This has been a difficult step, I have a reliable firm nearby, but they have been very busy this year, so it took a long time for them to visit to give me a quote, and then another long wait to do the work. I also obtained quotes from another electrician in the meantime, but was glad I waited for my local firm. Prior to setting up a kiln, it is necessary to run wiring from the fuse box to an an isolator point next to the where the kiln is to be placed. The kiln company need to see a certificate for this work, prior to installing the kiln.
Fuse Box
The kiln needs either to be wired to the house fuse box, or to have its own fuse box. I mention this because the first electrician to provide me with a quote planned to upgrade my fuse box, test the whole house and then set up the kiln. My regular electrician said I could add a seperate fuse box for the kiln only, this quote was cheaper. He gave me an option to replace the old fuse box to the house if I wanted to, but said it was not necessary. So, I am going ahead with a separate fuse box. Incidentally fuse boxes are now called consumer units, so thats what the electrician will call them.
Kiln power requirements and wiring
Power requirements can be very important in terms of the amount of work and money that is needed. Kilns use a lot of power, this means they need thicker wiring than is normal in a house. Other power hungry items are cookers and showers, a cooker point for example uses 32amps and uses 6mm wire. I obtained quotes from two companies for bespoke kilns firing to stoneware, both required a 32amp supply for small and medium sized kilns. I also looked at similar off the shelf kilns, but these used more power, between 25 and 40 amps, and so needed 6mm or 10mm wire.
I already have a 32amp supply to my kitchen for an old cooker point, so it can be extended from there to the outbuilding. Initially I planned to install 40 amp wiring, so that I had the potential to upgrade to a larger kiln in the future. The thicker 10mm wire was double the total price, the electrician said this is due to the very high price of copper, which is many times more expensive than it was 20 years ago when he trained. This was a tricky decision, as I wanted to future proof my wiring, but he predicted that in the longer term kilns, like other electrical equipment, will use less power. The environmental impact, is driving manufacturers to innovate and develop products to meet tighter restrictions, there is also consumer pressure for lower energy use. The bespoke kilnmakers both need less power for their larger kilns, and if I were to upgrade in the future I would likely choose one of them. I have also taken into consideration the items that I make, and the available space in my outhouse. It takes a long time to finish my pieces and I think it would take me a long time to fill up a larger kiln. At present a 32amp kiln is sufficient for my needs and fits nicely.
Kiln location and fuse box location
The nearer the kiln is to the fuse box the cheaper the wiring will be, both in terms of the quantity of wire and the labour required to run the wire under the floor, behind the kitchen cabinets, and/or outside the house. As I have chosen to site the kiln in an outbuilding, it is almost as far as possible from the fuse box, but luckily I have an unused cooker point, half way between the two. If I had more options in siting the kiln this may have been a factor in my decision.
Time taken for the electrical work
In my case it took two electricians about three hours to do the work, one installed the fuse box, the other ran the wiring under the floor and behind the kitchen units to the outhouse, where he installed the isolator. It also took a little while at the end to clean up and talk me through how to reset the fuse box if it trips in the future. Building regulations have changed in the last two years and fuse boxes now need to be airtight, so that there is no oxygen in case of an electrical fire. I did not have such a fuse box, but if I had the cost would have been halved. My electrician sent the invoice by email, and an hour after I had paid, they sent the electrican installation certificate. A second building regulation certificate comes from local building control, also by email attachment, so these will need to be printed in advance of the kiln being installed.
留言