David Hendley on mon 7 jul 08
This is a question for Arnold Howard at Paragon, bit I
thought others might be interested or have experiences
to share.
I have a Paragon A-28-B3 kiln that I use only for cone 06
bisque firings.
I noticed that my kiln was taking longer to fire, so with the
kiln empty I turned everything on high for 10 minutes and
had a look.
I discovered that 2 out of my 6 elements were not working!
I took off the front control panel box.
All the element connections were good and tight and clean,
so I did a little more investigating. I discovered that, in the
middle section, if I reversed the element connections to the
wires that go to the switch of the 2 elements controlled by the
4-way switch, that the element that was not working now
worked, while the one that was working now did not come on.
This indicates to me that the elements are fine but the 4-way
switch is bad.
My question is, is it common, or not unusual, for a 4 -way
switch to go bad?
The other element that was not working was the second
from the top, one of the 2 elements in the top section that
gets its power through a wire that plugs into the bottom
part of the kiln.
I noticed that the plug and receptacle connecting the 2 parts
of the kiln didn't look good - like they had gotten too hot
and were deformed from the heat. With a little cleaning and
wiggling around, I got the non-working element to come on.
This indicates that the plug and receptacle need to be replaced,
because even if I got that element working again it is not good
to use damaged connections.
My question about this is, is there a reason that the top
section should not be hardwired to the bottom section,
eliminating the plug and receptacle?
After having similar corrosion and overheating problems
with the main plug of the kiln, I hardwired the kiln to the
supply wire and am convinced it is the better way to go.
I have never removed the top section of the kiln, and know
of no reason I would want to. The kiln is not going anywhere,
but, of course, the sections could still be unwired and taken
apart should it ever need to be moved.
One concern about doing this is that the wire from the top
section, once the plug is removed, would enter into the control
box of the bottom section through the hole where the receptacle
was (with a strain relief clamp). This might be a bad idea if the
wire is not rated as high heat wire, as the other wires in the
box are. Can this wire take the heat?
Would I also need to use porcelain or high heat rated, not
plastic, wire nuts to make the connections?
Thanks, I will call and order the parts I need this week.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david(at)farmpots(dot)com
http://www.farmpots.com
Taylor Hendrix on tue 8 jul 08
David,
The older model 4 ways switches can go bad, you betcha. I have now
replaced all the switches on my older model A99-B. The older switches
(bakolite?) failed spectacularly when the metal tabs which exit the
plastic switch housing shorted and burned out. Corrosion weakened the
metal connections in the switch and heat did the rest.
When I was removing switches, pieces of them would just pull away from
the plastic casing. The new switches Paragon sent to me have a
different geometry to their blade connections and rather than stress
out the older wiring in my boxes, I opted to install the switches
upside down so the reference point is at the bottom of the switch
knob. I was just too tired to fix it and too cheap to replace all the
wiring in the junction boxes.
Besides the slightly different geometry, the switches are also deeper
so you might have to space out the switch box. I'm not sure if this
will be your case at all, but there you go.
Hmm, I wonder if I have any pictures of those switches...
Rock on,
Taylor, in Rockport TX
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 10:52 PM, David Hendley wrote:
> This is a question for Arnold Howard at Paragon, bit I
> thought others might be interested or have experiences
> to share.
...
Arnold Howard on tue 8 jul 08
From: "David Hendley"
> My question is, is it common, or not unusual, for a 4 -way
> switch to go bad?
The original 4-way rotary switches in your kiln are very
reliable. They are no longer made, however; their
replacement that we are using now is made in Spain and
requires a deeper space in the switch box than the original
switch. In some cases it is necessary to use 1/4" standoffs
under the screws that mount the box to the kiln.
> My question about this is, is there a reason that the top
> section should not be hardwired to the bottom section,
> eliminating the plug and receptacle?
The kiln has a receptacle in the switch box, because it
allows you to fire smaller loads by removing the top collar.
Most Paragon ceramic kilns had a switch box receptacle in
the 70s so that people could buy a collar later if they
needed a larger kiln. We discontinued the switch box
receptacles in 1983, because only a few people ever used
them.
Yes, you can hardwire the top collar to the kiln. It may
void the UL listing, though.
> Can this wire take the heat?
No.
> Would I also need to use porcelain or high heat rated, not
> plastic, wire nuts to make the connections?
Yes, please use the high heat rated wirenuts.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
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