Tjo62@AOL.COM on fri 5 oct 01
I have a MFT in KY. I ordered the burners from Nils Lou to go with the kiln.
For each side there is a large burner with a small burner attached. The
small one has a thermocouple safety. I have been using the burners for two
years now and I suddenly can't get them to stay lit. I start them up just
fine. Then, the flame in the small, side burner seems to flicker yellow and
go out. This is followed (of course) by the large burner going out. I
replaced the thermocouples since they were two years old, but this didn't
make any difference. I have tried calling several heating/cooling people but
they do not seem to know what I am talking about. I don't know who to call.
I am located in Louisville, KY. If anyone knows anyone in this area who can
help, please let me know. Or is someone thinks they know what the problem
would be I would sure appreciate some suggestions. I would also like to get
a new pressure gauge for the burners. If you read this Nils, could you give
me the name and address of the company where I got these? Thanks in advance.
Tonya
Jennifer F Boyer on sat 6 oct 01
Are these cast iron burners? If so, they flake on the inside
over time. They need to be taken off and cleaned.
This involves seperating the cast iron burners from the
orifices(where gas comes through). Then the burners can be set
on the floor, burner head up, and tapped with a hammer(gently)
to get the scale out.
While the burner is apart you also need to check the
orifices(little holes that the gas goes through). These can get
gummed up, especially the little pilot burner ones. I have a
very small sewing needle that I clean these out with.
Contact me off list if this all seems to pertain to you and
you'd like help figuring out how to do all this...
Jennifer, with 30 years of burner cleaning experience to share.....
Tjo62@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> I have a MFT in KY. I ordered the burners from Nils Lou to go with the kiln.
> For each side there is a large burner with a small burner attached. The
> small one has a thermocouple safety. I have been using the burners for two
> years now and I suddenly can't get them to stay lit. I start them up just
> fine. Then, the flame in the small, side burner seems to flicker yellow and
> go out. This is followed (of course) by the large burner going out. I
> replaced the thermocouples since they were two years old, but this didn't
> make any difference. I have tried calling several heating/cooling people but
> they do not seem to know what I am talking about. I don't know who to call.
> I am located in Louisville, KY. If anyone knows anyone in this area who can
> help, please let me know. Or is someone thinks they know what the problem
> would be I would sure appreciate some suggestions. I would also like to get
> a new pressure gauge for the burners. If you read this Nils, could you give
> me the name and address of the company where I got these? Thanks in advance.
> Tonya
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
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Jennifer Boyer mailto:jboyer@adelphia.net
Thistle Hill Pottery
95 Powder Horn Glen Rd
Montpelier, VT 05602 USA
802-223-8926
http://www.thistlehillpottery.com/
Never pass on an email warning without checking out this site
for web hoaxes and junk:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
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miriam shelomith on sat 6 oct 01
Have sent your question to a friend in Cleveland. He knows all sorts of technical stuff about kilns. He is a stained glass person and makes his own glass & kilns. Hope he will get back to you... pottermim in muggy, hot, hopefully, soon to rain Florida
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>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: MFT burner question-HELP
>Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 17:12:50 EDT
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>I have a MFT in KY. I ordered the burners from Nils Lou to go with the kiln.
> For each side there is a large burner with a small burner attached. The
>small one has a thermocouple safety. I have been using the burners for two
>years now and I suddenly can't get them to stay lit. I start them up just
>fine. Then, the flame in the small, side burner seems to flicker yellow and
>go out. This is followed (of course) by the large burner going out. I
>replaced the thermocouples since they were two years old, but this didn't
>make any difference. I have tried calling several heating/cooling people but
>they do not seem to know what I am talking about. I don't know who to call.
>I am located in Louisville, KY. If anyone knows anyone in this area who can
>help, please let me know. Or is someone thinks they know what the problem
>would be I would sure appreciate some suggestions. I would also like to get
>a new pressure gauge for the burners. If you read this Nils, could you give
>me the name and address of the company where I got these? Thanks in advance.
> Tonya
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
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John & Susan Balentine on sat 6 oct 01
Hi Tonya,
I have this same problem from time to time with my burners. Have found out that a
cleaning of the orifices straightens this out. I clean mine out every 3 months.
Just unscrew the back part of the burner to get to the orifice and then srew it out
and clear the tiny specks out. Hope this helps. Susan
Tjo62@AOL.COM wrote:
> I have a MFT in KY. I ordered the burners from Nils Lou to go with the kiln.
> For each side there is a large burner with a small burner attached. The
> small one has a thermocouple safety. I have been using the burners for two
> years now and I suddenly can't get them to stay lit. I start them up just
> fine. Then, the flame in the small, side burner seems to flicker yellow and
> go out. This is followed (of course) by the large burner going out. I
> replaced the thermocouples since they were two years old, but this didn't
> make any difference. I have tried calling several heating/cooling people but
> they do not seem to know what I am talking about. I don't know who to call.
> I am located in Louisville, KY. If anyone knows anyone in this area who can
> help, please let me know. Or is someone thinks they know what the problem
> would be I would sure appreciate some suggestions. I would also like to get
> a new pressure gauge for the burners. If you read this Nils, could you give
> me the name and address of the company where I got these? Thanks in advance.
> Tonya
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Jeff Lawrence on sat 6 oct 01
Tonya was having problems with her burners...
Hi Tonya,
I bought my only power burners from Marc Ward, which gave me
good service for 3+ years until the kiln went into storage. They
also gave me an education. At first I mistakenly believed any device
with an electric plug and fitted with official sounding parts like
BASO valves and solenoids ought to be like an atomic clock -- an
immutable solid-state delivery system that would tick away firing
after firing like that bell-jar clock on my grandfather's mantel.
Over time, though, I learned different. Thermocouples burn out,
particularly when you stick the burners too far in and reduce to
oxygen starvation. My pilot burners are cast iron, but they didn't
respond so well to that regimen either. My current understanding is
that firing wears on kilns and burners in the same way heat works
on clay (and experience works on fatuous false assumptions). I concluded
I couldn't get the results I wanted without regularly correcting the
wear of firing on the equipment. TANSTAAFL and a' that.
Extreme heating and cooling cycles are rough on materials:
metals corrode more quickly than otherwise and refractory soaks
up that heat work and fires a little more each time, eventually
crumbling under the expansion and contraction stress. Orifices that
must stay open inexorably attract blockage by both the metal scale and
grains of brick. As an added bonus, critters of many stripes just love
to set up house in still-warm pipes and impede gas flows.
It sounds like your burners are due for a thorough cleaning with
compressed air, vacuum cleaner with the high-suction tip, dentist
pick-tool, etc. If pilot burner holes are impossibly clogged,
you might have to take the painful step I was forced to and consider
a transplant.
Hope this helps,
Jeff
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