How our tools work
Our tools take what you tell us about your space, your machine and your costs, and apply makers' published specs and official UK guidance to it. They don't add figures of their own.
What goes in
- Your figures: room size, sockets, your kiln's power, your firing times, your electricity tariff, what you make.
- Makers' specs: power, chamber size, footprint and clearances, from each maker's UK spec page or manual, with the date we checked them.
- Official guidance: supply, ventilation and safety points from bodies such as HSE, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, Electrical Safety First and the IET.
What you type stays in your browser. We don't send it anywhere or keep it.
What comes out
Each result shows the working, the figures it used and where they came from. If a figure hasn't been checked against its source yet, the tool says so, or leaves that part out rather than guessing.
Where we can't know something, such as how long your kiln's elements are on during a firing, we start from the most it could be and let you enter your maker's figure.
Rounding
Counts, such as pieces per firing or shelves, round up so they cover the full amount.
What the tools don't do
- They don't give wiring advice. They point you to a registered electrician.
- They don't include tax. Costs are before tax.
- They're a guide based on your figures and published specs, not a guarantee.