Cindy Gatto on thu 13 jul 06
Pat,
As long as the soft brick and the basic shell of the kiln is in good shape
an electric kiln will last. You can replace every wire nut bolt switch etc that
there is. My partner has taken kilns that people laughed at him for taking
and either we are firing them today or we have rebuilt them and sold them. We
still have 2 shells that we are going to rebuild It's just putting in time
and getting the knowledge
Cindy Gatto & Mark Petrin
The Mudpit
228 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
718-218-9424
_www.mudpitnyc.com_ (http://www.mudpitnyc.com/)
mudpitnyc@aol.com
Paul Gerhold on fri 14 jul 06
Dear Pat
Electric kilns should last almost forever with element replacement as
necessary. Your problem sounds like a power supply problem which can occur as far
back as the fuse or circuit breaker leading to the kiln. One brute force
approach to the problem is to start at the individual elements and check every
wire and every connection all the way to your incoming power supply.
Another and less labor intensive approach is to put an amp meter on the
power supply to the kiln and then check the amperage for each element at each
setting . If they all read about the same the problem will probably be before
the kiln. The strangest problem I ever had was a loose connection at the
circuit breaker leading to the studio. If you are not comfortable with electricity
I would recommend hiring a electrician to check out your system.
I got so tired of troubleshooting electric problems on my old kilns that I
went on line and bought an old electric meter and hard wired it into the
circuit leading to my kilns. This is an old type meter with the spinning wheel so
any time I have a problem I can just use the meter to check current flow at
all the settings .
Paul
liz gowen on fri 14 jul 06
Pat, perhaps since it is so close adding a little extra insulation might
help. I know HOW!!!
Several years ago I took the top ring off of a 3 tiered L&L kiln,
top loader, to make it easier to fire when I broke a rib loading the =
kiln
over the top. Short person thing, thought I could balance myself on the =
rim
and reach the bottom shelf NOT. BY doing this it was no longer rated or =
able
to get to the cone 6 I was firing to by about 10 degrees and it took =
forever
to get there. I put on a second floor under the first and used to put =
half
shelves on the top supported by the edge and this let it reach temp and
improved the temp differential from top to bottom. Also turned off the =
vent
towards the end of the firing. I have since bought a piece of fiberboard =
for
the top which was ok for a couple firings but is now just =
disintegrating,
wouldn't waste the money on that.
I am back to the 3 rings but keep the extra floor and am looking for
other ways to insulate the top. I think a half brick width, 2nd lid =
would be
ideal since it wouldn't be as heavy as a full brick 2nd lid to take on =
and
off.
Good Luck
Liz Gowen Port Penn De.
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Pat =
Southwood
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 7:11 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: life expectancy of an electric kiln. please help.
hi,
Can I ask the audience please on this one:
I have had a kilns and furnaces (u.k.) top loader
tlb112 with a tc60 controller since 1996 It has had 2 sets of elements ,
most recently replaced March of this year and 2 thermocouples, again
replaced in March 06. My problem is that it wont fire up to 1260- it =
has
done happily for years, - b.t.w. it's supposed max temp is 1300 , How =
long
are they meant to last? It gets to 1248 -1252 now and conks out. I
originally had it set on a rise of 100* per hr to 1260 and a one hr =
soak. I
phoned the manufacturer and they suggested 100 per hr up to 700 and =
then
put it on skip to 1260 ( i.e. as fast as you can baby ) This worked =
once,
then we were back to piddling about in the 1248's to 50's again. This is
doing my head in, I am pinholing work because of the few degrees loss =
and
subsequent lack of soak. I thought I had a cunning plan by lowering the =
melt
of my glaze to 1250 and reprogramming the kiln to 1250 and a 1hr soak =
The
blasted thing keeled over at 1248' I know its not the controller, its =
not
the thermocouple, its not the elements. So, I am left with the power =
supply
as a culprit or possible heat loss from 10 yr old bricks and a tired and
emotional kiln.
Please, does anyone have any suggestions; I am on the point of buying a =
new
kiln because this is wasting my time, patience and money. and I cant =
really
afford a new kiln.
Thanks,
Pat Southwood
pat@southwood4.fsnet.co.uk
=20
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Pat Southwood on fri 14 jul 06
hi,
Can I ask the audience please on this one:
I have had a kilns and furnaces (u.k.) top loader
tlb112 with a tc60 controller since 1996 It has had 2 sets of elements , =
most recently replaced March of this year and 2 thermocouples, again =
replaced in March 06.
My problem is that it wont fire up to 1260- it has done happily for =
years, - b.t.w. it's supposed max temp is 1300 ,
How long are they meant to last?
It gets to 1248 -1252 now and conks out.
I originally had it set on a rise of 100* per hr to 1260 and a one hr =
soak.
I phoned the manufacturer and they suggested 100 per hr up to 700 and =
then put it on skip to 1260 ( i.e. as fast as you can baby )
This worked once, then we were back to piddling about in the 1248's to =
50's again.
This is doing my head in, I am pinholing work because of the few degrees =
loss and subsequent lack of soak.
I thought I had a cunning plan by lowering the melt of my glaze to 1250 =
and reprogramming the kiln to 1250 and a 1hr soak
The blasted thing keeled over at 1248'
I know its not the controller, its not the thermocouple, its not the =
elements.
So, I am left with the power supply as a culprit or
possible heat loss from 10 yr old bricks and a tired and emotional kiln.
Please, does anyone have any suggestions; I am on the point of buying a =
new kiln because this is wasting my time, patience and money.
and I cant really afford a new kiln.
Thanks,
Pat Southwood
pat@southwood4.fsnet.co.uk
=20
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