RKStevens Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 Hello. While I have been a long-time Ceramic Arts Daily fan, only today have I joined the Community. And, unfortunately, it was spawned by a need for help. In my 30 years experience in ceramics, I have worked on kilns and had a good grasp of their operation. But as luck would have it, after being stagnant for the past 6 years, my memory needs some assistance. I have recently started firing my little Paragon Home Artist kiln and twice now it has under fired. It will run for some 8-9 hours (trying to achieve cone 04), and the max temp I'm seeing is 1790-1810 F. I'm guessing it has something to do with the electrical supply from the house I'm in, but it runs on 110. Can anyone out there suggest some solutions? Really wanting to get my hands dirty again, but don't feel like I can move forward if my kiln isn't cooperating. Thanks. RK Stevens Texas Mud Slingers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 I had a similar problem when I moved down to south Texas from Montana and brought my little Crucible test kiln 12" x 9" interior uses 110. Have you changed location? I have found that where I now live along the border in South Texas, they seem to use lighter weight electrical wire. I was having a hard time when the kiln was plugged into a regular outlet. I had new wiring put in to my kiln shed, and specified the amps needed to fire this. He understood and (I thnki) he beefed up the gauge of the wire to accommodate my kiln. It works fine now. I did burn up a control switch before this problem got fixed. Maybe talk to an electrician or check the wiring to your kiln. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKStevens Posted December 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 I had a similar problem when I moved down to south Texas from Montana and brought my little Crucible test kiln 12" x 9" interior uses 110. Have you changed location? I have found that where I now live along the border in South Texas, they seem to use lighter weight electrical wire. I was having a hard time when the kiln was plugged into a regular outlet. I had new wiring put in to my kiln shed, and specified the amps needed to fire this. He understood and (I thnki) he beefed up the gauge of the wire to accommodate my kiln. It works fine now. I did burn up a control switch before this problem got fixed. Maybe talk to an electrician or check the wiring to your kiln. Marcia Thanks Marcia. Yeah, we moved back in July and this is an older home than where I lived before. Unfortunately, I don't think rewiring is an option. Doing a test fire with some overglaze right now and all the lights are fading in and out, so going to try an outlet in the kitchen later. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wphlea Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 I had a similar problem when I moved down to south Texas from Montana and brought my little Crucible test kiln 12" x 9" interior uses 110. Have you changed location? I have found that where I now live along the border in South Texas, they seem to use lighter weight electrical wire. I was having a hard time when the kiln was plugged into a regular outlet. I had new wiring put in to my kiln shed, and specified the amps needed to fire this. He understood and (I thnki) he beefed up the gauge of the wire to accommodate my kiln. It works fine now. I did burn up a control switch before this problem got fixed. Maybe talk to an electrician or check the wiring to your kiln. Marcia Thanks Marcia. Yeah, we moved back in July and this is an older home than where I lived before. Unfortunately, I don't think rewiring is an option. Doing a test fire with some overglaze right now and all the lights are fading in and out, so going to try an outlet in the kitchen later. Thanks again. The size of the wire is important. I am having trouble with my electric kiln using a 220 outlet. I can fire to cone 06, no problem, but rarely can make it up to a cone 6 which is needed for my glazes. My kiln is in an old shop with old wiring and even though the plug is on it's own breaker, the old wire from the transformer pole to the building seems to be too light to allow it to get to cone 6. The longer the span of wire is from power source (transformer) to panel box, the more power loss occurs. I work for an electric utility company so have picked my co-workers brain endlessly about this. They all tell me to upgrade the wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnold Howard Posted December 20, 2010 Report Share Posted December 20, 2010 I have recently started firing my little Paragon Home Artist kiln and twice now it has under fired. It will run for some 8-9 hours (trying to achieve cone 04), and the max temp I'm seeing is 1790-1810 F. RK, I'm sorry you are having a problem with your Home Artist kiln. From the other comments in this thread, I suspect that the voltage is low. Here is a video that will help you check the voltage and the kiln's amperage: Sincerely, Arnold Howard Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKStevens Posted December 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2010 Thanks for your posts! I finally found an outlet close to the breaker box in the garage and seem to be able to get the 03-04 temps I'm wanting (6-8 hours). My brother-in-law reminded me about getting as close to the breaker box as possible. Also, made sure the breaker was at least 30amp - even though it's a 110 kiln. Seems to be working great for me now! Thanks again to all! Texas Mud Slingers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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