The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 52 No 1 April 2013

Promotion
woodrow
kilns
Hi, I'm Adam Crozier the new owner of Woodrow Kilns, manufacturer of an extensive range of electric
and gas kilns in Bankstown, NSW. Woodrow's reputation is built upon 40 years of manufacturing
excellence and is now coupled with a fresh management team to provide not only the best in new kilns
but also service, parts and repairs for all those brands that are no longer made.
I'd like to take this opportunity to explain what our company can offer and the features and benefits
of Woodrow's kiln technology and how these can be harnessed to produce better pottery and ceramics
while conserving energy and saving you money.
We can upgrade your existing kiln with a retro-fit controller that will be safer and more reliable, and
will fire the kiln automatically while saving on running costs.
The benefits of a Woodrow kiln can be broadly outlined under 5 categories:
1. Efficiency
The key here is the use of pre-shrunk fibreboard. We have been using this technology since the early
1980s so though many consider it a 'new' technology, we now have 30 plus years of experience in
the field to backup our claims. We have many kilns still happily in service from this time, proving that
with the correct maintenance and care a fibreboard kiln can last many years. The key to the benefits of
fibreboard over traditional brick insulation is its increased efficiency as an insulator. Developed originally
by NASA for the space program, ceramic fibre insulation can save up to 60% of the power cost when
running the ki ln. How do we come up with this figure? We still make brick-lined kilns here at Woodrow
if the client requests. We built two identically sized kilns, one brick, one fibre, and ran a standard Cone
9 firing while recording the power consumed for each kiln. The fibreboard kiln used 60% less power
than the brick kiln . Why is this the case? Simply the excess power is used to heat the brick lining itself
rather than being directed to the mass inside the chamber. The other benefit is that the kiln will cool
more quickly if you desire (the cool down can also be controlled if required). All our kilns can reach
1280"C for a standard cone 10 firing.
2. Control
All Woodrow kilns now feature an automatic multi-stage controller made by Orton Ceramics (the
manufacturer of cones). This wonderfully easy-to-use controller allows precise control of the speed and
temperature in the chamber.
There are 3 simple steps:
a. How fast do I want the temperature to rise (ramp rate degreeslhour)?
b. What temperature do I want to go to (deg C)?
c. Do I want to hold/soak at that temp and if so for how long (Om ins - 10hours)?
You can repeat these steps for up to 8 stages.
76 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2013