Fara Shimbo on sun 17 apr 05
Hi, Everybody,
I've finally gotten my studio completed and am working again.
Tried firing my Olympic Torchbearer kiln today and came up against
the problem I usually come up against: it gets to about cone 7 and
either stalls or the temperature drops.
I've found several things I can do to make the temperature go up
before it stalls or drops again. They include:
- blowing air from a fan on the burners
- using the same fan to blow air away from the burners
- turning the burners up
- turning the burners down a little
- opening the damper hole on the top all the way
- closing the same hole slightly
All in all, it seems, looking over my notes, that -changing anything-
will get the temperature to rise a bit. Eventually it does get
to temperature but you have to baby it the whole way.
The flame I get out of the burners is at best a ten or so centimeters
of blue and then all yellow. I know some folks who get an entirely
blue flame, I've never been able to. Don't know if it's because
I live at such a high altitude or what, but I've gotten to the
point where I think I'd like to change the burners to something
better. Anybody have any suggestions?
I get some really fabulous stuff out of this kiln, and I hate to
change anything for fear I'll stop getting it. But the old back
is going in a big way and I just can't fiddle with the burners
as much as I used to anymore.
Any help will be much appreciated!
Hang in there,
Fa and Sadie The Pottery Rottie
--
=============================================================
Fara Shimbo, Master Crystalliere, Certified Public Nuisance
-------------------------------------------------------------
Shimbo Pottery, PO Box 41, Hygiene, CO 80533 USA 718.210.3492
Crystalline-Ceramics.Info ShimboPottery.com Crystallieri.Org
Klysadel.Net TuranianHorse.Org
=============================================================
Louis Katz on sun 17 apr 05
I have fired an old Olympic package polygon Kiln although the last time
was around 1978. It is important not to crowd the bottom shelf near the
bottom nor stack the baffle to close to the flue. If you want to do
either of these things you need to put a chimney on the kiln lid. I
used about three feet of softbrick stacked a little bigger than the
41/2 inch opening.
If you are not getting temperature it must be one of these things.
1. REducing too much.
2. oxidizing too much.
3. Not enough gas.
4. too much heat loss (not enough insulation)
5. Bad karma from beating on your little brother.
Louis
On Apr 17, 2005, at 2:37 PM, Fara Shimbo wrote:
> Hi, Everybody,
>
> I've finally gotten my studio completed and am working again.
> Tried firing my Olympic Torchbearer kiln today and came up against
> the problem I usually come up against: it gets to about cone 7 and
> either stalls or the temperature drops.
>
> I've found several things I can do to make the temperature go up
> before it stalls or drops again. They include:
>
> - blowing air from a fan on the burners
> - using the same fan to blow air away from the burners
> - turning the burners up
> - turning the burners down a little
> - opening the damper hole on the top all the way
> - closing the same hole slightly
>
> All in all, it seems, looking over my notes, that -changing anything-
> will get the temperature to rise a bit. Eventually it does get
> to temperature but you have to baby it the whole way.
>
> The flame I get out of the burners is at best a ten or so centimeters
> of blue and then all yellow. I know some folks who get an entirely
> blue flame, I've never been able to. Don't know if it's because
> I live at such a high altitude or what, but I've gotten to the
> point where I think I'd like to change the burners to something
> better. Anybody have any suggestions?
>
> I get some really fabulous stuff out of this kiln, and I hate to
> change anything for fear I'll stop getting it. But the old back
> is going in a big way and I just can't fiddle with the burners
> as much as I used to anymore.
>
> Any help will be much appreciated!
>
> Hang in there,
>
> Fa and Sadie The Pottery Rottie
> --
> =============================================================
> Fara Shimbo, Master Crystalliere, Certified Public Nuisance
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Shimbo Pottery, PO Box 41, Hygiene, CO 80533 USA 718.210.3492
> Crystalline-Ceramics.Info ShimboPottery.com Crystallieri.Org
> Klysadel.Net TuranianHorse.Org
> =============================================================
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> _______
> 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.
>
John Rodgers on sun 17 apr 05
Fara
When I lived in New Mexico - 7000 ft. above sea level - I worked with a
90 cu. ft. gas kiln. The kiln was a car kiln, basically a Minesota
Flat-top, and it had two burners. The high altitude required those two
burners have blowers mounted on them . Our burners and blowers came from
Marc Ward. They worked great and it was never a problem getting to cone
10. Uneven temperatures were a problem ocassionally, but that was more a
function of how things were arranged inside rather than a burner problem.
The one thing that was done to even the gas pressure to the burners was
to install a calibrated orifice valve right at the point of the "T"
where the gas split and went to each burner. This evened out the
pressure going to each burner.
Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
Fara Shimbo wrote:
> Hi, Everybody,
>
> I've finally gotten my studio completed and am working again.
> Tried firing my Olympic Torchbearer kiln today and came up against
> the problem I usually come up against: it gets to about cone 7 and
> either stalls or the temperature drops.
>
> I've found several things I can do to make the temperature go up
> before it stalls or drops again. They include:
>
> - blowing air from a fan on the burners
> - using the same fan to blow air away from the burners
> - turning the burners up
> - turning the burners down a little
> - opening the damper hole on the top all the way
> - closing the same hole slightly
>
> All in all, it seems, looking over my notes, that -changing anything-
> will get the temperature to rise a bit. Eventually it does get
> to temperature but you have to baby it the whole way.
>
> The flame I get out of the burners is at best a ten or so centimeters
> of blue and then all yellow. I know some folks who get an entirely
> blue flame, I've never been able to. Don't know if it's because
> I live at such a high altitude or what, but I've gotten to the
> point where I think I'd like to change the burners to something
> better. Anybody have any suggestions?
>
> I get some really fabulous stuff out of this kiln, and I hate to
> change anything for fear I'll stop getting it. But the old back
> is going in a big way and I just can't fiddle with the burners
> as much as I used to anymore.
>
> Any help will be much appreciated!
>
> Hang in there,
>
> Fa and Sadie The Pottery Rottie
> --
> =============================================================
> Fara Shimbo, Master Crystalliere, Certified Public Nuisance
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Shimbo Pottery, PO Box 41, Hygiene, CO 80533 USA 718.210.3492
> Crystalline-Ceramics.Info ShimboPottery.com Crystallieri.Org
> Klysadel.Net TuranianHorse.Org
> =============================================================
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
>
> 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.
>
>
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