Hollis Engley on tue 14 oct 03
Hello, everyone. I know we've recently gone through a BASO valve thread, and
some thermocouple stuff, and I've read as much as I can find in the archives
and printed out a number of things, but ... I'm trying to get my Olympic D17
downdraft kiln up and firing and I'm having some mystifying (to me, anyway)
problems. I should say that Bob Haugen at Olympic has been very willing,
patient and helpful over the past couple of days and solved a number of my
problems via the phone. But I thought I'd see if anyone here has some
further answers.
Here's a description of the process and then the problem: The kiln has two
"ignition rings," each of which works off a BASO solenoid valve (and they
are indeed BASO valves, not cheap imitations) equipped with the conventional
pilot and thermocouple. The procedure is to light the left ignition ring,
hold down the red button on the solenoid for 60 seconds, at which point the
valve should remain open by itself - and the ignition ring firing - as long
as the thermocouple remains in the pilot flame. Then you repeat the
procedure on the right ignition ring, using that BASO valve and
thermocouple. At that point, with both ignition rings burning on their own,
I should be able to open the gas manifold valve and fire up the burners. The
problem is that when I slowly release the red button on the left (first)
BASO after holding it down 60 seconds or more, the gas supply is terminated
to the ignition ring and the pilot. At that frustrating point, gas is
actually flowing through the left BASO to the right one (which means that
some part of the left valve must be open), and even though the left ring is
extinguished, I can light the right one. It will burn for maybe 45 seconds,
until there's a click from the general direction of the left BASO, which I
take to mean that whatever was open on the left BASO has now closed down.
I have, by the way, bought a new thermocouple and hooked it up to the left
BASO, with the same result.
I know this may sound confusing, though I hope I've written it clearly
enough for those of you who are used to these things to understand. I've
stood for a long time today in front of the kiln, leaning back on one of my
work tables, coffee cup in hand, trying to figure out whatever it is that
I'm missing. So far, no luck. Anyone have any ideas for me? And if you think
we've had too much of this kind of thing lately, feel free to contact me
off-list.
Thanks in advance.
Hollis Engley
Hatchville Pottery
Falmouth, Mass.
hengley@cape.com
wayneinkeywest on tue 14 oct 03
Hollis:
Are you feeding gas through the left BASO valve into the right burner? They
should be plumbed separately, I should think, with two gas manifold valves,
one for each burner, and each on a feed "teed" from the main supply. Or am
I missing something?
Wayne in Key West
> Hello, everyone. I know we've recently gone through a BASO valve thread,
and
> some thermocouple stuff, and I've read as much as I can find in the
archives
> and printed out a number of things, but ... I'm trying to get my Olympic
D17
> downdraft kiln up and firing and I'm having some mystifying (to me,
anyway)
> problems. I should say that Bob Haugen at Olympic has been very willing,
> patient and helpful over the past couple of days and solved a number of my
> problems via the phone. But I thought I'd see if anyone here has some
> further answers.
> Here's a description of the process and then the problem: The kiln has two
> "ignition rings," each of which works off a BASO solenoid valve (and they
> are indeed BASO valves, not cheap imitations) equipped with the
conventional
> pilot and thermocouple. The procedure is to light the left ignition ring,
> hold down the red button on the solenoid for 60 seconds, at which point
the
> valve should remain open by itself - and the ignition ring firing - as
long
> as the thermocouple remains in the pilot flame. Then you repeat the
> procedure on the right ignition ring, using that BASO valve and
> thermocouple. At that point, with both ignition rings burning on their
own,
> I should be able to open the gas manifold valve and fire up the burners.
The
> problem is that when I slowly release the red button on the left (first)
> BASO after holding it down 60 seconds or more, the gas supply is
terminated
> to the ignition ring and the pilot. At that frustrating point, gas is
> actually flowing through the left BASO to the right one (which means that
> some part of the left valve must be open), and even though the left ring
is
> extinguished, I can light the right one. It will burn for maybe 45
seconds,
> until there's a click from the general direction of the left BASO, which I
> take to mean that whatever was open on the left BASO has now closed down.
> I have, by the way, bought a new thermocouple and hooked it up to the left
> BASO, with the same result.
> I know this may sound confusing, though I hope I've written it clearly
> enough for those of you who are used to these things to understand. I've
> stood for a long time today in front of the kiln, leaning back on one of
my
> work tables, coffee cup in hand, trying to figure out whatever it is that
> I'm missing. So far, no luck. Anyone have any ideas for me? And if you
think
> we've had too much of this kind of thing lately, feel free to contact me
> off-list.
> Thanks in advance.
> Hollis Engley
> Hatchville Pottery
> Falmouth, Mass.
> hengley@cape.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.
Hollis Engley on tue 14 oct 03
----- Original Message -----
From: wayneinkeywest
Subject: Re: Help! BASO valves, thermocouples, etc.
> Hollis:
> Are you feeding gas through the left BASO valve into the right burner?
They
> should be plumbed separately, I should think, with two gas manifold
valves,
> one for each burner, and each on a feed "teed" from the main supply. Or
am
> I missing something?
> Wayne in Key West
>
>
Hi, Wayne. Thanks. No, on this kiln the left BASO feeds on in series to the
right BASO. That's the way Olympic plumbs it. Then one manifold valve
operates all six burners, three on each side.
And thanks, Dave F. I have indeed been through some of that, replacing the
problem thermocouple with a new one, but with the same result. I'll try the
eraser on the contacts. Haven't done that one yet. I've tried the propane
torch alone on the TC with the same results. I'll keep tinkering.
Thanks to both of you.
Hollis
hengley@cape.com
| |
|
