[Clayart] A reminder about maintaining a kiln

[David Woof]

Hi Arnold,

Your generous advice is always welcomed as a reminder to those who already know...and hopefully to other shrewd minded folks as well.

However in general, ignorance is a choice on a well worn pathway as in "that will likely never/not happen in my kiln"....." and if it ever does, I don't need to know because I'll just call Arnold."

Over the years I've been given free "junk" kilns that after minor refurbishing worked fine again.  Several over the years, went for cost of parts to community potters.
Other kilns went to serious students for what they would spend on a "hot date nite" just to establish an appreciative value on it.

Keep beating the drum....and thanks again for all you do in support of Clayart.

Misneach,
David Woof..................................................................................................................................................................................
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From: Clayart <clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com> on behalf of Arnold Howard <arnoldhoward at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 9:15 PM
To: clayart at lists.clayartworld.com <clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: [Clayart] A reminder about maintaining a kiln

A few weeks ago, I replaced a bathroom light fixture. The outlet box had been removed from inside the wall, and wire nuts were loose. I was dismayed at the careless way people work with electricity.

I see the same carelessness in kilns. Thermocouple screws are usually loose. Relay mounting screws are sometimes missing. Push-on terminals are pressed only part way onto the spade connections, and they’re often loose.

Even electricians use wire nuts to install replacement kiln cords. (Wire nuts are not recommended.) Grooves are torn out from fast element installations.

Sometimes I find screws in the bottom of kiln switch boxes.

Let’s encourage people to be careful when they work on their kilns. Don’t rush the job like the previous homeowner did with the bathroom light fixture.

I repaired an over-fired glass kiln a few weeks ago. Just removing the glass from the element grooves took over two hours. Slivers of glass were scattered all over the kiln.

By the way, to remove clay or glass from an element groove, use a vacuum cleaner with a nozzle tip that is small enough to reach deep inside the groove. That’s the tool I used on the glass kiln.

Arnold Howard

Sent from my iPhone
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