Pre - heating: drying out a new kiln

[Sandera]

Hello all.

Got my new kiln and am wading through the pages and pages of instructions - very very slowly. I'm confused on a paragraph re see subject area. It says: brickwork should be dried by pre-heating the kiln to any cone from 022 to 014. Am feeling really stoopid. Can anyone put me out of my misery and tell me what this actually means (in words of no more than 1 syllable) and what I need to do?

Thanks

Sandra 

[Nina A]

I fired my new kiln at a very slow ramp to approx 520 c and held for a couple of hours, then did a very slow cool down (with the peephole open).
I think it's to make sure that the kiln is totally dry from the manufacturing process.

It's behaved perfectly from day one.

[Sandera]

Thanks Nina!

I'm totally intimidated by it all at the moment and can't wait 'til I'm up and running and feeling more relaxed. Now, however I realise that I'm a bit stuck until my fire safety goggles are delivered although I will probably dry the kiln out today - without looking through the peephole!

Cheers

Sandra