I cooked my 100 amp sub panel

[Mark C.]

Well it was a week before christmas and I had two gas kilns going and had some greenware left over in shop so I loaded up the big skutt and turned on the fire right ramp controller. Went back a few hours later to drop the lid and the kiln was off and the controller was acting strange.

On closer inspection I noticed the #6 lead insulation was cooked in both the control box and in the 100 amp sub panel on wall. This sub panel has serviced two kilns and a pug mill for over 35 years. It was toast inside as enough heat had destroyed the breaker bar insulation as well as some wire insulation.

I just shut it all down and this week took it all apart and off the wall. will order a new 100 sub panel and will rewire later in the week.

This old one was square D and the new one will be either Bryant/westinghouse or cutter/hammer-I already have 4 load centers this brand and none of the square Ds.

The new ones are double the size with room to work. I will add a buzz box circuit and plug as well as disconnect the unused for years alpine pugmill circuit. I'm giving that vertical pug mill to a friend if we can move it (750#)

The thing is all the connections where tight-over the years the heat finally cooked the buss bar insulation and now the box is unsafe. So if you use and electric a lot check the box now and again for signs of heat degradation.-I'll add the new box photos to this post when its done.

PS I used to work as an electrician in my off season(early 80s) and my best friend has an electrical business.

Mark

[OffCenter]

Well it was a week before christmas and I had two gas kilns going and had some greenware left over in shop so I loaded up the big skutt and turned on the fire right ramp controller. Went back a few hours later to drop the lid and the kiln was off and the controller was acting strange.

On closer inspection I noticed the #6 lead insulation was cooked in both the control box and in the 100 amp sub panel on wall. This sub panel has serviced two kilns and a pug mill for over 35 years. It was toast inside as enough heat had destroyed the breaker bar insulation as well as some wire insulation.

I just shut it all down and this week took it all apart and off the wall. will order a new 100 sub panel and will rewire later in the week.

This old one was square D and the new one will be either Bryant/westinghouse or cutter/hammer-I already have 4 load centers this brand and none of the square Ds.

The new ones are double the size with room to work. I will add a buzz box circuit and plug as well as disconnect the unused for years alpine pugmill circuit. I'm giving that vertical pug mill to a friend if we can move it (750#)

The thing is all the connections where tight-over the years the heat finally cooked the buss bar insulation and now the box is unsafe. So if you use and electric a lot check the box now and again for signs of heat degradation.-I'll add the new box photos to this post when its done.

PS I used to work as an electrician in my off season(early 80s) and my best friend has an electrical business.

Mark

 

 

I hate it when that happens. You could try running a Bryant/Eastman copper tristar connector with a reversed load center from one box to the other, then replace the breaker bar with a silver nitrate plated aluminum bar with #17 hopewell wire running into the sub panel and replacing the #9 knaterwaler with a Higgs boson.

 

Happy New Year, Mark.

 

Jim

[TJR]

Well it was a week before christmas and I had two gas kilns going and had some greenware left over in shop so I loaded up the big skutt and turned on the fire right ramp controller. Went back a few hours later to drop the lid and the kiln was off and the controller was acting strange.

On closer inspection I noticed the #6 lead insulation was cooked in both the control box and in the 100 amp sub panel on wall. This sub panel has serviced two kilns and a pug mill for over 35 years. It was toast inside as enough heat had destroyed the breaker bar insulation as well as some wire insulation.

I just shut it all down and this week took it all apart and off the wall. will order a new 100 sub panel and will rewire later in the week.

This old one was square D and the new one will be either Bryant/westinghouse or cutter/hammer-I already have 4 load centers this brand and none of the square Ds.

The new ones are double the size with room to work. I will add a buzz box circuit and plug as well as disconnect the unused for years alpine pugmill circuit. I'm giving that vertical pug mill to a friend if we can move it (750#)

The thing is all the connections where tight-over the years the heat finally cooked the buss bar insulation and now the box is unsafe. So if you use and electric a lot check the box now and again for signs of heat degradation.-I'll add the new box photos to this post when its done.

PS I used to work as an electrician in my off season(early 80s) and my best friend has an electrical business.

Mark

 

 

I hate it when that happens. You could try running a Bryant/Eastman copper tristar connector with a reversed load center from one box to the other, then replace the breaker bar with a silver nitrate plated aluminum bar with #17 hopewell wire running into the sub panel and replacing the #9 knaterwaler with a Higgs boson.

 

Happy New Year, Mark.

 

Jim

 

 

That was BRILLIANT! Made me laugh! Happy New Year to you both. Mark, good thing that you said you worked as an electrician. I wouldn't attempt doing this my self, even with those clear instructions.

Tom[TJR].

[Mark C.]

Its good to have skills-I have found as a potter the more the better.

If I did not know this stuff I would stay away thats for sure.

Have a good new years.

Mark

[Mark McCombs]

 

 

replacing the #9 knaterwaler with a Higgs boson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is difficult to do without the nano quark converter and phase alignment tool. (with the transducer coupling ring)

 

 

Harbor Freight

[TJR]

replacing the #9 knaterwaler with a Higgs boson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is difficult to do without the nano quark converter and phase alignment tool. (with the transducer coupling ring)

 

 

Harbor Freight

 

 

That's from Star Trek. We are not living in the future. Happy 2013! I made it to 11:00pm. Kids stayed up to midnight.

TJR.

[yedrow]

I don't believe that Higgs Boson's occupy the proper eigenstates for that application. Perhaps shunting in a tachyon accelerator in parallel with a flux capacitor might work better.

 

Joel.

[bciskepottery]

Mark . . . this could have been the source of your problem.

 

 

[Mark C.]

I dumbed this up for you all- especially you trekies

I'm old as dirt and with that goes lots of firing which over time wore out my electrical thingy

I'll get a new thingy and post the photos when its done

until then beam me up Scotty.

Mark

[weeble]

ROFLOL Oh my. Personally, a sonic screwdriver would have fixed all your problems! Its the ultimate in all purpose tools, after all!

 

If I recall, we were trying to buy a replacement breaker for a fossil of a Square D box back in the early 90s... We were remodeling the house, so everything was in pieces on the floor so it wasn't really a big deal to do, but we found it cheaper to just buy a different brand of box and all new breakers than to buy the ONE breaker we needed. Or maybe it was a Square D box that we bought? Whatevah, I got my hot water!

[bciskepottery]

Putting aside the Trekkie business . . . it was fortunate you just did not just "set it and forget it" (e.g., program, start, and walk away) -- otherwise you could have had a serious fire in your studio/home. That is the take-away for me on your incident. We never know when a circuit or wire can go bad -- could be 35 years, could be 35 days. Regular (annual) inspections are a must -- even for new installations by pros of DYIers. A fire detector in the ceiling off your kiln room or studio (consider carbon monoxide if you fire gas). Fire extinguisher on hand. Etc. And, don't take for granted your kiln will always fire correctly and turn itself off. Practice safe firings.