Josh Berkus on sun 14 sep 08
Shula,
> The question - my kiln shut down in the middle of a glaze firing - at 700
> degrees for a cone 6 crystalline glaze firing. Being the weekend, I will
> have to wait until tomorrow to call L&L for help. When the kiln is back in
> working order, what should I program as the high point?
700 degrees *celsius* or *farenheit*? Firing it to 700 degrees Farenheit
wouldn't do much other than dry the glazes out.
One potential issue though ... if you have to unload those pieces, the glazes
are going to be very fragle and tend to flake when you touch them. Be
careful.
--
Josh "the Fuzzy" Berkus
San Francisco
Shula on sun 14 sep 08
The question - my kiln shut down in the middle of a glaze firing - at 700 degrees for a cone 6 crystalline glaze firing. Being the weekend, I will have to wait until tomorrow to call L&L for help. When the kiln is back in working order, what should I program as the high point? Should I still use cone 6 or should I lower it to cone 5 or a temp between the two? Please do not suggest that I fire according to the cones in the cone packs. Although I do have cone packs in the kiln, they are there for me to see what has happened in the kiln and not by the peep holes for monitoring the firing.
Thanks for your help.
If you are curious, here's the whole sad story:
I spent the better part of yesterday making 14 cone 6 crystalline glazes and then glazes the testers (that I threw last weekend) and a few pots, based on the results from my last - which was my first, crystalline glaze firing.
By the time I loaded the kiln and checked the program (the same as the first crystalline glaze), it was 9:30 pm. My kiln is an L&L 230 JH (the JH model was created for crystalline glazes. It has twice as many elements and other goodies). Since it was delivered in July, this is my 8th firing. I did the empty kiln cone 5 as suggested by L&L, then 5 cone 04 bisque firings, and this was the second cone 6 crystalline glaze firing. The last firing before this one was a bisque firing I did within the last week.
Now on to the firing.
As the kiln fires, I periodically take a look, writing down the time and temp and compare it to what I expect based upon the program. At midnight, the temp was 700 (F). At this point, the ramp was programmed at 500 degrees/hr to 2000 degrees. The last time I glaze fired, the kiln didn't seem to ramp up as fast as I programmed. I planned to be especially attentive during this firing, so that if I had problems, I would have good documentation to discuss with L&L.
When I went to check the temp at 12:30, the controller screen was dark. I turned off the electric at the nearby shut off box. (the kiln is hard wired and is attached to a fused turn off box nearby so that I can turn off the electric to the kiln when I am not firing or in an emergency.)
Next steps
- checked main breaker - it was not off. Turned it off and on anyway. turned on the kiln. nothing
- checked the fused box installed for the kiln. the fuses were not tripped.
- unable to remove the little fuse on the outside of the controller box. It seems stuck. Actually, when I opened up the controller, it it seems when I twist the external fuse, the wires and whatever associated with it, twists as well.
- I opened the controller and looked at the branch fuses. They look OK. But, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what they would look like if they tripped.
So, a call to L&L will be on my "to do" list on Monday.
Shula
disappointed in Desert Hot Springs, California USA
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