Arnold Howard on tue 29 jul 03
I'm very sorry to hear about Margaret's fire in her kiln room.
For what I understand, the fire started at the wall receptacle used for
the kilns. All the kilns were off when the fire began.
It is very rare for a fire to start with the kiln turned off. Since
there is no current flowing through the circuit, there is no
over-heating of the wires. A possibility is that a wire at the
receptacle came loose and barely touched another wire. The contact
between the two wires caused an arcing and overheating. Ordinarily the
circuit breaker would have shut off, but in this case the contact
between the wires didn't allow enough juice to shut off the breaker.
Margaret, was the kiln that was plugged in during the fire a digital
kiln?
Several fire safety rules for all brands of electric kilns:
1) Disconnect the kiln when not in use. The most convenient way to do
this is to install a power shutoff box near the kiln. If you don't have
a power shutoff box, unplug the kiln after each firing.
2) Keep the kiln lid closed when not in use. If for some reason the kiln
turns on while you are away, the closed lid will contain the heat inside
the kiln. As the kiln overfires, the elements will fail, shutting off
the kiln.
3) Do not store anything on the kiln lid or around the kiln. I know of a
case where a kiln turned on while the owner was away. The lid was
closed, but newspapers stacked on the lid started a fire.
4) Do not leave a kiln unattended during operation.
5) Make sure the cord is not touching the side of the kiln.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P.
arnoldhoward@att.net
From:
a neighbor who had been going by and had spotted flames coming out of
> the studio roof and had already used their cell phone to the fire
department.
.my insurer made me promise not to have a kiln in the a seperate
> building and didn't cover my ''kiln building''
> I am only glad I no longer had the kilns in the garage of my home like
I used
> to in the past.The kilns were not being fired and had not been fired
in 2
> months and were in excellent condition on my inspection when last
fired.
> My reason for writing this is to tell everyone to exercise EXTREME
CAUTION
> and do not let your guard down as far as electricity goes.Unplug kilns
WHENEVER
> they are not in use
Margaret in Columbia,SC
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