Carla Flati on fri 20 apr 01
Sue,
I've had a Skutt 1027 with a controller and 3 inch brick for about 6 years
and I love it. The only thing I would do differently would be to get the
regular 2 inch brick because the 3 inch takes sooooo long to cool. I know 3
inch is great for insulation, but I'm an inpatient kiln opener. The
controller is my favorite part of the kiln. It gave me a life....just set
it and go do anything else you want. Now I'm going to hear about how you're
not suppose to leave any kiln unattended, but, ya know...who cares. It's my
house and if I want to set it on fire, that's my prerogative. In six years
it has worked perfectly. The controller also comes in handy for weird
firings like lustres and hopeless attempts at refiring glaze disasters.
One more thing about my Skutt....I'm still using the original elements.
I've fired that kiln to cone 6 at least 200 times. Now I know this is
probably a freak accident and now that I've opened my mouth they'll probably
all fry during the next firing, but it is true. I also have an Envirovent
which may have helped prolong the life of the elements....who knows? The
vent also helps to even out the heat distribution between the top and bottom
shelves.
We have an L&L kiln at work. Those element protecting channels seem like a
real good idea but in my experience, if you have to change brittle elements
they're a nightmare. It's not like you can just remove the element pins and
pull them out. They're trapped in the channel and if the elements are
brittle, you're lucky to pull out 3 inches at a time with needle nose
pliers. It took me over 3 hours (big kiln) to remove the old elements and
I'm not exaggerating. Installing the new elements was really easy because
you don't need the pins, but definitely did not make up for the 3 hours I
wasted removing the old ones. This particular L&L doesn't have a
controller, but even if it did, I'd still prefer the Skutt hands down.
Hope the info helps.
Carla
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