Leland G. Hall on fri 19 jul 02
Howdy folks! I inherited (so to speak) a couple of old Duncan DA model
electric kilns, which are both semi auto, semi manual and not entirely
either. Strange beasts they are. After fighting failing electronics
(relays, timers, capacitors and what not) for two years, and getting little
or no help from Paragon, who bought out Duncans kiln operation a few years
ago, I called the nearest kiln specialist, ( a hundred and forty miles away)
who also happens to work for a company that sells Skutt, and others. He
told me throw them away and buy new ones. Said that that was the model that
brought duncan's kiln operation down. He also said that after several
attempts to work on these models, he had made a descision never again. If
I wanted them fixed, I was on my own. I knew that the elements were fine,
and it seemed like the infinity switches still did there job, and I figured
no way was I gonna trash them, and I have all the raku kilns I need. So I
put on my thinking cap and ripped out the relays and anything else that I
didn't understand and then using my antique manual Skutt for a template,
rewired the big old DA to be fully manual. Works like charm so far. Hope
to get a few years out of it. Will start the same process on the little
one soon. Any one else out there ever go through anything like this?
Leland Hall
Before The Wheel Enterprises
La Pine Oregon
Mercy Langford on sat 20 jul 02
Leland,
I read your story and it sounded all to familiar. My wife purchased a used
Duncan model EA1029 , which looking at the manual, has the same wiring as
the
DA. I have been battling with it since we got it. I also cannot figure out
the automatic-manual part. I noticed that the middle elements were
continually on even if the infinity switches are in the off position. I
confirmed with Paragon that this is how this kiln works. The design just
does
not make sense. We are doing research for a replacement.
John Langford
In a message dated 07/19/2002 2:46:01 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
b4thewheel@BENDNET.COM writes:
> Howdy folks! I inherited (so to speak) a couple of old Duncan DA model
> electric kilns, which are both semi auto, semi manual and not entirely
> either. Strange beasts they are. After fighting failing electronics
> (relays, timers, capacitors and what not) for two years, and getting
little
> or no help from Paragon, who bought out Duncans kiln operation a few years
> ago, I called the nearest kiln specialist, ( a hundred and forty miles
> away)
> who also happens to work for a company that sells Skutt, and others. He
> told me throw them away and buy new ones. Said that that was the model
that
> brought duncan's kiln operation down. He also said that after several
> attempts to work on these models, he had made a decision never again. If
> I wanted them fixed, I was on my own. I knew that the elements were fine,
> and it seemed like the infinity switches still did there job, and I
figured
> no way was I gonna trash them, and I have all the raku kilns I need. So I
> put on my thinking cap and ripped out the relays and anything else that I
> didn't understand and then using my antique manual Skutt for a template,
> rewired the big old DA to be fully manual. Works like charm so far. Hope
> to get a few years out of it. Will start the same process on the little
> one soon. Any one else out there ever go through anything like this?
>
>
> Leland Hall
> Before The Wheel Enterprises
> La Pine Oregon
>
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