Lili Krakowski on wed 19 apr 06
I have a Knight kiln. Although it is about 15 years old, I do not fire it
often, as I do not make much stuff anymore, and fire only some of it...i.e.
what ails it is not from firing fatigue.
Knight is out of business. Bad news: I cannot ask them; Good news: I can
ask ClayArt and responders can say what they want regardless of their own
kiln affiliations.
The kiln has suffered a good deal of fire scale. Yes it is in the
basement, which
however is not particularly damp--an ironic statement as there was a serious
flood (throughout town) last year, excessive rain...blah, blah, blah.
(As in so many places the storm drains seem designed for droughts.)
Other day put thing to candle...next morning totally cold. The kiln
sitter (part of an LT K3) was fine, but I am pretty sure the motor on the
timer
thing had departed its life. The tripper on the sitter part had been
adjusted a few days earlier, so that was not the problem, it was working
swell. Power was coming in as the three little red lights were/came on.
With a heroism for which I am not known--I am a total terrified
fraidy cat when it comes to things like that-- I loosened the switches,
removed the cages, and took out the sitter thing--
from which I have removed the timer, which I do
not need.
BUT in looking over the connections, which a nice young man at Dawson had
told me to clean, I noticed that the wires connecting to the elements are
made up
of a bunch of strands.. They then are inside a connector that has been
crimped
onto the element tail. Some of these wires are broken. If I remember
from previous encounters with kiln connectors, what happens when
a few of the wires break is tht the remaining ones carry a bigger load
(ain't
that a life lesson?) and burn out "sooner".
Question 1. Is there a way of reinforcing the connection--some sort of
conductive
jacket I can put OVER the connectors to take up the slack...?
Question 2. Any way I can replace these connectors while not ruining my
element
"tails"?
Question 3. The kiln is close enough to a wall so that ultimately I could
attach
my switches TO the wall. I have, for 50 + years, been unhappy with the
fact that switches in a kiln are attached TO the kiln, and those metal cages
are a huge pain. In fact the ones I have now are well, as brittle as matzo.
(This is the time for comparisson!)
Does someone have idea, diagram, etc for how I could (ultimately) connect
the elements to longer wires which, in turn would go to a thingie on the
wall?
Any help welcome, gratefully...
Lili Krakowski
Be of goo
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Arnold Howard on wed 19 apr 06
Lili, as I understand, broken element lead wires in
your kiln are crimped to the elements. You might use
barrel element connectors to attach new lead wires to
the elements. There is a slight possibility, however,
that this will break an element, because the twisted
ends become somewhat brittle.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lili Krakowski"
> Question 1. Is there a way of reinforcing the
> connection--some sort of
> conductive
> jacket I can put OVER the connectors to take up the
> slack...?
>
> Question 2. Any way I can replace these connectors
> while not ruining my
> element
> "tails"?
David Sturm on wed 19 apr 06
Lili,
Cindy Bracker forwarded this to me to advise on.
I have a couple of questions,
1) When you set the kiln to candle, did it actually come on?
Unfortunately, the lights on some Knight models ran on 120v (by
pulling half a leg off of the switch), so the lights only indicate that
the switch is turned on, and that the switch is receiving power on
that one leg.
2) Were the lights on the kiln face still on in the morning? (I will
keep my comments about firing a kiln unattended to myself and concentrate on
the problem). Since they were on when the kiln was turned on, the only way
that they would be off in the morning is in the events that a: the kiln
sitter tripped off, b: the switches failed (unlikely that all three would
fail at the same time), c: the breaker tripped, d: the power cord is bad.
3) What is the voltage at the outlet? You may have lost half a leg of power
which could power the lights (depending on the specific model) but not the
elements in any "heat producing" way.
Now to address your questions:
> Question 1. Is there a way of reinforcing the connection--some
> sort of
> conductive
> jacket I can put OVER the connectors to take up the slack...?
You can run a "sister", but I emphatically do not recommend it. In
essence, if you do you will create the same problem as "too few wires", but
in the other direction. The remaining wire (which is good) can bottleneck
power, in the "sister", generating heat throughout the rest of the good
wire. This "sister" is, in essence, a parallel circuit, and will ramp
voltage up (see my comments on over-volting in a previous post from today).
>
> Question 2. Any way I can replace these connectors while not
> ruining my
> element
> "tails"?
Ah, the question of the century. I have had some success with this (but it
is hit and miss). To do this, take a small propane torch and heat up the
connector itself (REMEMBER TO UNPLUG THE KILN FIRST). Once the metal of
that connector is hot, it expands. With a little finesse, and a little
luck, you will be able to remove the connector from the element tail (using
an "unscrewing" motion). Then replace the wire, connector, and slip-on
terminal.
Please note that when you replace anything inside the kiln box, you MUST use
materials and components that are rated to take 240 volts, AND are rated to
220 degrees F (108 Celsius). The wire MUST be copper (not aluminum or
aluminum alloy). Stainless steel fittings usually work (check first) and
are available at a hardware store. Bracker's Good Earth Clays stocks these
items if you cannot find them locally.
>
> Question 3. The kiln is close enough to a wall so that ultimately
> I could
> attach
> my switches TO the wall. I have, for 50 + years, been unhappy with
> the
> fact that switches in a kiln are attached TO the kiln, and those
> metal cages
> are a huge pain. In fact the ones I have now are well, as brittle
> as matzo.
> (This is the time for comparisson!)
This is possible, but some engineering will need to be done. Since the
amount of wire will increase, you would need to check that it does not
significantly change the resistance of that particular circuit.
In order to meet electrical code, you would also have to run the wires in
Greenfield (flexible conduit).
At any rate, it would prove costly to have it done right, and would be a
custom job -- but it is possible.
I hope this helps,
David Sturm
Kiln Repair Technician
Bracker's Good Earth Clays, Inc.
>
> From: Lili Krakowski
> Date: April 19, 2006 6:44:31 AM CDT
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: KILN HELP NEEDED, HELP!
> Reply-To: Clayart
>
> I have a Knight kiln. Although it is about 15 years old, I do not
> fire it
> often, as I do not make much stuff anymore, and fire only some of
> it...i.e.
> what ails it is not from firing fatigue.
>
> Knight is out of business. Bad news: I cannot ask them; Good
> news: I can
> ask ClayArt and responders can say what they want regardless of
> their own
> kiln affiliations.
>
> The kiln has suffered a good deal of fire scale. Yes it is in the
> basement, which
> however is not particularly damp--an ironic statement as there was
> a serious
> flood (throughout town) last year, excessive rain...blah, blah, blah.
> (As in so many places the storm drains seem designed for droughts.)
>
> Other day put thing to candle...next morning totally cold. The kiln
> sitter (part of an LT K3) was fine, but I am pretty sure the motor
> on the
> timer
> thing had departed its life. The tripper on the sitter part had been
> adjusted a few days earlier, so that was not the problem, it was
> working
> swell. Power was coming in as the three little red lights were/
> came on.
>
> With a heroism for which I am not known--I am a total terrified
> fraidy cat when it comes to things like that-- I loosened the
> switches,
> removed the cages, and took out the sitter thing--
> from which I have removed the timer, which I do
> not need.
>
> BUT in looking over the connections, which a nice young man at
> Dawson had
> told me to clean, I noticed that the wires connecting to the
> elements are
> made up
> of a bunch of strands.. They then are inside a connector that has been
> crimped
> onto the element tail. Some of these wires are broken. If I remember
> from previous encounters with kiln connectors, what happens when
> a few of the wires break is tht the remaining ones carry a bigger load
> (ain't
> that a life lesson?) and burn out "sooner".
>
> Question 1. Is there a way of reinforcing the connection--some
> sort of
> conductive
> jacket I can put OVER the connectors to take up the slack...?
>
> Question 2. Any way I can replace these connectors while not
> ruining my
> element
> "tails"?
>
> Question 3. The kiln is close enough to a wall so that ultimately
> I could
> attach
> my switches TO the wall. I have, for 50 + years, been unhappy with
> the
> fact that switches in a kiln are attached TO the kiln, and those
> metal cages
> are a huge pain. In fact the ones I have now are well, as brittle
> as matzo.
> (This is the time for comparisson!)
>
> Does someone have idea, diagram, etc for how I could (ultimately)
> connect
> the elements to longer wires which, in turn would go to a thingie
> on the
> wall?
>
> Any help welcome, gratefully...
>
>
>
> Lili Krakowski
>
> Be of goo
> Lili Krakowski
>
> Be of good courage
>
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