RCGolly on tue 17 dec 96
I just picked up a used skutt elec. kiln and am having trouble with it
reaching glaze temp.
It is a model 231 which proceeded the 1027 I believe. It is rated to fire
to cone 8 but I am not able to even reach cone 6. I fired a bisq that took
12 hours to reach 06, a little longer than I thought it would take but
maybe I didn't step up the switching to med & high soon enough. When I
tried to do the first test glaze firing to ^6 I let it run on low for 6
hours on low, when looking in the spy hole, it was not even a low red.
Switched to med, with same results. When I went to high, the elements were
finally red and it looked like it was on its way. I let it run on high for
12 hours and the ^4 cone was not even starting to bend so I shut it down
after 23 hours.
Need some assistance in troubleshooting this prob. Do the elements need to
be replaced or the switch? The kiln is on its own 50amp breaker that has a
#8 wire running to it so I believe it is getting enough juice to it. I am
pretty mechanically inclined so I have no trouble rebuilding it if need be
but dont want to just start replacing all of the parts.
Thanks in advance for any direction ...
Gary W. Wagoner on wed 18 dec 96
First thing I would check with a used kiln firing this slowly is whether
your curcuit is 240v. or 208v.; a lot of schools, etc. save power by
running 208v. I got a used kiln here, wired for 240v., and on our 208v.
service it behaved as you describe-- firing slowly, not reaching temp. This
necessitated changing elements to those made for 208v. And then, sometimes
elements just wear out, oxidizing to where they no longer provide
sufficient heat.
Gary Wagoner
Craig Martell on wed 18 dec 96
The Skutt 231's that I've used drew 47 amps at peak. You need 20% more on
the breaker rating, so a 50 amp breaker ain't gonna cut it. I'm surprised
that it wasn't tripping on you! Skutt says that you need a 60 amp breaker
and that's what I've used. Also, #8 wire is too small for that kind of draw.
You need #6! Forgive me if I'm being insulting but have you checked the
plate on the kiln to determine if you have a single phase or three phase
appliance? You might want to get some specs on the kiln and find out what
the element resistance should be and check them with an ohm meter. Sometimes
a visual check of the elements will tell you a lot. If they are pink with
lots of dark grey areas, they are probably nearing burnout. If the windings
are sagging into a solid mass instead of standing alone with a little space
between, they are badly aged. If the elements are old, and are causing the
slow down in reaching temp., I would change them even if they weren't burned
out. It will amount to a big savings in elec. and your time. Also check the
interbox plugs to see if they are heating during use. The male blades will
be discolored and kind of burned looking if they are not making tight
contact. If the plugs look bad you may have to change them. Make sure all
circuit connections in the kiln are TIGHT!! When you are drawing a lot of
amps, you don't want to cause any additional resistance with loose contacts.
Check the wall box and plug, and make sure the contact is tight there as
well. If your kiln is not "hard wired" at the wall connection, check the
male blades on the plug for telltale burn color. It is sometimes advisable
to "hard wire" kilns to eliminate arcing at the plug and minimize resistance.
Hope this helps, Craig Martell-Oregon
Dennis Smith on wed 18 dec 96
ABOUT THE USED SKUTT KILN, IF ALL THE ELEMENTS DO GLOW RED WHEN YOU HAVE THE
KILN ON HIGH THEY ARE NOT BROKEN BUT MAY BE WORN OUT. THE OHM READINGS FOR
THE TOP OR BOTTOM ELEMENTS SHOULD BE NEAR 23.3 AND FOR THE CENTER ELEMENTS
SHOULD BE ABOUT 32.6. I AM ASSUMING YOU HAVE A 231 RATED FOR 220-240 VOLTS
AND HAVE 240 VOLTS AVAILABLE, NOT 208 VOLTS (VOLTAGE IN SOME COMMERCIAL
BUILDINGS). IF YOU HAVE LESS THAN 220 VOLTS AVAILABLE YOU WILL HAVE TO GET
APPROPRIATE ELEMENTS). I AM ALSO CONCERNED THAT YOUR WIRE SIZE SHOULD BE SIZE
6 COPPER AND YOUR BREAKER A 60 AMP FOR THIS KILN. IT SHOULD DRAW 48 AMPS ON
HIGH AND THUS A 50 AMP BREAKER IS NOT LARGE ENOUGH. NEED MORE HELP I CAN BE
REACHED AT 518-274-2722.
DENNIS
Talbott on wed 18 dec 96
I would check the amp rating of the kiln and determine if the #8
copper wire is heavy enough (sounds a little light to me) for the voltage
(240 v, 480 v, etc.) that you are running and the given distance of the
kiln from your sevice entry box to carry the required load. ....Marshall
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I just picked up a used skutt elec. kiln and am having trouble with it
>reaching glaze temp.
>It is a model 231 which proceeded the 1027 I believe. It is rated to fire
>to cone 8 but I am not able to even reach cone 6. I fired a bisq that took
>12 hours to reach 06, a little longer than I thought it would take but
>maybe I didn't step up the switching to med & high soon enough. When I
>tried to do the first test glaze firing to ^6 I let it run on low for 6
>hours on low, when looking in the spy hole, it was not even a low red.
>Switched to med, with same results. When I went to high, the elements were
>finally red and it looked like it was on its way. I let it run on high for
>12 hours and the ^4 cone was not even starting to bend so I shut it down
>after 23 hours.
>Need some assistance in troubleshooting this prob. Do the elements need to
>be replaced or the switch? The kiln is on its own 50amp breaker that has a
>#8 wire running to it so I believe it is getting enough juice to it. I am
>pretty mechanically inclined so I have no trouble rebuilding it if need be
>but dont want to just start replacing all of the parts.
>Thanks in advance for any direction ...
Celia & Marshall Talbott
Pottery By Celia
Route 114
P.O. Box 4116
Naples, Maine 04055-4116
(207)693-6100 voice and fax
clupus@ime.net
Emily Pearlman on wed 18 dec 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I just picked up a used skutt elec. kiln and am having trouble with it
>reaching glaze temp.
>It is a model 231 which proceeded the 1027 I believe. It is rated to fire
>to cone 8 but I am not able to even reach cone 6. I fired a bisq that took
>12 hours to reach 06, a little longer than I thought it would take but
>maybe I didn't step up the switching to med & high soon enough. When I
>tried to do the first test glaze firing to ^6 I let it run on low for 6
>hours on low, when looking in the spy hole, it was not even a low red.
>Switched to med, with same results. When I went to high, the elements were
>finally red and it looked like it was on its way. I let it run on high for
>12 hours and the ^4 cone was not even starting to bend so I shut it down
>after 23 hours.
>Need some assistance in troubleshooting this prob. Do the elements need to
>be replaced or the switch? The kiln is on its own 50amp breaker that has a
>#8 wire running to it so I believe it is getting enough juice to it. I am
>pretty mechanically inclined so I have no trouble rebuilding it if need be
>but dont want to just start replacing all of the parts.
>Thanks in advance for any direction ...
Hi:
CHANCES ARE IF THE KILN IS USED, SO ARE THE ELEMENTS. If they are about to
go that would add many hours on to your firing. Are your sure all your
elements are ok? Maybe one is burned out. Have you tested them? Also, we
had a Skutt 231 and it only went to cone 6.
Emily
Emily Pearlman-Pottery (clayfeat@echonyc.com)
http://humanarts.com/emilypearlman
http://www.craftweb.com/org/pearlman/pearlman.htm
(in NYC)
Robert Kittel on thu 19 dec 96
At 12:33 PM 12/18/96 +0000, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>First thing I would check with a used kiln firing this slowly is whether
>your curcuit is 240v. or 208v.; a lot of schools, etc. save power by
>running 208v. I got a used kiln here, wired for 240v., and on our 208v.
>service it behaved as you describe-- firing slowly, not reaching temp. This
>necessitated changing elements to those made for 208v. And then, sometimes
>elements just wear out, oxidizing to where they no longer provide
>sufficient heat.
>Gary Wagoner
I think that part of this explanantion is not clear. 240v is commonly single
phase power. 208v is three phase power. I havent seen much 3 phase used in
schools. Schools are generally located in residential areas and 3 phase
(208v) is only used in manufacturing zones. I would be very surprised if
your local power company had routed three phase power to your local school.
The wiring method for single phase uses only two bars in the breaker box,
three phase uses three bars. You can tell by either opening the breaker box
(be careful) or examining the breakers. Single phase breakers attaches to
two bars (phases), three phase breakers attach to three bars (phases). Now
the kiln itself if wired for one phase or three will be wired differently
making it almost impossible to wire to the wrong power without some degree
of consious modification.
So the kiln is slow to fire. Check your elements with a device to measure
reistance, im sure that you will find that the elements are simply worn out
and need replacing.
Bob Kittel
Pelly123@aol.com on thu 19 dec 96
You will probably get much more technical replies than mine, but I wait for
night, turn the kiln on high and turn off the lights and watch. You can see
which elements are out and which ones are weak.
Pelly in Rochester, NY where it was 57 degrees yesterday and the sun came
out.
John Baisch on fri 20 dec 96
Belive it or not, thats a good answer. We have seen this many times with a n
Your problems can stem from a number of items. You need to take it one step a
Here are some basic steps without getting into some dangerous areas
1) Visual inspection of the elements is usually the first step.
2) Next check your breaker box (if you have fuses you may have blown just one
3) WITH THE KILN UNPLUGGED , Check the continuity of the elements with an
ohm meter to make sure the Kiln element loop is not broken.
4) Verify that your switches are working (Cycle them and check visually the e
These are some basic steps before you need to start digging. But please
be careful when checking your kiln.
JB
----------
From: Pelly123@aol.com[SMTP:Pelly123@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 1996 6:58 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Subject: Re: Used skutt kiln not reaching temp.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
You will probably get much more technical replies than mine, but I wait for
night, turn the kiln on high and turn off the lights and watch. You can see
which elements are out and which ones are weak.
Pelly in Rochester, NY where it was 57 degrees yesterday and the sun came
out.
Craig Martell on fri 20 dec 96
In a message dated 96-12-19 09:05:37 EST, Bob Kittel wrote:
<< I think that part of this explanantion is not clear. 240v is commonly
single
phase power. 208v is three phase power. I havent seen much 3 phase used in
schools. >>
Bob: I used to be an agent for Venco Pug Mills and I received lots of
requests from schools for 208V 3ph. mills. There are indeed lots of schools
with 208V., especially in newer construction.
Regards, Craig Martell-Oregon
Paula Pederson on fri 20 dec 96
I have 208v (not 3 phase, the two are different). My studio is located in an
office/warehous complex. 208v is often used in this type of complex as well
as schools. My kilns were set up for 220 when I moved in so I just replaced
all the elements with 208 elements and they've done fine. I wrote one of the
kiln companies to see if that was a proper fix and they assured me it was. I
wouldn't have known I had 208v if my electrician, who was doing other work in
the studio before I moved in, hadn't brought it to my attention.
Paul Monaghan on sat 21 dec 96
Robert Kittel wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> At 12:33 PM 12/18/96 +0000, you wrote:
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >First thing I would check with a used kiln firing this slowly is whether
> >your curcuit is 240v. or 208v.; a lot of schools, etc. save power by
> >running 208v. I got a used kiln here, wired for 240v., and on our 208v.
> >service it behaved as you describe-- firing slowly, not reaching temp. This
> >necessitated changing elements to those made for 208v. And then, sometimes
> >elements just wear out, oxidizing to where they no longer provide
> >sufficient heat.
> >Gary Wagoner
>
> I think that part of this explanantion is not clear. 240v is commonly single
> phase power. 208v is three phase power. I havent seen much 3 phase used in
> schools. Schools are generally located in residential areas and 3 phase
> (208v) is only used in manufacturing zones. I would be very surprised if
> your local power company had routed three phase power to your local school.
> The wiring method for single phase uses only two bars in the breaker box,
> three phase uses three bars. You can tell by either opening the breaker box
> (be careful) or examining the breakers. Single phase breakers attaches to
> two bars (phases), three phase breakers attach to three bars (phases). Now
> the kiln itself if wired for one phase or three will be wired differently
> making it almost impossible to wire to the wrong power without some degree
> of consious modification.
>
> So the kiln is slow to fire. Check your elements with a device to measure
> reistance, im sure that you will find that the elements are simply worn out
> and need replacing.
> Bob Kittel
Bob,
The phase issue will just confuse the matter. The supply voltage ie 240
VAC or 208 VAC has NOTHING to do with the phase. We can have 3 phase
power in ANY voltage we choose. Most schools and large power users DO
have 3 phase power and it can be either 3 or 4 wire. The simple
solution is to measure the voltage at the kiln, check the elements for
proper choice and if all this is correct check the size of the wire
guage from the mains to the kiln. If you want a really complete
description check the Archives.
--
Paul J. Monaghan email: paul@web2u.com
WEB2U Productions --- http://www.web2u.com
The "COOLEST" Site on the WEB
FREE email to SANTA on www.web2u.com
Jeremy/Bonnie Hellman on sat 21 dec 96
Another quick test if an electric kiln is working at all is to place
cardboard matches (the kind that comes in a "book") all throughout the
heating elements and turn them on. You place the non incendiary ends (the
cardboard ends) in the heating elements, taking care not to bend the
elements. In short order- maybe a few minutes- (if they're working) those
elements heat up enough to cause the matches to burst into flame. Bonnie
in Pittsburgh
"Outside a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too
dark to read" Groucho Marx
" " Harpo Marx
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like an avocado" Att. to GM
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