Firing AFAP harms your kiln.
This may be a
hangover from the time when ceramic kilns were being used commonly. There certainly is a tradition of this kind
in ceramics practice. However, nowadays
we are firing in kilns with light weight bricks or fibre, or a combination of
the two, making this less relevant.
The light
weight bricks are much less subject to temperature shock than the dense
ones. Fibre is completely unaffected by
rapid changes in temperature.
Firing as
fast as possible is much more likely to damage the glass you have in the kiln
than the kiln itself. It is also likely
to have over runs in temperature. The
controllers compare the actual increase in temperature with that requested by
the schedule. It takes time for the
controller to “learn” the rate of advance being achieved within the kiln. On fast rises in temperature, it does not
have the capacity to stop the input of energy early enough to prevent the kiln
temperature rising beyond that which is programmed.
This can lead to unexpected and unexplained results (unless you think
about the effects of an AFAP rate on the controller's computer).
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