Mary Starosta on thu 18 jun 09
Update. . .
Talk about a sleepless night. My biggest fear with my kiln reading error a=
t
1495F was that it had reached temp or by my starting over in my program,
that I would fire it TOO HOT by reprogramming. It taught me that I can not
take an automatic kiln for granted. I can not leave it unattended for any
length of time,etc. WHEW! What a learning curve. I guess I was just tire=
d
from throwing,mixing glazes,etc, that I thought well I could just squeeze i=
n
a few wee hours and get some needed work done at the office. WRONG "O"
I program it in at 2185 with a 15 minute soak. During those 15 minutes it
still was climbing so at 11PM I opened the garage door (I forgot what summe=
r
firing was all about in the a garage HOT) As soon as I opened the
garage, the kiln dropped from climbing at 2191 (9 minutes into soak) back
down to a steady 2186F for the remainder 9 minutes.
I kept the garage opened until I knew it was starting to slow cool. Than I
cracked it open and watched my kiln function well. Went to sleep, and woke
up every hr to check on it. It looked like it finished it cycle well and a=
t
845F I peaked inside to see what I thought would be damage.
You gotta love the KILN GODS as they were kind to me this time. On the top
shelf, my platter was fine and you could see a few small matching bowls to =
a
set I had been making ,they were ok as well, plus my large casserole dish
looked well and nothing looked like it had run off my pots, my colors were
still good.
Now granted, that is just the top shelf, and a really quick peek, but at
least my total kiln is not wasted and I have a minimum a few good pieces to
add to my show. WHEW!
Mary Starosta
Colorado Potter
http://marystarosta.wordpress.com/
Arnold Howard on thu 18 jun 09
Many of the digital controller error messages are only to
alert you that the kiln is not firing exactly as you had
programmed or that there was a temporary power failure. If
the error is serious, the kiln will shut off. Examples are a
controller board gets too hot or the temperature keeps
rising past the programmed temperature. As long as the kiln
has not shut off, everything is probably okay.
Keep the instruction manual near the kiln so you can look up
error messages when one appears.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com /
http://twitter.com/arnoldhoward
Dolita Dohrman on thu 18 jun 09
It appears to me that you are firing using only the temperature read
outs on your kiln. This is not a true indicator of what is going on
in your kiln. Do you not use cones? This would have told you
exactly what had transpired in your kiln and taken away all the
second guessing. Remember also that if you program your kiln to soak
at peak temperature it will fire hotter than a normal ^6 as the work
continues to absorb heat. I start my soak when the target cone is
just starting to bend. However, it sounds like your firing came out
just fine and I am happy for you.
Dolita in Kentucky
On Jun 18, 2009, at 7:47 AM, Mary Starosta wrote:
> Update. . .
>
> Talk about a sleepless night. My biggest fear with my kiln reading
> error at
> 1495F was that it had reached temp or by my starting over in my
> program,
> that I would fire it TOO HOT by reprogramming. It taught me that I
> can not
> take an automatic kiln for granted. I can not leave it unattended
> for any
> length of time,etc. WHEW! What a learning curve. I guess I was
> just tired
> from throwing,mixing glazes,etc, that I thought well I could just
> squeeze in
> a few wee hours and get some needed work done at the office. WRONG "O"
>
> I program it in at 2185 with a 15 minute soak. During those 15
> minutes it
> still was climbing so at 11PM I opened the garage door (I forgot
> what summer
> firing was all about in the a garage HOT) As soon as I opened the
> garage, the kiln dropped from climbing at 2191 (9 minutes into
> soak) back
> down to a steady 2186F for the remainder 9 minutes.
>
> I kept the garage opened until I knew it was starting to slow
> cool. Than I
> cracked it open and watched my kiln function well. Went to sleep,
> and woke
> up every hr to check on it. It looked like it finished it cycle
> well and at
> 845F I peaked inside to see what I thought would be damage.
>
> You gotta love the KILN GODS as they were kind to me this time. On
> the top
> shelf, my platter was fine and you could see a few small matching
> bowls to a
> set I had been making ,they were ok as well, plus my large
> casserole dish
> looked well and nothing looked like it had run off my pots, my
> colors were
> still good.
>
> Now granted, that is just the top shelf, and a really quick peek,
> but at
> least my total kiln is not wasted and I have a minimum a few good
> pieces to
> add to my show. WHEW!
>
> Mary Starosta
> Colorado Potter
> http://marystarosta.wordpress.com/
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