Craig Martell on mon 17 nov 03
Hi:
What is it with you people? You're always talking about the merits of ITC
products. Has anyone figured out if this stuff actually works? OK, relax,
I'm just kidding you a little.
I've tried ITC with my salt kiln. Some things have worked and some
haven't. My stack, in the upper portion, is 10 inch ID Culvert lined with
"m board" sleeves sprayed with ITC 100. This is working very well. I
coated my old Big Bertha burners with ITC 213 and it failed miserably. I
followed the directions to the tee. The burners also had a galvanized
coating and I removed every bit of this, soaked the naked steel in
chlorine, dried them off and gave them a thin coat of ITC 213. Didn't work
and this was a waste of time and dinero. My new burners are Buzzer VNB 200
Hps. I bought a 6 dollar spray can of Rustoleum stove paint that's rated
for 1200 degrees F and sprayed the nozzles with this stuff. They are
holding up very well. I can repaint with the same can til the cows come
home if need be. It doesn't take a lot to coat the nozzles. I sprayed
them inside and out to protect from salt vapor. If anyone wants to see
this kiln and the burners at cone 9, I have jpgs. You can see the nozzles
getting toasty.
I talked to Alice at ITC about coating hardbrick with ITC 100 and she
thought this would work just fine. I tried it and it didn't work at
all. As mel and others have said on Clayart, ITC doesn't work with
hards. I found out the hard way, pun intended.
I've been putting K-26 bricks coated with ITC 100 in the kiln each time I
fire. Two of them sit on the bagwall which is like the seventh circle of
hell in my salt kiln. So far, they haven't deteriorated at all. They've
been thru 9 firings. I think it was mel, or maybe Vince, who said soft
brick that had the hot face spayed with ITC 100 didn't hold up well in a
vapor kiln because the salt or soda vapor would penetrate beyond the hot
face and attack the unsprayed inner parts of the brick. A reasonable
thought. So, I'm now thinking of building a test kiln with K-26s that are
dipped in ITC 100 before being laid up. I'm going to keep firing my test
bricks and if they continue to hold up well, I will then make good on my
threat to build the test kiln. I love to fire the salt kiln but I hate to
pay for the extra gas needed to fire the hards so that's my motivation here.
later, Craig Martell Hopewell, Oregon
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