Pricing Kiln Usage.

[Katiequiggle]

Has anyone worked out how much it costs to run an SC2 with a bead door, (think thats what mines called)  Someone did tell me once but it must have gone up with the increase in energy costs.  I hardly ever use mine as I work as I'm worried about costs and if I knew if was a lot cheaper than my imagination runs away with I might turn it on more often.

Thanks
Kate xxx

[Stacy]

Somewhere in my head I am thinking either 14p per hour or 50p per hour.... I know that is no help as the two differ a lot.
Just something I think I remember but then again both could be wrong!

[Lee - Kilncare]

Hi Katie, I really don't know for sure on the SC2 but it won't be horrendous, you may be talking 50p per day on a longish day.

[Dickie]

Most small bead kilns use up to 1KW per hour (many are less) so the cost will be whatever your kWh rate is. (This is currently around the 12-15p mark.)
BUT... your kiln is not on all the time, it's actually only using electricity for perhaps half the time as it continually switches on and off therefore a 1kW kiln can be considered a 500w kiln (for usage sake) if it has a 50% duty cycle (i.e. on half the time)
So that would be around 6 - 7.5p per hour.

Calculating this per day would be

<Kiln Power> x <duty cycle> x <Hours Run> x <Cost per kW Hour> = Cost per day

So a 1kW kiln run for 7 hours at 15p per kWh

1kW x 0.5 x 7 hours x 0.15 = 52.5p for the day

Hope this helps
(Your electricity usage may vary depending on kiln power/efficiency and how long you run it for)

[Dickie]

OK just found out that an SC2 is 1.745kw (That's quite a lot)

So...

Running that formula again

1.745 x 0.5 x 7 x 0.15 = 91p per day or 13p per hour

[julieHB]

Thanks for showing that formula again, Dickie. I was a bit curious whether the theory fit the actual usage, and last October I put the kiln in one of those power meter sockets, and as Lee says, we talk pennies over a day. When it has come up to temperature it only clicks on to keep it there, it's not using its full wattage all the time, I think it is less than half. If you are making bigger beads it is certainly not worth your hours to try to keep the beads from cracking before they can get annealed. From October last year I believe the kiln has used about £12, and I always put the kiln on when beading. I've also used it for fusing, and expect it will use more then (per hour) as it has to fire up to higher temperatures.

By the way, I have a SC2, but not with a bead door. 

[Katiequiggle]

Crikey thats very cheap, I was told that it was app. £5 to heat up and cool down plus 50p per hour of working time.  I'm off to put the kiln on then. Thanks for that. 

[theflyingbedstead]

Thanks for that info Dickie - far less than I thought too!

[Soozintheshed]

We have a little machine at work that we can plug into a socket, then plug the appliance into the machine.  It then tells us how much we have used 

I like gadgets 

[Dickie]

Yes... we have one of those too... measures EVERYTHING the studio uses so we can account for it in Sarah's tax return. Interestingly the heater Sarah uses in the winter uses more than the kiln...

[sublimekate]

I worked it out once for my SC2 by switching everything off in the house/garage and just leaving the kiln running, I can't find all the calculations now  

I did it while it was ramping up to allow for the worst case, and again while it was holding.

I reckoned it out at about £10.00 per month MAX, or £2.50 a week allowing for the kiln being on for 4 days a week on average for around 15 hours a go, allowing for ramp-up, hold, and ramp down etc.

So I would say that 50p per day is a good benchmark.

I'll have a dig around for those calculations, but I have to say I there hasn't been a noticable difference in our electricity consumption in fact it's come down against last year, although we have been trying to save energy elsewhere in the home which may have allowed for the extra the kiln is using.

[Dragonfire Glass]

I knew it wasn't expensive, but it's interesting to see it actually in pounds and pence 

[julieHB]

Has anyone thought of measuring how much it cost to make umpteen cups of tea a day? Our water boiler is 3000W (!)

[Dragonfire Glass]

he he - water would probably boil just sitting in front of my kiln when the door is open - now there's an idea!

[Shirley]

he he - water would probably boil just sitting in front of my kiln when the door is open - now there's an idea!

There's no 'probably' about it!