The Cress firemate is the most popular automatic kiln on the market today. Its design has been patented in 16 countries for its excellent and unique control system, which gradually increases power to the kiln throughout the firing process. This provides the advantages of firing as rapidly as possible without heat shocking the ware, and is extremely energy efficient. The firemate even senses and adjusts for room temperature and small voltage variations to give you highly repeatable andmore consistent firing results. The elements are electrically adjusted from top to bottom to give the most uniform firing possible. The firemate automatically turns the kiln up when you are busy and forget. You have control; fire automatically or fire manually it is simple to operate. less