Richard Boyd on thu 22 aug 96
Mel,
Reading with great interest your many uses of wax, needles and frypans.
With all the wax you use, have you found that it decreases the life of your
elements? I have been searching for the reason I am only able to get 40-50
good firings ,2230 degrees F. in 7 to 8 hrs with a 12 min. soak (No bisque
in glaze kiln)from a new set. After the 40 firings reaching the magic
2230F can take as long as 9-10 hours which creates havoc with heavy flux glaze.
2 year old KM 1027 Kiln, 220 V # 4 entry wire, new transformer on outside
pole, receptacle new, Skutt Envirovent, and voltage at plug is 240/ 120 each
leg. I'm at a loss. It's back to market to the tune of $240 every 6 months
to buy elements that are advertised to be good for 100's of firings.
SO QUESTION IS: What is your element life? Or, If your only experience is
reduction, never mind but thanks and maybe someone else would be able to
enlighten me or pass along some seasoned background on the subject.
Boyd
Iron River, MI
Jon Anderson on fri 23 aug 96
At 01:12 PM 8/22/96 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>
>Mel,
>
>Reading with great interest your many uses of wax, needles and frypans.
>
>With all the wax you use, have you found that it decreases the life of your
>elements? I have been searching for the reason I am only able to get 40-50
>good firings ,2230 degrees F. in 7 to 8 hrs with a 12 min. soak (No bisque
>in glaze kiln)from a new set. After the 40 firings reaching the magic
>2230F can take as long as 9-10 hours which creates havoc with heavy flux glaze.
>
>2 year old KM 1027 Kiln, 220 V # 4 entry wire, new transformer on outside
>pole, receptacle new, Skutt Envirovent, and voltage at plug is 240/ 120 each
>leg. I'm at a loss. It's back to market to the tune of $240 every 6 months
>to buy elements that are advertised to be good for 100's of firings.
>
>SO QUESTION IS: What is your element life? Or, If your only experience is
>reduction, never mind but thanks and maybe someone else would be able to
>enlighten me or pass along some seasoned background on the subject.
>
>Boyd
>Iron River, MI
>
>Boyd
All kilns fire at different time lengths and the wires break down at
different rates also. My oppinion is that it is cost affective at anything
under 14-15 hours firing time so I don't arbitrarily pull unburned elements
untill I get to that firing lenght. I thought that some of my glazes are
hard to work with but I'm still able to ajust my firing to the changes in
the rate of firing -length of firing. Your paramiters are rather tight but
there are variables that I can't respond to because they are your personal
variables.
good luck
jba
jba@ix.netcom.com
*************************
This is my page for my Hand Blown
Glass and Pottery.... please enjoy!
http://www.aeinc.com:80/web/jba/index.htm
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