Gina Mars on thu 9 nov 06
Hi, I just fired my 16 cubic Alpine kiln 1966 model from 9am to 8:30 pm. I
ran into a few fustrating problems. My kiln is fired with propane and is
in a metal shed. I turned it on with the help of my friend/repair guy in
New York. He then left and things seemed to go well until about 1300
degrees. Then, out of knowwhere the kiln just shuts down. The first time
this happened i was in side my house so, by the time i discovered it, I
had lost about 200 degrees. I panicked, turned everything off and redid
the sequence of things to get it back on. Then about 1800 it goes out
again. At this point i was told to just press a reset button at the top
next to the old pyrometer. Everytime this happened, gray smoke would come
out of the chimney and a mega red flame out the top damper. This is an
updraft kiln. I kept the damper open 1 and a quarter inches wide by,
approx 10 inches long till about 1800 degrees. Then since it turns off and
the red flames come out, i decided to crank up all the air slowly and all
the gas which only says 3 inches of water column.The damper was opened to
at least 2 inches by 10 and this worked fine till about 2200 degrees. Then
the bugger just turns off again. The blowers go off the main gas is off
and just the green light is on near the reset button.
I press reset and this goes on about every 20 minutes
till i think i hit cone 10. I haven't opened it yet
because i am discusted.I was told the thermalcouples
are new and it is an electrical problem. Before the firing i had to take
off the entire front section with the burners
because spiders are in the orafices.
When i tried to reduce the kiln i got flames coming out the
left burner only. I plugged up the hole on
the side of the kiln. I am not talking about the peep holes,
The 2 holes, one on each side at the bottom.
What are these for anyway?
I hope someone can help. I apologize in advance for
any mistakes. I just feel so fustrated and each time i
fire it is 100$ in gas. Thanks so much Gina Mars
www.marspottery.net
William & Susan Schran User on thu 9 nov 06
On 11/9/06 8:55 AM, "Gina Mars" wrote:
> Then, out of knowwhere the kiln just shuts down.
Sounds like a safety sensor might be defective.
Why not contact the manufacturer:
ALPINE=AE TECHNICAL SUPPORT =8B provided by Ron Craft
877-ART-CLAY (toll free) or 262-884-4ART (in Wisconsin)
Email questions to alpine@artclay.com
--=20
William "Bill" Schran
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
http://www.creativecreekartisans.com
Stephani Stephenson on sun 12 nov 06
Gina
It has been awhile.... but I use to fire the alpines at the UO and
EOSC for the class firings
let see: opening the creaking hinges of my rusty memory....
when you fire, do you measure the back pressure at the peepholes?
You probably know this, but just in case:
you won't be seeing flame on the way up.
take some newspaper and roll it up into a rod/torch and hold it
vertically , about 12" away from the top peephole
move it slowly toward the peep and take note , in inches, how close
it is to the peep when it starts to smoke or catch fire.
Do the same for the bottom peep.
I have notes at the studio, but if I remember correctly, for most of
the firing you will have about 3" at the top peep and 1 1/2 " at the
bottom.
You don't want more back pressure than this, i.e., you want the hot
part of the flame, the heat, getting deflected by the damper
down low enough into the kiln to heat the ware at the bottom of the
kiln, but not so much as to interfere with the burner system.
Too much can interfere with the shutoff system. These Alpines were
forever shutting down and kind of cranky , and you had to get to know
them. Once I got hthe hang of them I liked them a lot though and got
great results. though I don't remember ever seeing a puff of smoke or
flame when they shut down.
generally , if it was a technical problem , it had to do with the
safety shutoff, particularly the fire eye sensor.
I seem to remember there was a fire eye sensor which reflected off
an angled target brick which had to be positioned in the rear bagwall
area of the kiln .
So check that first .
i remember too, that once the kilns shut down, you had to really go
through some moves to get them back up. the button reset system could
be kind of funky.
I remember for example, when you press the green button, you had to
hold it down for quite a while, like at least 30 seconds, then when
you let go of the button ,
you had to let go with a huge snap, as in don't just remove your
thumb ,RIP anyway, keeping an eye on the back pressure and keeping them largely in
oxidation on the way up seemed to help.
you can fiddle with the damper , air and gas ratio on that.
I use to have a record of the settings I used for cone 10 firings. It
has been so long I don't remember but may still have my records.
The other thing is , I wonder if your kiln was previously fired with
natural gas.
you mentioned Water column vs. lbs of pressure, which I associate with
natural gas.
if that is so , when you switched over to propane were the burner
orifices, or guages changed ?
do you have the manual for the kiln?
I think i have one which can be photocopied if you don't
hope this helps.
Stephani Stephenson
steph@revivaltileworks.com
http://www.revivaltileworks.com
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