EvenHeat 120V 18" Heat Treat Kiln with Rampmaster III controller

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unky_gumbi

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Aug 28, 2009
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Has anyone that has this oven figured out what it cost them to run it? It looks like I may be getting some headway on my Workers Comp settlement and if it is a viable investment for me I may just put out the money for one. I know the 220V would be a better option but where I am set up I can't put in a 220V circuit:( so I am stuck using what is available. The good thing is I don't have to pay the electricity if it isn't that big of a jump in the bill.

Doing the math I would only need to HT 27 knives to cover the cost of the purchase(not including shipping, waiting on a quote for that) so I could do that in less then a year with a little effort, and no sudden moves:rolleyes:
 
Just get the oven; you'll be glad you did.

Afraid I can't be of much help on the cost of running that particular model, as mine is the 220 version. But, using mine sparingly, the electric bill in my shop is about $20 a month.
 
This will vary wildly with your local electrical rates, what steel you're HT'ing (heating to 1,950 degrees for a stainless will cost more than 1,500 for a carbon), and how many knives you heat treat at a time (if you heat the oven up for one knife each time, it will cost more per knife than if you heat it up and do multiples at a time).

I reckon there won't be a really good answer to this. Good luck getting an answer though....maybe someone will have some better input than me....sorry!
 
I wouldn't worry about the cost of running it at all if you do 5 or 6 knives at a time. My shop's electricity hogs are welders and a plasma cutter, so my little oven wouldn't show up.

I think it pulls 13-15 amps- no more than a good space heater, if that helps.

Additionally, I just bought mine at the Atlanta show, so I got to visit with the dealer. He had a whole friggin stack of ovens that I believe he sold to Jantz. Not a single Rampmaster among them. I don't remember what the cost difference was, but I might not have even asked after hearing that. The salesman showed me that when I asked about the difference, if I remember right.

With the regular controller, you get to choose your warm up rate, time at temp, rate of cool, and you get 8 cycles like that on one program. There are four programs total. They are a total piece of cake to program, even if you wanted to program it every time, it probably takes ten or fifteen seconds by the time you've programmed it a few times.
 
The KH418 (120V) is listed as a 1560 watt oven, and the KF18 (240V) as a 3120 watt oven.

The 120V has a single heating element, and the chamber is 6.5 wide by 4.25 high, while the 240 is 10 wide by 6.5 high. Based on wattage per volume, they might heat up at similar rates, with the 120 V perhaps heating up a little faster and being less expensive by half.

Has anyone here run side by side testing?

Tait
 
I have that 120v without the rampmaster. The standard controller is just fine. It takes a long time to heat up but does a good job. It just takes a little pre planning.
 
if you can afford it get it, more useful than my old belt grinder... not that I'd part with either belt grinder now, but having my own HT capability opened up a whole new world...

budget for dry ice too if you are really price sensitive and using steels prone to retained austenite
 
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