Fredrick Paget on fri 14 sep 01
When a young man I learned skin diving from a book by E.R. Cross who had
the basic advice to always have a backup for safety. This was long before
there were diving schools or certification. This advice served me well.
When I bought my ConeArt electric kiln from Bailey about five years ago I
insisted that it have a kiln sitter as well as the controller and at that
time I was also asking for a timer too. They talked me out of the timer but
I got the kiln sitterand a wall mounted controller with a relay heavy
enough to run a much larger kiln in it.
>From an engineering standpoint the idea of a backup reduces to a failure
rate for the first multiplied by the failure rate for the second. That is:
if you have a one percent chance of failure (.01) for each of the systems,
the combined failure rate is one hundredth of one percent (.0001). You have
to decide what you can live with.
So far the kiln controller has never failed in an ON mode nor has the kiln
sitter. I had a few failures to fire when I forgot to push in the switch on
the kilnsitter or worn out elements made the controller shut down because
it was not able to maintain the program. I expect the true failure rates
are much less than 1 percent for each link.
In my case the kiln is in a detached building at the top of my property 100
feet from the house and I can live with the chance that the kiln will not
shut off with two systems in series such as I have. It means that I can
fire at night when I have a reduced electricity cost and the crystal glaze
program which runs far into the wee small hours does not require me to stay
up all night.
If these odds are not enough for you then get the timer too and reduce the
failure rate even more.
Fred Paget
>. Is anyone else interested in a Kiln Sitter backup for an
>electronic kiln?
>Arnold Howard
>Paragon Industries, Inc.
>
From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
Arnold Howard on fri 14 sep 01
Bonnie and Sandy were discussing electronic kilns with Kiln Sitter
backup. Is anyone else interested in a Kiln Sitter backup for an
electronic kiln?
It seems like a good idea, because no matter how often we warn
people to monitor their electronic kilns, they still won't do it.
Thanks for your opinion,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, Inc.
--- Sandra Talarico wrote:
> James,
> I think you misunderstood earlier posts on kiln sitters
> and kiln controllers. I'm sure Bonnie will also respond.
> However, I think she meant that if you want to buy a kiln
> with a kiln sitter AND a kiln controller, it costs about $100
> EXTRA dollars to have the kiln sitter added. Most new kilns
> (skutt kilns anyway) come with only the kiln controller,
> which is a computer of sorts. It would cost extra to add
> the kiln sitter, which used to be standard equipment.
>
> I recently (this year) purchased a controller for my skutt,
> which until then, operated with only a kiln sitter. The
> controller
> cost about $500. from Bennett's in Florida. I priced
> it around and Bennett's had the best price, far and away.
> It is not at all difficult to install on an existing Skutt.
> Not sure why other supply houses are charging upwards of $700
> and $800 for the controller.
>
> Take care,
> Sandy Talarico
>
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John Hesselberth on fri 14 sep 01
on 9/14/01 3:13 PM, Arnold Howard at ajhparagon@YAHOO.COM wrote:
> Is anyone else interested in a Kiln Sitter backup for an
> electronic kiln?
>
> It seems like a good idea, because no matter how often we warn
> people to monitor their electronic kilns, they still won't do it.
Arnold, at least one of your competitors has had this feature available on
special request for several years. I bought my L&L 3 years ago with a
sitter and a controller. By the way I still monitor very closely. The
controller is just that. I expect it to ramp temperatures and hold them as
specified. The sitter is a safety backup in case something goes wrong. I
verify what is going on near peak temperature by watching witness cones in
all 3 spy holes and adjust the controller if necessary. It is necessary
only rarely and, when it is, it is usually because my thermocouples have
aged and drifted a few degrees.
Regards, John
Web site: http://www.frogpondpottery.com Email: john@frogpondpottery.com
"The life so short, the craft so long to learn." Chaucer's translation of
Hippocrates, 5th cent. B.C.
Ann Semple on sat 15 sep 01
Arnold:
I am definitely interested in a kiln sitter back up with digital electric
control. If you can contact me off list, I need to discuss ordering the
Paragon Dragon, and Canadian import . Thanks
Ann
annsemple@shaw.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fredrick Paget"
To:
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 9:50 PM
Subject: Re: Digital electric kilns with Kiln Sitter backup
When a young man I learned skin diving from a book by E.R. Cross who had
the basic advice to always have a backup for safety. This was long before
there were diving schools or certification. This advice served me well.
When I bought my ConeArt electric kiln from Bailey about five years ago I
insisted that it have a kiln sitter as well as the controller and at that
time I was also asking for a timer too. They talked me out of the timer but
I got the kiln sitterand a wall mounted controller with a relay heavy
enough to run a much larger kiln in it.
>From an engineering standpoint the idea of a backup reduces to a failure
rate for the first multiplied by the failure rate for the second. That is:
if you have a one percent chance of failure (.01) for each of the systems,
the combined failure rate is one hundredth of one percent (.0001). You have
to decide what you can live with.
So far the kiln controller has never failed in an ON mode nor has the kiln
sitter. I had a few failures to fire when I forgot to push in the switch on
the kilnsitter or worn out elements made the controller shut down because
it was not able to maintain the program. I expect the true failure rates
are much less than 1 percent for each link.
In my case the kiln is in a detached building at the top of my property 100
feet from the house and I can live with the chance that the kiln will not
shut off with two systems in series such as I have. It means that I can
fire at night when I have a reduced electricity cost and the crystal glaze
program which runs far into the wee small hours does not require me to stay
up all night.
If these odds are not enough for you then get the timer too and reduce the
failure rate even more.
Fred Paget
>. Is anyone else interested in a Kiln Sitter backup for an
>electronic kiln?
>Arnold Howard
>Paragon Industries, Inc.
>
From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
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Steve Mills on tue 18 sep 01
Here at Bath Potters, we have three kilns all with electronic
controllers, all with Kiln Sitters. It may seem a bit belt and braces,
but it really is a very effective way of ensuring a firing regime, and
getting it to finish at the right time. Providing the Kiln Sitters are
properly serviced and maintained its an unbeatable system.
Steve
Bath
UK
In message , Arnold Howard writes
>Bonnie and Sandy were discussing electronic kilns with Kiln Sitter
>backup. Is anyone else interested in a Kiln Sitter backup for an
>electronic kiln?
>
>It seems like a good idea, because no matter how often we warn
>people to monitor their electronic kilns, they still won't do it.
>
>Thanks for your opinion,
>
>Arnold Howard
>Paragon Industries, Inc.
>
>--- Sandra Talarico wrote:
>> James,
>> I think you misunderstood earlier posts on kiln sitters
>> and kiln controllers. I'm sure Bonnie will also respond.
>> However, I think she meant that if you want to buy a kiln
>> with a kiln sitter AND a kiln controller, it costs about $100
>> EXTRA dollars to have the kiln sitter added. Most new kilns
>> (skutt kilns anyway) come with only the kiln controller,
>> which is a computer of sorts. It would cost extra to add
>> the kiln sitter, which used to be standard equipment.
>>
>> I recently (this year) purchased a controller for my skutt,
>> which until then, operated with only a kiln sitter. The
>> controller
>> cost about $500. from Bennett's in Florida. I priced
>> it around and Bennett's had the best price, far and away.
>> It is not at all difficult to install on an existing Skutt.
>> Not sure why other supply houses are charging upwards of $700
>> and $800 for the controller.
>>
>> Take care,
>> Sandy Talarico
>>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help?
>Donate cash, emergency relief information
>http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
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