Chris and Nissa on tue 12 feb 02
Jonathan and others,
Rather than go through three electricians myself did the final one you hired
tell you how they tested and came to tell you that you needed a booster
transformer? How much was the final one you needed? What exactly is it?
I've suspected this trouble myself with my kilns. My kilns are up to snuff.
Good elements etc. but tend to struggle none the less...with 200 amp service
direct to the studio..running nothing else at night while firing. Two Skutt
1227KM 1ph with envirovents. Out in the country..I insisted on a new
transformer at the pole outside my studio when the power company hooked me
up and everything worked the first 1 1/2yrs but not so this winter...I
still suspect weak power from the lines due to high demand winter heating
season. Any body else had weak electric supply?
Time on your firing start to finish(cooled) ot start to cone 6?
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Jonathan Kirkendall
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 12:33 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Finally - success with the electric kiln
..issue was complicated by low voltage, a man hole cover
explosion, and a land lady who asked me not to get the electric company
involved. The answer turned out to be a buck/booster transformer.the third
one turned out to
be the right one, The kiln now gets about 235 v. and fires right
along to cone 6 with a hold and a slow cool down in 11 hours and some
minutes.
Jonathan in DC
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Cheryl Hoffman on wed 13 feb 02
I had a problem with my first couple of firings in my Excalibur Kiln, with it
shutting off before reaching temp. I had the kiln guy come out and he told me
that I needed a new mother board in the Ortron Autofire...like I know what
that is and does it blow up? There was a discussion going on clayart at the
time about the amps fluctuating at peak times during the day. I realized
that both times the kiln failed, it was at about 4 in the afternoon. And
then I got out Nils' book and reread mel's words about driving your kiln. I
thought, hey, if the mother is gonna blow, she's gonna blow. I started my
firing early evening, programmed her to reach peak at 6 am. She fired
beautifully with no problems. I've fired 3 more times at night and the
mother hasn't gone off.
Cher Hoffman, one mean mother driver
Jonathan Kirkendall on mon 18 feb 02
Hi Chris,
Sorry for taking so long to respond - last week I was out with the flu, and
ended the week by moving - yuck!
When I first started having trouble reaching temperature, I called Skutt and
they gave me "resistance readings" for the elements, to test the elements.
I went out and bought a DIGITAL voltometer that could also measure
resistance, and tested the elements, and they were fine. Then I tested the
volts, and that's when I realized that I was in trouble, and only getting
215 v. I stress the importance of a digital voltometer because the first
two electricians that came only had the kind that showed either 208 v. or
240 v., and what I discovered is that if it's more than 208, it will
automatically show 240, which in my case just was not accurate enough (and
made them say "so what's your problem? You're getting 240...").
So, the next step was research. My studio mate Anji made a discovery: there
is something called a booster transformer that is made to boost the voltage
from 208 to 240. These are not well known in our field, but I think they
should be better known, because I think they might be very useful to folks
out there that are having voltage problems and don't know what to do about
it. According to the electrician, the booster transformer has capaciters
inside it that store an electric charge, so when the voltage drops down,
they add enough voltage to make up the difference. The transformer is hard
wired into my box, and the kiln plugs into the transformer. This
transformer cost $350.
The size of the transformer that one would need is dictated by the watts,
voltage, and amps of the kiln in question.
I hope this is helpful.
Jonathan in DC
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Chris and Nissa
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 4:22 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Weak electric supply? RE: Finally - success with the electric
kiln
Jonathan and others,
Rather than go through three electricians myself did the final one you hired
tell you how they tested and came to tell you that you needed a booster
transformer? How much was the final one you needed? What exactly is it?
I've suspected this trouble myself with my kilns. My kilns are up to snuff.
Good elements etc. but tend to struggle none the less...with 200 amp service
direct to the studio..running nothing else at night while firing. Two Skutt
1227KM 1ph with envirovents. Out in the country..I insisted on a new
transformer at the pole outside my studio when the power company hooked me
up and everything worked the first 1 1/2yrs but not so this winter...I
still suspect weak power from the lines due to high demand winter heating
season. Any body else had weak electric supply?
Time on your firing start to finish(cooled) ot start to cone 6?
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Jonathan Kirkendall
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 12:33 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Finally - success with the electric kiln
..issue was complicated by low voltage, a man hole cover
explosion, and a land lady who asked me not to get the electric company
involved. The answer turned out to be a buck/booster transformer.the third
one turned out to
be the right one, The kiln now gets about 235 v. and fires right
along to cone 6 with a hold and a slow cool down in 11 hours and some
minutes.
Jonathan in DC
____________________________________________________________________________
__
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.
____________________________________________________________________________
__
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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