Andie Carpenter on fri 25 may 01
Well -
Many, many thanks to the dozen or so people who wrote to explain how to
best test my elements.
For those who also wanted to know: Cover the windows, turn off the
lights, and turn the kiln to high. Normal elements will begin to heat up
& glow fairly evenly, while one that is on it's way out will have a
tiger stripe look (someone told me you'd know this if you saw it - it's
supposedly very obvious). Also, I didn't have this happen, but someone
told me that if it just stays totally black, it's a switch problem. I
also learned that tiny bits of bisque, which may not be easily seen or
suctioned when vacuuming the kiln, can sit on the elements and
eventually create a breakdown of elements, in extreme cases actually
breaking the element in pieces ( I suspect you'd notice something was up
before this happened.) This method of testing took my kiln about 15 - 20
minutes to get a really good glow going, where I could see & judge the
evenness. There is also a method that involves scorching paper on the
elements as they heat up, but as I recently set my stove on fire, and
ironically am a little afraid of fire in general, I didn't try it.
Supposedly that method is a faster test.
In my case, my beloved Bailey electric has something yucky I can't quite
see on the floor element, which happily sizzled and actually threw a
spark when I tested that element. All the others, believe it or not,
after not quite two years of one or two firings, sometimes three, a
week, are perfectly fine (knock wood).
So - new floor element for me, happy kiln and new glaze tests getting
ready to be fired -
I am, as always, awed by the knowledge and generosity of this list -
: ) Andie Carpenter
Handful of Earth
www.andie.net
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