Cindy Strnad, Earthen Vessels Pottery on fri 15 oct 99
Regarding Paragon's promises,
I bought a Paragon TNF 283 January last, and I assure you; no, Paragon does
*not* listen to its customers. At least, they've never listened to me. Don't
know what anyone else's experience may have been, but for those interested,
here's mine.
I ordered heavy-duty (what they call cone 10) elements. It was my
understanding the kiln would not come with a plug. When it arrived with a
plug, I asked why and was told it was a new innovation and that yes, I had
been given the heavy-duty elements. I had the kiln hard-wired anyhow, by a
qualified electrician. (With this kiln, I also ordered a shelf kit,
incidentally.)
The kiln did not reach cone 6 on the first firing, but the firing was so
slow that it did glue all my pots to the shelf with dripping glazes. I asked
my dealer what the problem might be and was told to place a cement block on
the lid during firing--that would solve the problem. It didn't. They ordered
new elements for me, which I installed. I also had to install two new relays
somewhere within this time period. The new elements seemed to help for a
while, but my glaze firings were still routinely taking 11 or more hours,
with the cycle set on "fast". Within 3 or 4 firings, I was back where I
started.
The dealer drove across the state to look at my kiln, checked it out with
meters, etc., and proclaimed my power supply more than adequate. He was
puzzled, ordered new elements, which I installed, which did not solve the
problem any better than the last time. Meanwhile, I had to install a new
thermocouple and a new computer board.
The dealer offered a new set of "heavy-duty 'potters'" elements. I asked
what I'd received before, and was told that Paragon had gotten into trouble
with a lawsuit from a school where a kiln intended to be hard-wired had been
given a wall plug and had consequently started a fire. Therefore, they had
decreased the capacity of the elements and provided wall plugs in order to
protect themselves from further liability.
Thoroughly disgusted, I instead called Euclid's elements and ordered an
appropriate set of elements which I paid for myself. The elements worked for
most of this year, but I'm beginning to have trouble again. Will have to
call them back--I do fire frequently. I've also ordered a new thermocouple
from Euclid's. Was told there that they'd had these problems with Paragon
kilns before. They knew just what I needed.
Was told the thermocouples which came with Paragon kilns were of a low
quality. I ordered the highest quality thermocouple which would work with my
kiln and it cost all of about $16 U.S. plus shipping, so why couldn't
Paragon afford that in the first place?
As to the afore-mentioned shelves, which came in a package with a kiln
allegedly equipped with "^10" elements, they warped badly when fired to ^6.
I was promised a replacement set with the explanation that the shelves
Paragon had recently received had been warping at ^6. These, I never
received. I also never received an explanation as to why I was sold a kiln
with "^10" elements and kiln shelves rated to ^6, and no warning given.
Maybe they knew their kiln could barely reach ^6 on a hot day?
This, as I said, has been my own personal experience with this particular
Paragon kiln. The company was most uncooperative when I spoke to them
directly, and my dealer had warned me they would be so. I don't want to do
business with a company like this no matter how much improvement they may
make in their products.
Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
Custer, SD
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