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kiln/electrical/smoke/urgent

updated sat 21 apr 01

 

Puddy & Co. on thu 19 apr 01


Diane
PLEASE SHUT THE KILN OFF RIGHT AWAY TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKERS AND UNPLUG THE
KILN.Be careful the plug may be hot.
Something similar happen to me several years ago with my first kiln. After several
firings I begun to smell burning plastic - AND slight sparkling noises coming from
the plug on the wall. It was coming from the socket - the wall part, not the kiln
part. Although it was installed by an electrician, the socket was old something
broke off inside and was shorting. It heated up and a part of it was nicely melted
inside the prongs of the plug melted into plastic - invisible from outside. The
socked and insulating tile on the wall were hot - firing done in a shed - Gods of
fire watched over me that day , i suppose, and made me be in the right place at
the right time. Good luck let us know what happened.

Hanna Lewandowski
Auburn Ontario

Diane Echlin wrote:

> Hi Folks. I just got a call from my studio mate that while doing a
> bisque firing the plug from my Skutt KM1027 was smoking badly and making
> "bad sparky" noises. I had the outlet installed by a professional
> electrician about 8 months ago. At the time, he added a "buck-booster"
> to the panel and checked that the wiring from the panel to the plug was
> adequate, which he claimed it was. The kiln has been fired many
> times-at least a dozen-to ^06 and several times to ^6 since the wiring
> was done. Any ideas why this would happen? Should I trust the
> electrician to come back and try to figure out what happened or should I
> find someone else? I'm soooo bummed.
> Diane in CT
>
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