Zinc Poisoning

DO NOT OPERATE THIS KILN UNTIL IT IS PROPERLY INSTALLED AND VENTED!!!!!!!!!!!! Zinc fumess are toxic.

There must be code requirements for such things. Your installer should be sued.

I'd invite the board in and threaten to fire the thing up.

Google "zinc fume poisioning" for a hint of the dangers.

Del's suggestion of contacting the kiln manufacturer and asking for installation guidelines is good advice.

Also, inform your insurance company about this installation. I'll bet my hat they will have an opinion about liability exposure.

It's not healthful: Get it fixed!

Welcome to CR4.

Temperature is an obvious fire problem. Solve it, do not operate.

Zinc is an equally obvious health problem.. Eliminate it. Zinc is the lightest of the heavy metals deleterious to your health. NO GOOD. Please send me email. I am willing to work with you on it.

In addition to the obvious problem with zinc poisoning, kiln temperatures can drive out all kinds of exotic metals used in glazes, etc. Sounds like your non-profit might go up in smoke. Wake up! Industrial poisoning isn't very artistic.

http://ceramic-materials.com/education/139.html

The first thing you should fire with this kiln is your dangerously incompetent board.

I've a 440 volt 2700 degree kiln that I use for vitrifying porcelain and Pyrex for industrial use. Because it's electric, I do not have the combustion gas venting issues you face.

The amount of heat that my system generates is for relatively short periods (several hours) and carefully regulated by discipline specific computer programs.

Most of the heat is contained inside the kiln by generous insulation. This is done to enhance energy efficiency and reduce costs. The room gets warmer but not by much.

You need a hood that meets fire codes and the exhaust must be vented outdoors and away from the building by a double walled flue with suitable insulation to prevent heat getting into the walls.

Gas fired kilns use enormous amounts of oxygen. Some means needs to be provided to insure that oxygen levels are maintained both for the combustion process and human beings. Lack of oxygen will likely cause carbon monoxide levels to increase. I doubt you want that!

Judging from your comments, it sounds like someone found a "good deal" and made a snap decision without doing their homework.

I'm certain you are in serious violation of municipal building and fire codes. You may be operating without insuirance as a consequence.

I also feel safe in saying that this installation was likely done on the QT without benefit of an application to the code enforcement agency and without benefit of site inspection before or after the installation.

Boilers and pizza ovens are frequently required to be installed on a cement pad or on a cement board underlayment to preclude heat getting into a wood floor. Is yours a frame building?

No inspector with half a brain would approve the current installtion and since the code enforcement agency appears to be unaware of the obvious violation, you could be in for serious legal consequences should they find out.

In it's current state it is most certainly a threat to people, the building and its operator.

Given the seriousness of this situation, the zinc issue is a relatively benign matter.

It appears likely that salvaging this mistake will cost you more money than tossing it and starting over.

L.J.

I am sorry to say, that Laughing... is not exaggerating. I am all for arts, but this is not the way. Simply installing it outdoors is a partial solution, as the exhaust venting need remains. Smartly using it means limiting what kind of paints and glazes you use. Or, as I understand the drive to artistic freedom, what you use first, then cover with a more neutral cover coat. It is your life, your art. Be informed about it.

By the way, welders die in a large % from the inhaled metals. Be advised. Treatment for industrial scale metal poisoning is now a century old: chelation.

I agree totally with LJ post 9.

There may be an additional health risk from evaporating metals or oxides from your ceramics work.

Zinc is not really very dangerous but if you take in a lot then the Zinc-Copper balance needed in our internal chemistry is spoiled. This will disrupt many essential pathways in protein synthesis!

Zinc is evaporating at or near 900°C so you won't have for long any Zinc there.

Metals and oxides from any of your glazing components will be very dangerous if inhalad.

This includes quartz (silica) and aluminum!

Workers in early tunnel digging did have a lifetime expectation of only 5 months if crossing high quartz regions!

Your health is a treasure, don't spoil nor waste it!

RHABE