C du Bee on tue 6 jan 98
Well, I thought there would be something on this in the archives, but no luck.
I am brand new and in love with ceramics. I suddenly have the money for a kiln.
Ultimately I want to make ceramic sculptures for the garden which will be tall
and narrow.. I won't be doing large loads of mugs or bowls. Now. How do I
choose a kiln. There is a ceramic supply in town, but they are top dollar. I
was going to order one from a Bennet's in Florida, but I don't know which one I
want. How is this decision to be made?
Tim Stowell on wed 7 jan 98
You may want to consider purchasing a used kiln for your first one. I
prefer Skutt kilns, although my test kilns are all Evenheat(L&L). The
only problem that I have ever had was with a relay in one of my Skutts.
It went after only seven firings. I called Skutt and with their help
diagnosed the problem. They overnighted the part and the LOCAL company I
bought it from installed the day the part was received. I would suggest
that you consider purchasing your kiln from your local supplier. Make
sure you addin all the extra costs from the larger far away discounter.
How much will shipping it cost you? Who will you call Saturday morning
when you have a problem? Who already answers as many questions as they
can. How many of your pots has the far away supplier purchased of yours?
We quite often are the ultimate small businesses yet we forget to support
other local small businesses. Make sure you consider all the costs. I
would purchase a Skutt - preferably one with the electronic controller.
Tim
Tim Stowell Gerard Stowell Pottery
Stacey Gerard 290 River Street
tstwll@juno.com Troy, NY 12180
(518)272-0983
Berry Silverman on wed 7 jan 98
I can certainly recommend the Skutt 1227KM. KM indicates the
electronic controls, and 1227 is the size. They have other sizes
available, so you can pick the size you need. I have four of them and
think of them as friends.
I find them to be very consistent, with witness cones showing even
temperatures top to bottom. You can either use their program for slow,
medium, or fast firing for each cone level, or you can program it
yourself, and ramp up as slowly as you wish -- which is what you would
do if you were firing large sculptures. But they work just fine with a
lovely load of mugs, too. Very easy to use and understand, and my
experience has been Skutt is very helpful should you have questions not
answered in their instruction manual or video. No, I'm not on their
payroll.
Berry in Tucson, Arizona. Scraped the ice off my car today. Who said
it's warm here?
michael mulcahy on fri 9 jan 98
Carefull...sometimes the cost of shipping cancels the savings.
michael mulcahy
C du Bee wrote in article
<19980105192601.OAA09204@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Well, I thought there would be something on this in the archives, but no
luck.
> I am brand new and in love with ceramics. I suddenly have the money for a
kiln.
> Ultimately I want to make ceramic sculptures for the garden which will be
tall
> and narrow.. I won't be doing large loads of mugs or bowls. Now. How do I
> choose a kiln. There is a ceramic supply in town, but they are top
dollar. I
> was going to order one from a Bennet's in Florida, but I don't know which
one I
> want. How is this decision to be made?
>
Ron Wright on sat 10 jan 98
As for shipping costs when buying a kiln or wheel, almost all of the
distributors have them shipped f.o.b. from the factory, So the cost of
shipping is usually not going to be any different no matter who you buy
from. Very few distributors stock these items.
Ron Wright
Shiresham Pottery
Chicago
http://www.concentric.net/~wrright
michael mulcahy wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Carefull...sometimes the cost of shipping cancels the savings.
> michael mulcahy
>
> C du Bee wrote in article
> <19980105192601.OAA09204@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
> > ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> > Well, I thought there would be something on this in the archives, but no
> luck.
> > I am brand new and in love with ceramics. I suddenly have the money for a
> kiln.
> > Ultimately I want to make ceramic sculptures for the garden which will be
> tall
> > and narrow.. I won't be doing large loads of mugs or bowls. Now. How do I
> > choose a kiln. There is a ceramic supply in town, but they are top
> dollar. I
> > was going to order one from a Bennet's in Florida, but I don't know which
> one I
> > want. How is this decision to be made?
> >
Jim and Judith Enright on sun 11 jan 98
Bennett's in Florida does, indeed, ship from their plant. Living in
California as I do, I was amazed that I had to pay shipping from Florida
when Skutt is right up the coast in Seattle. Turned out that Skutt only
sells through distributors -- or did at that time (about 5 years ago). To
get the biggest bang for my shipping bucks, I ordered enough items to make
up the difference in the weight limit. Still, it was a lot of money....
.... Judith Enright
Alisa Clausen on sun 30 jan 05
Dear Arnold:
I would, in hindsight, want what Brant Palley writes below:
I guess what I want is a company that stands behind the customer and =
bends
over backwards to make the customer happy. I want them to answer the =
phone
more than 4 days a week. I don't want to hear the attitude on the phone
that I am suspect of damaging the kiln by using it. I want security and
trust.
---------------------------------
I do not necessarily think a company needs to bend over backwards if =
they just live up to the product they are selling.
Being extra nice is great, but at the end of day, a lot of extra nice =
talk and no action will get me a ride on the NYC transit, if I have a =
dollar fifty.
I will never, ever, ever, ever buy a kiln from a dealer. I will only =
buy a kiln from a manufacturer, who knows the kiln inside and out, =
because they built it. I will never, ever buy a kiln a from a dealer =
who simply buys kilns from a manufacturer, sticks their sticker on it, =
and when things go bad and the dealer cannot help me, the manufacturer =
refers me to the dealer, because that is their agreement. =20
I will only, only, only buy a kiln from a manufacturer whom I can talk =
to directly and get direct service, parts and expert advice.
Period.
Below is my story of woe, if you want to read it, but in any case, my =
absolute highest criteria for buying a kiln:
From the company who makes it, not from a dealer who buys it from the =
manufacturer and then blocks any direct=20
communication or service from the manufacturer, because the dealer will =
not earn any money on that. Dealers like to sell
and I think manufacturers have more conscience and pride because they =
made the kiln and hopefully will be there to help after the=20
money is exchanged.
-------------------------------------------
4 years ago I purchased a Skutt kiln and two years ago, another one. =
Initially, I made my decision because
I meant that Skutt has a good reputation for their kilns. No first hand =
experience. Just what I have read, etc.
Also, being an American in Denmark, it was almost like comfort food. =
One of the big Danish ceramic importers,=20
Cerama, started to import Skutts, and I overlooked all the other Danish =
built kilns and bought American. Irresponsible
in some ways, but also thought, the electric kilns on the market today =
are pretty similar. Further, the Skutt has the features=20
I need, as far as controller, size, temperature maximum and top loader. =
Initially I was very happy with the first kiln, and subsequently bought =
the smaller one to get a faster=20
turn around form my tests and experiments. =20
This past Fall, my large Skutt started to have problems. It burned out =
the contactors almost every third firing. After replacing the burnt =
contactors 3 times, the dealer, Cerama, sent me four new ones on their =
bill. All 4 contactors were replaced and the next firing
burnt them out, plus the blew the fuse in my controller and literally, =
sparks were flying. =20
Trouble shooting the fault with Cerama was lame, to say it mildly. They =
asked me all the questions that I was irritated by. Let us find out =
what you doing wrong sort of questions. What have you done questions =
and what is wrong with the electrical current in your studio questions. =
I figured out I had fired this kiln about 100 times since I bought it. =
The wiring in my studio had been checked and there was something wrong =
with this kiln.
This was seriously threatening my important year end production. Cerama =
in Denmark could not significantly help me=20
find the fault. I could also hear that since they did not build the =
kiln, that they were not Skutt experts. Fair enough. My electrical
engineer husband, Claus man, identified the contactors as the problem. =
Contrary to what Cerama said, Claus thought that these small contactors =
could not click and out so many times as needed during a firing and =
last, as they were normal contactors for a kitchen oven. =20
I called Skutt in the USA, and had a pleasant conversation with their =
technician. We spoke and emailed trying to trouble shoot, and he =
maintained that the contactors were big enough, strong enough and I =
should maybe replace the wiring to them. I sent the burnt contactors to =
Skutt in the US. During one leg of this correspondence, Skutt told me =
that the wiring was not theirs original wiring. That sent me on a goose =
chase to Cerama trying to hear if they rebuilt the kiln's controller in =
Denmark. They did not. Back to USA and Skutt said that was their =
engineer's mistake. They thought that they were looking at kiln wired =
for USA. Time is going by.
I talked and corresponded with Cerama at the same time, and could hear =
that Skutt USA and Cerama were not talking together. I got them =
together and their was a rash of confusing, incorrect facts about what I =
was experiencing with my kiln. Further correspondence from Skutt USA =
and apologies, and they were trying their best to get my kiln fixed. The =
correspondence was taking a lot of time and during this time, I still =
had a broken kiln. Eventually, Skutt said that they had recommended to =
Cerama to send me new wires. I had to keep after Cerama as they were =
not readily contacting me. I relayed Skutt's suggestion to Cerama, and =
it is still unclear to me if they were intending to send me new wiring. =
However, I still meant that the contactors were the problem. Skutt =
said that they had no problems with=20
kilns in Europe and Cerama had never, ever had problems with them. How =
much experience in all they have with them, was
really the question. My feeling was if I had a problem, then they do =
have at least one problem with this kiln in Europe.
My last phone call to Cerama regarding this case, was particularly =
frustrating, because the person I had been talking to about these =
problems,did not know this this kiln from his hinny. During the entire =
conversation, he would relay my questions to a third party and get the =
answer and then answer me. I couldn't understand why I just could not =
talk to that knowledgeable person in the background. At very last, =
Cerama said that would send an electrician to me. This is a three hour =
trip, and it would be very expensive. Weeks are going by and I was =
upset. I ropped this idea, and let Claus rebuild the electrical box, =
with two large relays. A kiln electrician we know, checked the new box, =
and it was fine. H measured everything electrical and it was fine. I =
sent photos to Skutt and they were concerned that the relays may allow =
too much current and the elements would melt. Claus and the electrician =
said no, that was not a possibility, that the measurements were good. =
Skutt was also concerned that the kiln was no longer UL rated (or the =
European equivalent). Cerama agreed that it was up to standard because =
the automatic shut off switch on the door functioned.
I got through Christmas with my smaller Skutt, transporting green ware =
to my studio at home. Inconvenience wins over no Christmas sales.
If I had relied on Skutt or Cerama to get my kiln fixed, I may have had =
kiln firing by Christmas, but certainly not up to, when I have my =
heaviest production to fire. Further, all these failed firings (up to =
900c and blow out) was costing something as well in electricity bills.
Skutt and Cerama were nice, sympathetic and understanding and did try, =
to a degree, but did not get my kiln fixed. I did not feel, at all, =
that it was a priority of theirs, to get my kiln working as soon as =
possible.=20
End of woes.
My kiln, newly wired, fires fine so far. I am just wondering if there =
is a hidden bullet somewhere still,
and how long the small Skutt is going to perform. I am not completely =
at ease. Sigh.
I cannot consider my kiln a Skutt any longer, because it is rebuilt. =
It is a Claus/J=F8rgen.
I am planning on buying a third kiln, and now I know what to do, buy =
from a national manufacturer.=20
who can send service people out right away if needed.
regards from Alisa in Denmark
Since then, the larger kiln has had problems and problems.=20
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