Amreyes1 Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi there! I purchased a used kiln a few weeks ago which seems to be in great condition. It is a skutt714. The kiln sitter states 50 amps but the kiln stamp says 20 amp. Can you help clarify this? I'm still new to firing and I have an electrician come next week to install an outlet. Any help is greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Bridge Pottery Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 For some reason the photos will not load for me but I think the kiln sitter is saying the max amp rating and the kiln plate has the 20amps that the kiln actually draws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Best thing to do is download a manual for that model from Skutt's website.And show to your electrician. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amreyes1 Posted December 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Thank you for your reply! Is a 20 amp breaker enough? Or do I need 50? I uploaded the picture again, hopefully it pops up now:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amreyes1 Posted December 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Thank you, Marcia! I couldn't find much on the skutt website. The manual on there just states 20 Amps. I guess I am just confused why the sitter would say 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Bridge Pottery Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 The 50amps is just the rating of the kiln sitter, think of it as 'up to 50amps' and if you go over that 50 it will probably break. I think the general idea for safety is a breaker 25% larger than the kiln but I have run 30amp kilns on a 30amp breaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Page 10 of this document might be relevant http://www.brackers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/KilnMaster-Manual-2000_2006.pdf Might be the kiln sitter manual at http://www.paragonweb.com/files/manuals/acf1b.pdf I would wait for Neil's word on it, but I suspect that the sitter can switch more power than the kiln takes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amreyes1 Posted December 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 That makes sense... Thank you, Joel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick White Posted December 1, 2016 Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 The Dawson Kiln Sitter company, at the time, was a separate company making accessories for kiln manufacturers. (Dawson went out of business and Skutt bought the rights and remaining inventory, so now it is a Skutt product, but they use all the same parts. But I digress, just for the history of it.) Because that is a separate device, they had to label their products with the maximum allowable kiln size that it could control, namely 50 amps. The kiln itself can be smaller, but not larger. The label on the kiln switchbox is what that kiln actually draws. You say that is 20 amps. The circuit (including the breaker) for a kiln must be 125% of the kiln's nominal rating. That would be 25 amps, but 25A is an unusual size, so the next size up is appropriate. The Skutt documentation specifies a 30 amp circuit, with the proper socket to match the kiln's cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amreyes1 Posted December 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2016 Wow, great info! I really appreciate everyone's help! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perkolator Posted December 2, 2016 Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 I just went through this with our 714 -- it takes a 20A dedicated circuit. Was having issues with out smaller 609 (turned out to be a bad receptacle) and had an electrician in studio to inspect power on both our 120v test kilns. I was questioning the 20A circuit for the 709 since its amperage rating is too close and if we managed to fry a less amp kiln's wiring, what about the one drawing more juice. Both Skutt and the electrician confirmed 20A was the common setup on both models since a 25A circuit is only possible at the breaker side, there are no 25A receptacles and the kiln would have to be hard-wired to a shutoff for this to work. I need to be able to unplug the kiln for stuff like element and brick repairs after someone blows up their test tiles in these powerful little kilns - so I chose to just switch to dedicated 20A twist-loc receptacles and plugs for ease of service. The other way suggested by the electrician was to possibly setup the kiln with 30A and install a lower amperage inline fuse on the control box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amreyes1 Posted December 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 I emailed Skutt yesterday before I posted on here and they confirmed pretty much what you all said... Here is their response:) "The LT-3K KilnSitter 50 amp rating is just the maximum amp rating of the KilnSitter switch and not the amp rating of the kiln. The kiln has an amp rating of 20 amps, but you should connect it to a 30 amp size circuit with a 30 amp size breaker to avoid nuisance tripping of a 20 amp size breaker. The building kiln circuit will need to have four copper wires: two "hot" wires, one "neutral" wire, and one "grounding" wire. Assuming the kiln still has a factory plug on the power cord, it will need a NEMA 14-30 receptacle to plug the kiln into" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted December 2, 2016 Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 I just went through this with our 714 -- it takes a 20A dedicated circuit. Was having issues with out smaller 609 (turned out to be a bad receptacle) and had an electrician in studio to inspect power on both our 120v test kilns. I was questioning the 20A circuit for the 709 since its amperage rating is too close and if we managed to fry a less amp kiln's wiring, what about the one drawing more juice. Both Skutt and the electrician confirmed 20A was the common setup on both models since a 25A circuit is only possible at the breaker side, there are no 25A receptacles and the kiln would have to be hard-wired to a shutoff for this to work. I need to be able to unplug the kiln for stuff like element and brick repairs after someone blows up their test tiles in these powerful little kilns - so I chose to just switch to dedicated 20A twist-loc receptacles and plugs for ease of service. The other way suggested by the electrician was to possibly setup the kiln with 30A and install a lower amperage inline fuse on the control box. Code for kilns is a breaker at least 25% greater than the draw of the kiln, but no more than 50% greater. So for a 20 amp draw kiln, a 30 amp breaker would still be within code. Why would it need to be hard wired to do a 25 amp breaker? Just use a 30 amp cord and receptacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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