Temperature Time to Rise Calculator

[kcenicola]

Oven Builders:

I've created an excel spreadsheet that will calculate the time it will take for the oven you are building to reach a desired temperature. All you do is enter the internal oven dimensions, the starting room temperature, the desired curing temperature and the total element wattage into the yellow boxes. The spreadsheet will then display the time to reach that temperature in the green box. It also displays how many amps an oven of that wattage will draw.

This calculator is based on an oven built with metal interior and exterior walls and 2" of mineral wool insulation.

This should help everone to have realistic expectations on how quickly their oven will reach working temperature.

Ken

[itsallgood]

This is a very good tool to use.
My input values come up pretty close to how long it takes mine to reach the desired temperature.

I have two suggestions:
1) Make a legend so people know to only put data into the yellow fields. (Even though it is protected)
2) Make it possible to change insulation thickness.

I think it should be a sticky for sure though. Thanks for putting the effort out to come up with this spreadsheet. Wish it was here a couple of days ago when I was started a thread on warm up temps.

[JTW37]

Yep, nice job. Fortunately I'm using Mineral Wool Insulation.

[chromeitout]

Sounds great...wish I had Excel...

[kcenicola]

I believe there is an Excel viewer that is shareware. I will look for it.

As for the insulation, the amount and type you use will change the time slightly but as long as you are using some kind of insulation of appreciable thickness it's not going to have nearly the effect on the calculation that oven volume and wattage will have.

In order for me to modify the program to account for insulation thickness, I'm going to need some real world data from you fine folks.

If anyone has an oven, a temperature gauge and a stopwatch and is willing to provide feedback on how many minutes and seconds it took them to go from temp A to temp B along with the type and quantity of insulation they are using, I will be able to modify the program to account for different insulation.

Thanks!

Ken

[atroxr7]

just wanted to say thanks for spending the time on this, its probly trivial with the temp controller ill be using, but it gives me a head up on what to expect. Also great for a future project i was thinking about... annealing oven

[Banditperformance]

Hmm, cool. I'll have to compare with my oven. I have 10" fiberglass walls, but HardiBacker for internal walls. Havn't got all me elements in yet, 2 had to be special ordered. But, with experimenting with the 10,000W I have now, I think the HArdiBacker may have been the wrong choice. It takes to long to heat up. Basically it's like heating up concrete. Seems to stay hot along time once warmed, but slow to get there.

[ChrisN]

For those that need excel and word and powerpoint etc. for free go to www.openoffice.org and get the free java version of the best microsoft office clone there is. You'll never use office again(unless you paid for it 80)
Chris

[Revonitas]

Originally Posted by atroxr7

just wanted to say thanks for spending the time on this, its probly trivial with the temp controller ill be using, but it gives me a head up on what to expect. Also great for a future project i was thinking about... annealing oven

I may be of some help to you with regard to desired temperatures. Most of my paintbooths are 24' long, 11' high, 14' wide. They achieve 160 flat line in 4 minutes bringing in 10,000 CFM of 25 ambient air. These small ovens are toys to me. Call me and let me know what you would like to accomplish and i'll steer you in the right direction. You are probably using 220v electric heat or infra red. Qiet, but tooo sloww. You could probably use a small propane burner and get 600 degrees very fast, and with very accurate temps.

Eddie

[kcenicola]

All of the powder I've purchased from Caswell state on the label "Do not use in a Gas oven". I do not know why, perhaps someone can elaborate on that.

The majority of the ovens we build here on the forum are electrical powered ovens. 8' X 4' X 4' is the practical maximum size for an electrical oven and is large enough to powdercoat most hobbyist or small business parts.

One degree per second is achievable heat rise rates with our electic ovens and that is not too long of a heat rise rate for most people.

What kind of gas powered products can you offer us? Electric ovens are nice because you can build them yourself and achieve professional results without having to worry about carbon monoxide venting.

Tell us more.

Ken Cenicola
NHA Supply, LLC