Choosing a heating element for a 1500°C kiln

[mayarefugee]

Hello Everyone,

I've been looking for an answer to problem I have and I'm getting nowhere so I thought asking the question in a place like this might be useful.

I'm planning to build a kiln. I have refractory material that can sustain 1500 degrees celsius. I'm trying to choose an element but I don't understand heat that well.

If I put any element (of reasonable wattage) in their at full power will the inside of the kiln continually get hotter and eventually get to a high temp?

How should I choose an element (I will be putting a PID controller on it by the way) - I want to get heats of up to 1200 degrees celsius.

Does the heat from the element get stored and re-readiated fromt he refractory/walls?

Do heating elements get hot enough that they can melt/destroy themselves?

Thanks in advance,

Maya

 

[Bill_K]

Just Google "building ceramic kiln" and you'll quickly find much more authoritative information on this topic than we can provide here.