Cindy Hart on thu 12 may 05
Hi,
I have a friend who is having a problem with her kiln Skutt KM818 and
subsequently her glazes. The middle elements are not firing at the same
rate as the top and bottom. She has an automatic controller so I could not
just turn them to HI like I do with mine and check them. Nothing looks
broken etc and they are firing just not as hot. To all out there who have
a kiln like this Is this normal? What can we do to fix it if not? All
elements were installed at the same time and there is no need to replace
them yet..(except for this problem maybe) I believe she was told that this
is the way the kiln fires but I don't understand why you would have the
bottom and top fire HI and not the middle. Plus she leaves the top peep
out during the whole firing. No kiln vent.
Thanks for any and all information
Cindy Hart
Snail Scott on thu 12 may 05
At 09:20 AM 5/12/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>I have a friend who is having a problem with her kiln Skutt KM818 and
>subsequently her glazes. The middle elements are not firing at the same
>rate as the top and bottom.
Skutt kilns are designed to have the top and
bottom elements fire hotter than the middle,
to make up for the heat loss through the lid
and bottom. The middle ones _should_ be cooler,
and if she ever replaces one, she'll need to
specify whether she wants a top/bottom element
or a middle element. It's not that the elements
in the middle don't go to the 'high' setting;
they just don't fire as hot at full power as
the top and bottom ones do. It helps keep the
temperature even.
-Snail
annsemple on thu 12 may 05
Cindy
I have an electric kiln that is two to three cones cooler at the top =
and bottom than it is in the middle. I also have an electric =
controller, which has two switches . My fix to even out the firing was =
relatively simple - I re-wired the switches so the top and bottom =
elements are on one switch and the middle elements on the other. When =
firing I set the top/bottom switch on high and the middle one on =
medium. It has worked very well. (the hard part was fitting my ample =
self behind the kiln to get access to the controller which opens from =
the back)
Ann Semple
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
annsemple@shaw.ca
www.clayfootcrockery.com
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of =
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to =
skid in sideways, champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other, =
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO - What a =
Ride!" (Hunter S. Thompson)
Arnold Howard on thu 12 may 05
Skutt uses "tuned" elements in digital kilns. (Paragon does too.) This means
that the center elements put out less heat than the top and bottom elements.
Your friend's kiln may be firing normally.
The reason the center elements are designed to put out less heat is that the
kiln needs less energy in the center section. Since the lid and bottom are
so massive, they require more heat than do the walls.
When automatic kilns were developed back in the 80s, we had to design the
elements to heat the kiln evenly when all elements cycled on and off
together. This involved changing elements by half an ohm here and there
until cones on every shelf bent evenly.
Tuned elements, by the way, add a complication: When changing elements, you
must put each element in the proper section of the kiln. Otherwise your kiln
will fire very unevenly.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
arnoldhoward@att.net / www.paragonweb.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy Hart"
> I have a friend who is having a problem with her kiln Skutt KM818 and
> subsequently her glazes. The middle elements are not firing at the same
> rate as the top and bottom. She has an automatic controller so I could
> not
> just turn them to HI like I do with mine and check them. Nothing looks
> broken etc and they are firing just not as hot. To all out there who have
> a kiln like this Is this normal?
Leesh on thu 12 may 05
Hi Cindy,
I also have the KM818 and have been very pleased with it. It has been firin=
g=20
very evenly. Of course, much of that may be attributed to the Envirovent.
Leesh
On 5/12/05, Cindy Hart wrote:=20
>=20
> Hi,
>=20
> I have a friend who is having a problem with her kiln Skutt KM818 and
> subsequently her glazes. The middle elements are not firing at the same
> rate as the top and bottom. She has an automatic controller so I could no=
t
> just turn them to HI like I do with mine and check them. Nothing looks
> broken etc and they are firing just not as hot. To all out there who have
> a kiln like this Is this normal? What can we do to fix it if not? All
> elements were installed at the same time and there is no need to replace
> them yet..(except for this problem maybe) I believe she was told that thi=
s
> is the way the kiln fires but I don't understand why you would have the
> bottom and top fire HI and not the middle. Plus she leaves the top peep
> out during the whole firing. No kiln vent.
>=20
> Thanks for any and all information
> Cindy Hart
>=20
>=20
> _________________________________________________________________________=
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>=20
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>=20
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> melpots@pclink.com.
>
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