dannon rhudy on thu 8 dec 05
Of course you can re-fire. Your work may be
the better for it. You may also note, when you
open the kiln, that many of the glazes matured
anyway. A surprising number of cone 6 glazes
are really cone 5-6-7 glazes, or look the same
at those temps. If you DON'T open the kiln for
a look before re-firing, that's ok too.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
----- Original Message -----
From: "marianne kuiper milks"
To:
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 9:22 PM
Subject: So frustrated re firing!!
> Everything was, finally, going as it should.
> Temp. climbing steadily, not too fast, etc.
> I was firing to ^6, with ^4,^5 and ^6 standing neatly in a row.
> ^4 bent, ^^5&6 showing signs of fatigue.
> Kiln went off. no gas, nothing.
> But the heat in the house is just fine. It's pitchblack and snowing,
there's noting I can do now.
> I covered up the top hole with brick, attempting to keep a little heat
inside as long as possible. I believe it was up to about 1140C when it went
kaput.
>
> I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist
and hurt my feelings.
> However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
> It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
>
> Can I re-fire? Is there a special method?
>
> I think I'm going into origami.
>
> Marianne
> Revelstone Pottery closed until further notice.
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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marianne kuiper milks on fri 9 dec 05
Everything was, finally, going as it should.
Temp. climbing steadily, not too fast, etc.
I was firing to ^6, with ^4,^5 and ^6 standing neatly in a row.
^4 bent, ^^5&6 showing signs of fatigue.
Kiln went off. no gas, nothing.
But the heat in the house is just fine. It's pitchblack and snowing, there's noting I can do now.
I covered up the top hole with brick, attempting to keep a little heat inside as long as possible. I believe it was up to about 1140C when it went kaput.
I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist and hurt my feelings.
However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
Can I re-fire? Is there a special method?
I think I'm going into origami.
Marianne
Revelstone Pottery closed until further notice.
---------------------------------
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Michael Wendt on sat 10 dec 05
Marianne,
The first thing I do when this happens is turn off the gas to the kiln. Then
close the damper and try to relight the pilot light. If the Thermocouple has
gone bad, the pilot will not relight.
As Mel has said many times:
"keep a spare on hand!"
Good advice. The few times this has happened and the pilot wouldn't relight,
it took only a few seconds to replace the thermocouple and relight the pilot
light.
NOW HERE'S THE CAUTION!
Relighting the kiln if it is hot enough to auto-ignite is not hard but
requires you to make sure the damper is open first. Then turn the gas valve
back on and away you go.
If the kiln is too cold to auto-ignite, it is necessary to use the original
lighting procedure with the burners on low and the damper open to avoid an
explosion.
Be careful and think.
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
USA
wendtpot@lewiston.com
www.wendtpottery.com
you wrote:
Everything was, finally, going as it should.
Temp. climbing steadily, not too fast, etc.
I was firing to ^6, with ^4,^5 and ^6 standing neatly in a row.
^4 bent, ^^5&6 showing signs of fatigue.
Kiln went off. no gas, nothing.
But the heat in the house is just fine. It's pitchblack and snowing,
there's noting I can do now.
I covered up the top hole with brick, attempting to keep a little heat
inside as long as possible. I believe it was up to about 1140C when it went
kaput.
I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist and
hurt my feelings.
However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
marianne kuiper milks on sat 10 dec 05
Thanks you for responding, Michael.
I've read what you wrote and am thinking about what happened.
The thermocouple is brand new, used twice (the whole thing is) and i honestly don't think that's the problem. I tried to relight it, gently and patiently, after having turned everything off first. (Then on again :)
The pilot would not light, only wavy blueish long flame waving lazily. I tried to then (after 30-45 sec) to relight the 4 burners. Two went poofff and sizzled. Tried that a few times and gave up. The kiln was redhot and still around temp when i fould the burners off. Do have gas. Pressure is fine. Checked it this morning: everything lit fine.
The load was not good: about half was ok-ish, much way underfired, although the ^4 went 2/3rd down. I am very fristrated. All the pipes, fittings etc etc were done by a professional plummer, who we know well and who does excellent work. That's not it, either.
Any other things I could check??? Can it be refired? How?
Michael Wendt wrote: Marianne,
The first thing I do when this happens is turn off the gas to the kiln. Then
close the damper and try to relight the pilot light. If the Thermocouple has
gone bad, the pilot will not relight.
As Mel has said many times:
"keep a spare on hand!"
Good advice. The few times this has happened and the pilot wouldn't relight,
it took only a few seconds to replace the thermocouple and relight the pilot
light.
NOW HERE'S THE CAUTION!
Relighting the kiln if it is hot enough to auto-ignite is not hard but
requires you to make sure the damper is open first. Then turn the gas valve
back on and away you go.
If the kiln is too cold to auto-ignite, it is necessary to use the original
lighting procedure with the burners on low and the damper open to avoid an
explosion.
Be careful and think.
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
USA
wendtpot@lewiston.com
www.wendtpottery.com
you wrote:
Everything was, finally, going as it should.
Temp. climbing steadily, not too fast, etc.
I was firing to ^6, with ^4,^5 and ^6 standing neatly in a row.
^4 bent, ^^5&6 showing signs of fatigue.
Kiln went off. no gas, nothing.
But the heat in the house is just fine. It's pitchblack and snowing,
there's noting I can do now.
I covered up the top hole with brick, attempting to keep a little heat
inside as long as possible. I believe it was up to about 1140C when it went
kaput.
I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist and
hurt my feelings.
However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
______________________________________________________________________________
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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Taylor from Rockport on sat 10 dec 05
And you WILL NOT go into Origami just yet unless you mean by "going into"
that you will use your origami-doing friends' cutoffs to help start the
pilots on your next firing. You WILL get back up on that horse and you
WILL keep going to those who will give you good advice. Don't make me come
up there.
Taylor, in Rockport TX
On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 18:22:03 -0800, marianne kuiper milks
wrote:
...
> I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist
and hurt my feelings.
> However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
> It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
>
> Can I re-fire? Is there a special method?
>
> I think I'm going into origami.
>
> Marianne
>Revelstone Pottery closed until further notice.
...
earlk on sat 10 dec 05
Could there be water in the gas line
that has frozen and is only allowing a
tiny amount of gas through?
Just a guess.
earlk
bothell, wa, usa
William & Susan Schran User on sat 10 dec 05
On 12/10/05 11:46 AM, "marianne kuiper milks"
wrote:
> Any other things I could check??? Can it be refired? How?
Before I did the "renovation" on my Olympic updraft, the pilot/thermocouple
would cause the kiln to shut down if it got jiggled at all. This kiln had
only been fired 3 - 4 times before I got it.
I'd suggest adjusting the thermocouple such that the pilot flame is right on
the tip of the thermocouple. Might want to also play with pilot burner
pressure setting.
Now you know why I removed all of the Olympic installed "works" and
installed new burners/pilot/thermocouple - have had absolutely no problems
since.
-- William "Bill" Schran
Fredericksburg, Virginia
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
marianne kuiper milks on sat 10 dec 05
How sweet, Taylor!
Well, on the other had..how far was Texas from PA again...?
Nah, I'm not a giver-upper, just a frustration-be-er.
The tough thing is that everything DOES work as it should. Tested by three.
Just quit in the silence of the night. Evening.
I will get it. i'm not tedious enough for origami...leave that up to my beautiful 25 yo daughter.
Will let you guys know when I hit the jackpit.
Marianne
Taylor from Rockport wrote: And you WILL NOT go into Origami just yet unless you mean by "going into"
that you will use your origami-doing friends' cutoffs to help start the
pilots on your next firing. You WILL get back up on that horse and you
WILL keep going to those who will give you good advice. Don't make me come
up there.
Taylor, in Rockport TX
On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 18:22:03 -0800, marianne kuiper milks
wrote:
...
> I'll have to see tomorrow what the damage is. For now i burned my wrist
and hurt my feelings.
> However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
> It's not terribly cold out, only 20F right now. Feels warmer.
>
> Can I re-fire? Is there a special method?
>
> I think I'm going into origami.
>
> Marianne
>Revelstone Pottery closed until further notice.
...
______________________________________________________________________________
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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Overall's on sun 11 dec 05
so frustrated re firing!! ----- Original Message -----
From: "marianne kuiper milks"
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2005 9:22 PM
Subject: So frustrated re firing!!
> Everything was, finally, going as it should.
> Temp. climbing steadily, not too fast, etc.
> Kiln went off. no gas, nothing.
inside as long as possible. I believe it was up to about 1140C when it went kaput.
>
> However: is there anything I can do, if we figure out about the gas etc?
>
Marianne
High Marianne,
I've been through this and got excellent advice from numerous sources. What I did that fixed my thermocouple from shutting down the kiln was remove the kiln's base to get to the pilot bar and thermocouple "while standing up versus laying on my back/side".
Drill 3/32" holes: one directly under the thermocouple probe being sure it is NOT TOUCHING THE PILOT BAR!!; one hole before and one hole after sourronding the probe. If you have to place a kiln base back on top of this bar and probe, be sure the probe doesn't touch the kiln's base.
This solved the problem of the probe going out and shutting off the kiln's gas supply when the draw pulled the flames up and away from keeping the probe "properly heated".
The newly drilled oversized holes will also give you greater temperature climb so you may want to back off on the gas valve to stay in your desired rate of climb.
NOTE: when drilling, be sure the drill is going in the right direction and not in reverse like I did. I even went so far as to go get another drill at the hardware store before I had my "DUH" awakening. Got a good laugh at myself for that one. And I was the one reversing with it when last used to remove wood screws holding chains to secure my kiln from Hurricane Rita's path. We got lucky and missed what could've been horrific.
I'll bet this fixes yours, too.
Kim Overall
Houston, TX
http://www.houstonpotters.com
lela martens on sun 11 dec 05
Taylor!
What am I going to do about you..and David?
Ya see.. Texans are the most rude, obnoxious Americans that we have to deal
with when they come up here.
Americans in general.
Then I get on this list..find out different..then go to NYC, find the most
friendly, helpful souls one could imagine, write off list with the nicest
people on earth from the States, and you and David who make me laugh out
loud..
What`s a Canadian prairie girl gonna do?! You people are wrecking the whole
superiour way of Canadian thinking, but we are still funnier than you
guys...if you don`t believe that, check out our campaighning
politicians....ya, we still got you beat there, well wait...maybe not.
Love from Lela, who just better take a warm bath.......
>And you WILL NOT go into Origami just yet unless you mean by "going into"
>that you will use your origami-doing friends' cutoffs to help start the
>pilots on your next firing. You WILL get back up on that horse and you
>WILL keep going to those who will give you good advice. Don't make me come
>up there.
>
>Taylor, in Rockport TX
>
>
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