L. P. Skeen on thu 17 aug 00
Hey Arnold,
I have a Paragon, the 7ft electric model A something or other. Bought it
used almost 3 years ago, been firing it for 2.5 years, and it works fine
now. It's an old one, and last year scared the hell out of me when I turned
it up on medium and the box on the bottom ring where the top 2 rings plug in
caught on fire - thank the Goddess I was standing BEHIND the thing at the
time, or I would have been burned. Had to replace all the plugs, plus the
switch and guts inside that box (and we did it by ourselves, thank
you!!!) but it works a treat now.
I also used a paragon at a community center where I was teaching, and it
looked like it was about 100 years old. It fired dead on, until some idiot
who had no business in the kiln room somehow turned it on w/ no cone and
left it running all weekend - meltdown city! That kiln was replaced with a
brand new Paragon tho, complete w/ that new lid y'all have. LOVE that
thing; wish I had one on mine.
'zat enough information for you?
----- Original Message -----
From: Arnold Howard
To:
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 5:53 PM
Subject: A message for those who have had a Paragon kiln
> I would appreciate hearing about your experiences, good or bad, with
Paragon
> kilns.
>
> What do you think of Paragon kilns? How long have you had yours?
>
> Thanks for your time,
>
> Arnold Howard
> Paragon
>
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BTu1690922@AOL.COM on thu 17 aug 00
Hi Arnold,
I had a bad experience, it cost me a set of kiln shelves and damage to my
kiln. My ex-husband had a prototype built a year and a half ago for a 3 zone
studio kiln. I did the bisque firing, no problem. Then for my first glaze
firing, with plenty of guard cones, the controller failed, I was unable to
see any cones, relied on the controller, grossly overfired to probably high
^11, and upon cooling, found that the reason I was unable to see the cones
was that the kiln shelves had grossly sagged and cracked. I contacted
Paragon, was told it was my fault, that the heatwork did it. May I mention I
had a small Paragon with a one zone controller for several years before this.
Also I was a ceramics major at Ohio State Univ. for 3 years. Never ever had
a firing incident. I had to replace the thin shelves at my own expense, got
thicker ones for around $300. The next firing, used pyrometers and a Fluke,
found that the controller was totally wrong, contacted Paragon, and FINALLY
they sent me a new controller which has worked just fine. So I am out the
expense of new shelves, a load of work, and now have damage to my kiln brick
and maybe my elements. I will not get another controller, will never ever
rely on one again. That is my experience. I trust a kiln sitter more.
Thanks for listening.
Gail Turton
Lorri on thu 17 aug 00
> I would appreciate hearing about your experiences, good or bad, with
Paragon
> kilns.
>
> What do you think of Paragon kilns? How long have you had yours?
Arnold,
I picked up my Paragon kiln at a garage sale. I couldn't beat the price.
The reason I decided to take a chance on it (besides the cheap price) was
because there is a guy at the local ceramic supply store that is licensed to
work on kilns. He told my sister-in-law that the Paragon kilns seem to last
forever. So I had an electrician friend of mine wire the 220V and it has
worked fine from day one. It is a small kiln but fires to cone 10, perfect
for me since I just do this for fun and so far am not making real large-size
pots. I have no manual for it and don't know how old it is. But I gather
it is an older model.
Lorri
Arnold Howard on thu 17 aug 00
I would appreciate hearing about your experiences, good or bad, with Paragon
kilns.
What do you think of Paragon kilns? How long have you had yours?
Thanks for your time,
Arnold Howard
Paragon
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com/
Quentin D Maxwell on fri 18 aug 00
On Thu, 17 Aug 2000, Arnold Howard wrote:
> I would appreciate hearing about your experiences, good or bad, with Paragon
> kilns.
>
> What do you think of Paragon kilns? How long have you had yours?
>
> Thanks for your time,
>
> Arnold Howard
> Paragon
Arnold,
I teach high school art and have just replaced the Paragon kiln
that has been used there for the last 28 years. It has been moved between
buildings at least twice and has fired faithfully. I had one meltdown when
the kiln setter didn't shut off properly, but I was able to rebuild and
replace bricks with no problem. I continued to fire it for 3 years after
that. I had to replace elements 4 times in the last 5 years - but it WAS
old. I found it to be a decent kiln. However, when the switches and wires
started to go bad and it was too much to repair, I replaced the kiln. I
replaced it with the L&L kiln due in part to feedback from Clayart. The
porcelin element holders and the reputation of it won me over.
Hope this helps.
Love & Prayers,
Q.
qmaxwell@mail.llion.org
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