rocky mann on thu 4 feb 99
I am new to ClatArt and I have tried to search the archives so forgive me if
this is an old question.
Three years ago, after 26 years of firing porcelain to cone 10 in a 110 cu
ft gas kiln, I switched studios, clay, glazes and kilns and now fire a white
stoneware to cone 6. I purchased a Cone Art 16.5 cu ft electric kiln from
Bailey Ceramic Supply. After 57 firings (23 bisque at cone 05 and 34 glaze
at cone 6) I had to replace all the elements, a costly piece of work!. The
kiln is vented, I vacuum it regularly and I use no runny or unusual glazes.
Cone Art claims that I should have gotten 100 firings. Bailey was no help at
all in estimating the average number of firings I could expect. After
talking with several other potters, one knowledgeable potter claims the
quality of element wire has been going down hill in the recent years. Any
thoughts on this? How many firings can I expect?
By the way, in reference to some recent comments about cone 6 vs cone 10, as
a devotee of cone 10 glaze firings I can attest to the fact that I get
gorgeous glazes at cone 6 oxidation. Many of my devoted customers find it
hard to believe that I no longer reduce to cone 10.
Rocky Mann / Studio Potter
Bar Harbor, ME
Cathy Harris on fri 5 feb 99
Hey Rocky Mann,
You should be getting at least 100 firings. I also have a Cone Art Kiln
and love it. I would never switch to any other make. Is your voltage to
your house the same as the kiln - ie, 240 volts vs 220? They will supply
you with different elements if your house is different voltage than the
kiln. Am I to assume you bought the Cone Art new? If it was new, no
doubt it would be wired correctly, but if it was used, maybe it wasn't.
Don't know if this helped any. Keep track of the firings with your new
elements.
Cathy
c.harris@aci.on.ca
----------
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I am new to ClatArt and I have tried to search the archives so forgive me
if
> this is an old question.
>
> Three years ago, after 26 years of firing porcelain to cone 10 in a 110 cu
> ft gas kiln, I switched studios, clay, glazes and kilns and now fire a
white
> stoneware to cone 6. I purchased a Cone Art 16.5 cu ft electric kiln from
> Bailey Ceramic Supply. After 57 firings (23 bisque at cone 05 and 34 glaze
> at cone 6) I had to replace all the elements, a costly piece of work!. The
> kiln is vented, I vacuum it regularly and I use no runny or unusual
glazes.
> Cone Art claims that I should have gotten 100 firings. Bailey was no help
at
> all in estimating the average number of firings I could expect. After
> talking with several other potters, one knowledgeable potter claims the
> quality of element wire has been going down hill in the recent years. Any
> thoughts on this? How many firings can I expect?
>
> By the way, in reference to some recent comments about cone 6 vs cone 10,
as
> a devotee of cone 10 glaze firings I can attest to the fact that I get
> gorgeous glazes at cone 6 oxidation. Many of my devoted customers find it
> hard to believe that I no longer reduce to cone 10.
>
> Rocky Mann / Studio Potter
> Bar Harbor, ME
>
Marco Galdames on fri 5 feb 99
rocky mann wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I am new to ClatArt and I have tried to search the archives so forgive me if
> this is an old question.
>
> Three years ago, after 26 years of firing porcelain to cone 10 in a 110 cu
> ft gas kiln, I switched studios, clay, glazes and kilns and now fire a white
> stoneware to cone 6. I purchased a Cone Art 16.5 cu ft electric kiln from
> Bailey Ceramic Supply. After 57 firings (23 bisque at cone 05 and 34 glaze
> at cone 6) I had to replace all the elements, a costly piece of work!. The
> kiln is vented, I vacuum it regularly and I use no runny or unusual glazes.
> Cone Art claims that I should have gotten 100 firings. Bailey was no help at
> all in estimating the average number of firings I could expect. After
> talking with several other potters, one knowledgeable potter claims the
> quality of element wire has been going down hill in the recent years. Any
> thoughts on this? How many firings can I expect?
>
> By the way, in reference to some recent comments about cone 6 vs cone 10, as
> a devotee of cone 10 glaze firings I can attest to the fact that I get
> gorgeous glazes at cone 6 oxidation. Many of my devoted customers find it
> hard to believe that I no longer reduce to cone 10.
>
> Rocky Mann / Studio Potter
> Bar Harbor, ME
Rocky,
I had a similiar experience with my Skutt kiln. It turned out that the
voltage coming into the house was not enough to get the kiln to ^6
easily, so the elements had to stay on high longer to do this, which
meant more wear and tear on the elements as they struggled and therefore
a much shorter life than they should have had. I've now replaced the
elements with 220V from the original 240V( courtesy of help from Euclids
Elements) and the kiln fires amazingly fast, much faster than when it
was brand new.This might be something you could check for.
Caryl
Euclid's Kilns & Elements on fri 5 feb 99
Hi Rocky,
Why did you have to replace your elements? (Elements burning out? Long
firings? Won`t reach temperature?)
There are many reasons for premature element burnout...glaze splashes,
nicks in the wire during the coiling process, poor design, rough
installation (using heavy tools to work the elements into place), ect...
Long firings & not reaching temperature could be caused by low voltage,
incorrectly wound elements, incorrect element voltage, ect....
What are the Kilowatts, volts & amps of that particular kiln? Is it a true
cone 10 kiln?
Sorry for all the questions, but to help i need more info,
Chris @ Euclid's Kilns and Elements
1-800-296-5456
Web Site: http://www.euclids.com
E-Mail: mail@euclids.com
Mike Obrien on fri 5 feb 99
Rocky,
I used to have 8 9 cu ft Cress electric kilns which I fired every day for
about six years.
I never changed all the elements at one time. If the element broke I would
change it. If you have a situation where all of your elements are not getting
hot enough the problem is that they are not getting the proper amperage. Its
probably switches or the contactor.
Elements do work better when new but should continue to give service until
broken. I'm not an electrician, but these are my experiences.
Mike O'Brien
Stephen J. Lewicki on sun 7 feb 99
At 10:29 AM 2/5/99 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Rocky,
>
>I used to have 8 9 cu ft Cress electric kilns which I fired every day for
>about six years.
>I never changed all the elements at one time. If the element broke I would
>change it. If you have a situation where all of your elements are not
getting
>hot enough the problem is that they are not getting the proper amperage. Its
>probably switches or the contactor.
>
>Elements do work better when new but should continue to give service until
>broken. I'm not an electrician, but these are my experiences.
>
>Mike O'Brien
>
As long as your kiln is coming to temperature quick enough and the firing
is even I see no reason to change all the elements at one time. Elements
change in resistance with time. The rate at which this happens depends on
many factors so its hard to pinpoint problems. (We have a great
troubleshooting guide which goes into some detail about this on our web
site at www.hotkilns.com). As the resistance goes up the amount of power
given off by the elements gradually decreases (and so does the amperage
draw of the kiln). You are right to look at the contactors, switches, etc.
A problem with mixing new and old elements can be that the kiln fires
unevenly. However, this changes from kiln to kiln and as long as you are
aware of the possibility you can monitor this fact with witness cones. Our
kilns all have infinitely adjustable zones whcih allow you to balance the
uniformity of the kiln (our automatic kilns do this automatically).
Although we did make a cheaper line of kilns for awhile that used graded
elements (top and bottom elements were of a higher wattage) we found this
to be incredibly inconvenient for our customers. In those kilns it really
was almost always necessary to change a whole set of elements or the kiln
would be way off in uniformity. I would be really interested to hear
comments from both our customers and users of other kilns concerning this
issue. How uniform are their kilns? Do they change all elements when they
change an element? Does it make much of difference to them? Do they use
zone control? We'd love to get feedback through this great resource!
Stephen Lewicki
President
L&L Kiln Mfg Inc.
6B Mt. Pleasant Drive
Aston, PA 19014
Phone: (610) 558-3899
Fax: (610) 558-3698
Email: steve@hotkilns.com
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