Steve Slatin on fri 1 oct 04
--- Sincultura 13 wrote:
> I’ll start by saying that I know next to nothing
> about kilns, so please excuse me if this has been
> discussed before… I searched the archive and found
> partial/possible answers. This guy (same tech who
> just repaired the kiln) changed the top element
> before he sold the kiln to me two months ago and
> forgot to place the white insulator/spacers. Is this
> something easily/commonly overlooked by techs?
1. No, it's neither easily nor commonly overlooked.
2. It's time to change that moniker from "sincultura"
to "consuerte." The kiln was dangerous to itself and
to any living thing that touched it when the insulator
was not present.
3. From your description of what he did with the
plug, I'd *strongly* recommend that you get a
different tech or a competent electrician to do your
work in the future. Or read up on the work and do it
yourself -- it's not actually too hard, and if you
have questions people on this list do help. And if
you do the work yourself, you'll at least know what to
do when you plug it in and there's a problem.
I personally find the electrical work is much less
difficult than, say, replacing a damaged brick.
Best wishes -- Steve Slatin
=====
Steve Slatin -- Lies told, whiskey hauled, widows tended.
Sequim, Washington, USA
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Sincultura 13 on fri 1 oct 04
I’ll start by saying that I know next to nothing about kilns, so please excuse me if this has been discussed before… I searched the archive and found partial/possible answers. This guy (same tech who just repaired the kiln) changed the top element before he sold the kiln to me two months ago and forgot to place the white insulator/spacers. Is this something easily/commonly overlooked by techs? This made the element make contact with the metal causing intermittent little explosions (sparkles) every time the kiln was on. I just got my kiln back from the tech. The top element is slightly out of the groove. Maybe due to the space the spacer took? I tried to push it gently back but it won’t stay there. From what I read the elements needs to be heated in order to get it back in place. I don’t have a torch and don’t feel I should be the one to do the job since it was his mistake…
My questions are:
Is the element more likely to pop out completely during firing if it’s slightly out of the groove?
The reason I ask is because my teacher told me that not having the insulating spacers can cause a fire…
Also the tech promised me that if I bought a longer plug cable he would install it and give me a plug free of charge. He did a very sloppy job cutting the cable and taped with black tape the corners of the cable. Can black tape withstand the heat the side that is hooked to the kiln sitter is exposed to? He left the same old plug on the new cable. The plug is REALLY old and the spaces for the bolts/nuts are worn. It was a two man job talking it apart to change the cable…. He also forgot to place all screws on the kiln sitter back, which I noticed while loading the kiln on my car. He also damaged one of the screws and told me not to worry about it that the other three will hold it firmly in place…
Is this a clear sign of sloppy work by the tech or is it an every day thing every electric old kiln user needs to get accustoms to?
I don’t feel safe firing this kiln because of what has happened. The idea of paying more money to have another tech take a look at the kiln bothers me to no end ‘cause the whole idea of buying the kiln I bought was that I was getting it from someone who “knows” about them and told me it was on good conditions… I could have gotten a bigger kiln cheaper…
Should I try to get my money back? Any advice is greatly appreciated… I know little about the subject and might just be might drowning in a glass of water but wanr to make sure I’m taking the necessary safety precautions…
Above anything else I’m truly frustrated… I’ve only been able to fire the kiln twice in to months… I have over 40 pieces waiting to be fired and a million things to learn and experiment with…
Thanks
sincultura
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