nothing went wrong! The kiln didn’t throw an error, no sparks flew from the outlet, no leaves found their way to the kiln.
The subsequent firing went wonderfully too, and I did not supervise the whole day from my garage. I supervised via the Pet Cam from my studio. I periodically swiped to the Kiln Aid app, where I tracked the rising temperature. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable leaving the kiln running unattended overnight, but hey maybe sometime. I can at least run the kiln now in daylight hours with reasonable confidence that I won’t torch the garage.