Jim Bob Salazar on sun 9 dec 01
ya know, you always read these posts and say "that couldn't happen to me"
right??? wrong!!! a little over a week ago we got two new L&L electricl
kilns. we only have one of them (it is the smaller of the two and has a manual
setter and controls) wired up right now and it has been firing fine. we have
probably fired it three times. well, on the fourth time we had a melt down. i
have watched the new kiln like a hawk so i could get it lined out and "know"
what it will do and when. candelling for a couple of hours on low with the lid
cracked, then dropping the lid and to medium for a couple of hours and then up
to high. after turning to high the kiln was shutting off in under 3 hours. so
on friday i had it loaded trying to get everything bisqued so we could get our
last high fire loaded on monday.
we had the kiln loaded preatty tight with terra cotta and stoneware for a
firing to cone 04. well, i started firing and then turned it to hight and set
the timer for 3 hours. i had a meeting to go to so i figured everything would
be ok. the timer was set for three hours "just in case". well, when i got
back i noticed the kiln looked hotter than normal. so, i tried raising the
thing the little "hook lever" that holds the shut off trigger and it would not
let me raise it because it was stuck. i also noticed the timer had not moved.
well, i started to panic..... and i just turned the switches to off and
unplugged the kiln and went home.
this morning i went back up to the studio and checked things out. the terra
cotta looked like images of black lava i have seen on the discovery channel. i
had to chip a shelf out of a new kiln. it just made my skin crawl!!! i guess
i was rather lucky though. the accident only ruined one shelf, two bricks and
the element holders and one element. i suppose it could have been much worse
but ir really sucked to see our new kiln in such condition.
i'm not sure is anything can be done but i am calling L&L on monday and give
them a peice of my mind. a brand new kiln alreay missfiring???
thanks for listening,
jim
bob
Ron Roy on fri 14 dec 01
Sorry to hear it happened to you JIm, hope you don't mind if I just remind
every one -
Don't leave a kiln alone when it's firing - all kinds of situations can
occure that you don't expect including fires - you can just never be
absolutly sure an automatic (so called) system will always work or wiring
can fail.
There are more failures with sitters than any other kind of system - at
least in the past. It remains to be seen if the controllers are going to do
better - still - I will never trust em enogh to be very far away and always
there at the end to watch the cones and make sure everything is working
properly.
RR
>we had the kiln loaded preatty tight with terra cotta and stoneware for a
>firing to cone 04. well, i started firing and then turned it to hight and set
>the timer for 3 hours. i had a meeting to go to so i figured everything would
>be ok. the timer was set for three hours "just in case". well, when i got
>back i noticed the kiln looked hotter than normal. so, i tried raising the
>thing the little "hook lever" that holds the shut off trigger and it would not
>let me raise it because it was stuck. i also noticed the timer had not moved.
>well, i started to panic..... and i just turned the switches to off and
>unplugged the kiln and went home.
Ron Roy
RR# 4
15084 Little Lake Rd..
Brighton,
Ontario, Canada
KOK 1H0
Residence 613-475-9544
Studio 613-475-3715
Fax 613-475-3513
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