Last week I started a bisque firing in my electric kiln. I have an L&L Jupiter kiln and I've been very happy with it. I typically use the 'easy fire - slow bisque' program to cone 08. I checked on the kiln periodically and things seemed to be going normally. Then, after several hours, I noticed the temperature was rising too quickly. I turned the kiln off (using the switch on the control panel). I continued to hear the elements heating up even though the kiln was 'off'. I pulled the plug from the wall and heard the elements stop heating. Once the kiln cooled down I began the investigation.
First I unplugged the power cables to each element set from the controller. I immediately noticed a problem with the zone 1 outlet (that controls the top two levels of elements). This is what I found:
The cord to the controller was also damaged at the plug:
I replaced the outlet as well as the cable. L&L was great to work with. I phoned in the order and the items were delivered just a few days later. After replacing these items I plugged the kiln into the wall and immediately heard the elements start to heat up...even though the kiln was turned off at the controller. Therefore, I had replace the damaged items but the problem wasn't resolved. I determined the only other thing it could be was the relay. I called L&L and ordered a new relay:
I installed the new relay and then tested the kiln once more. Everything worked perfectly.
This was my first experience with kiln repair...other than replacing elements. It wasn't too bad. I've got lots of greenware to fire. Time to get busy!
4 comments:
Ooh, that's too scary! I'll probably be firing my first kiln for the first time in a few weeks! I hope everything runs smoothly!
Ah the smell of melted plastic!
How much did L&L charge for the relay? I found a nice kiln on craigslist for free that was missing all the electronics and I have an extra control panel for my L&L e23t that I was going to use to computerize the free kiln. I found an aftermarket supplier that has the relays for $17 but I'm not sure about them.
I think the relay was somewhere around $25. What was most surprising was the amount they wanted for the burned (shorted) outlet replacement. A new one was in the twenty to thirty dollar range plus shipping. Lowe's had one for less than $3.
And they get people to pay it too. If you don't know any better repairs can be very costly.
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