Jo Smith on fri 16 apr 04
Have your school engineer check that you are actually getting the right
voltage at the kiln. Our electric company had a problem and my kiln would
not reach temp. I wasn't recieving the right voltage at the meter, don't
remember the #'s but it worked fine after they took care of the problem.
Good luck, nothing in life is simple
Jo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Tschoerner"
To:
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 6:46 PM
Subject: new L &L electric kiln
got a brand new L&L at school....have run the test fires with all the
furniture etc. in the kiln....the thing is so slow. i talked to their help
# a few times.....the kiln never reached the right temp....after 12 hours
of firing....still not at temp. Ron the tech guy said i was close enough
so today i loaded the kiln with ^6 glazes from Ron and John's nice
book.....i did the "varifire" program with allows one to do the schedule as
in frogpottery's web page for these glazes.....i reviewed it several times
and satisfied myself and some anxious students with work waiting to be
fired. we all think we did it right.......we started the program about 9
a.m. and it is 6:30 p.m. and it was at 1820' when i left it.....am nervous
about leaving it so will go back in a bit and sit with it i guess. our
engineer at school talked to L&L before we ordered and we have the correct
voltage and phase.....
i just do not understand why if it is programmed to fire at 350' per hour
until it gets to 2000'......why doesn't it do it??? in the 5.7 hours it is
programmed to do it??
i thought that this was the answer to an easy fire, trouble free......and
safer operation.....if it takes this long i will be sleeping at school....to
be sure that i don't make headlines in the Paris News....ART TEACHER BURNS
SCHOOL with the new $2000 kiln. i was wishing that i could afford a new
computerized kiln in my studio ..... i think that i will be perfectly happy
to put a ^8 cone in my cone sitter and watch those lovely cones in the cone
packs through the spy holes.....as they tell me what is really going on.
ANYBODY HAVE ANY HELPful advice....is my life on the computer kiln not going
to be a happy one????
ann tschoerner
paris, tx......fixing to go, as we say in texas, back to school and look at
the kiln.
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Ann Tschoerner on fri 16 apr 04
got a brand new L&L at school....have run the test fires with all the =
furniture etc. in the kiln....the thing is so slow. i talked to their =
help # a few times.....the kiln never reached the right temp....after =
12 hours of firing....still not at temp. Ron the tech guy said i was =
close enough so today i loaded the kiln with ^6 glazes from Ron and =
John's nice book.....i did the "varifire" program with allows one to do =
the schedule as in frogpottery's web page for these glazes.....i =
reviewed it several times and satisfied myself and some anxious students =
with work waiting to be fired. we all think we did it right.......we =
started the program about 9 a.m. and it is 6:30 p.m. and it was at 1820' =
when i left it.....am nervous about leaving it so will go back in a bit =
and sit with it i guess. our engineer at school talked to L&L before we =
ordered and we have the correct voltage and phase.....
i just do not understand why if it is programmed to fire at 350' per =
hour until it gets to 2000'......why doesn't it do it??? in the 5.7 =
hours it is programmed to do it??
i thought that this was the answer to an easy fire, trouble =
free......and safer operation.....if it takes this long i will be =
sleeping at school....to be sure that i don't make headlines in the =
Paris News....ART TEACHER BURNS SCHOOL with the new $2000 kiln. i was =
wishing that i could afford a new computerized kiln in my studio ..... i =
think that i will be perfectly happy to put a ^8 cone in my cone sitter =
and watch those lovely cones in the cone packs through the spy =
holes.....as they tell me what is really going on.
ANYBODY HAVE ANY HELPful advice....is my life on the computer kiln not =
going to be a happy one????
ann tschoerner
paris, tx......fixing to go, as we say in texas, back to school and look =
at the kiln.=20
WHC228@AOL.COM on sat 17 apr 04
350 degrees per hour may be too fast.
Orton cones are usually set for about 270 per hour.
I regularly fire my L&L kilns to cone ten at 300 per hour though.
I suspect that you are going through a learning process rather than having
trouble with the kiln.
John Britt on sat 17 apr 04
Ann,
If you have a new L&L - call the company. They are the best ones to
advise you. They are great kilns!
Hope that helps,
John Britt
John Hesselberth on sat 17 apr 04
On Friday, April 16, 2004, at 07:46 PM, Ann Tschoerner wrote:
> i just do not understand why if it is programmed to fire at 350' per
> hour until it gets to 2000'......why doesn't it do it??? in the 5.7
> hours it is programmed to do it??
Hi Ann,
While I program my kiln to increase temperature at 350F/hr it is only
able to do that in the early part of the cycle. The hotter the kiln
gets, the more heat that is lost to the kiln room, and the elements in
the kiln can only add heat at a set rate. I probably should make that
more clear on my web site and various other places I have published
that schedule.
Depending on how heavily loaded the kiln is, how thick the walls of the
kiln are, and how new the elements are I find it can take anywhere from
8-14 hours to reach cone 6--my elements have a bit of age on them now
and it takes about 12 hours.
My studio is in my home so I usually set the kiln to come on in the wee
hours of the morning. That way I am close at hand when it gets up to
really hot temperatures and can follow it through peak and through the
firing down. My total firing cycle, including firing down, is close to
18 hours at the moment.
Regards,
John
http://www.frogpondpottery.com
http://www.masteringglazes.com
william schran on sun 18 apr 04
Ann wrote:>ANYBODY HAVE ANY HELPful advice....is my life on the
computer kiln not going to be a happy one????<
Ann - I also just got a new L&L with controller, but have not had a
chance to plug it in yet - this next week maybe, or it will wait
until the semester is over and I finally have a free moment.
Your situation sounds like 240V elements and you're only getting 208V
at the school. Electrician should be able to take an ohm reading of
the elements to get a resistance reading to determine the voltage of
the elements and take a reading of the actual voltage you're getting.
Granted, there may be something with the controller or your inputs.
I'd give another call to L&L and have them walk you through setting
the firing ramp you want.
Bill
Bobbruch1@AOL.COM on sun 18 apr 04
John Hesselberth writes:
That way I am close at hand
when it gets up to really hot
temperatures and can follow
it through peak and through
the firing down. My total firing
cycle, including firing down,
is close to 18 hours at the
moment.
John: I believe that you said
that it takes you 12 hours to
reach temperature. Does that
mean 6 hours of holding
temperature and/or firing down?
If so, can you give an idea of
your schedule during those 6
hours .... Thanks ... Bob Bruch
John Hesselberth on sun 18 apr 04
On Sunday, April 18, 2004, at 09:03 AM, Bobbruch1@AOL.COM wrote:
> Does that
> mean 6 hours of holding
> temperature and/or firing down?
> If so, can you give an idea of
> your schedule during those 6
Hi Bob,
I hold for 15-20 minutes at peak, then drop quickly to 1900F where I
hold for another 10 minutes. That all takes about 1.25 hours. Then I
cool at 125F/hr down to 1400--4 more hours. So I guess the total is
about 5.25 hours. But this schedule is just what works for me. I have
not spent a huge amount of time trying to optimize it and make no claim
that it is 'best'. Consider it only as a place you might start in
developing your own firing down schedule.
Regards,
John
http://www.frogpondpottery.com
http://www.masteringglazes.com
Arnold Howard on mon 19 apr 04
Ann, is it possible that you have a 240 volt kiln wired to a 208 volt
circuit? This happens more often than people realize.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P.
arnoldhoward@att.net
--------------
From: "Ann Tschoerner"
got a brand new L&L at school....have run the test fires with all the
furniture etc. in the kiln....the thing is so slow. i talked to their help
# a few times.....the kiln never reached the right temp....after 12 hours
of firing....still not at temp.
Bobbruch1@AOL.COM on thu 22 apr 04
From: John Hesselberth : Hi Bob,
I hold for 15-20 minutes at peak,
then drop quickly to 1900F where
I hold for another 10 minutes.
That all takes about 1.25 hours.
John. I do something similar to this
as well, and "think" I understand the
reasoning for doing so.
//////Then I cool at 125F/hr down to 1400--
4 more hours. So I guess the total is
about 5.25 hours.
John: what is the reason for controlling the
cooling down to 1400 ..... what is going on
with the glaze that benefits by slowing
down the cooling process.
Thanks, Bob Bruch
John Hesselberth on thu 22 apr 04
On Thursday, April 22, 2004, at 07:58 AM, Bobbruch1@aol.com wrote:
> what is going on
> with the glaze that=A0 benefits by slowing
> down the cooling process.
>
Hi Bob,
Crystal growth. That was a major part of my NCECA presentation which=20
you can view on my frogpondpottery web site. Scroll down to the 5th=20
item on the home page.
John
http://www.frogpondpottery.com
http://www.masteringglazes.com
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