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Kiln Firing Too Hot


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I got a small electric test kiln which I bought used and finally hooked up this year. It is over firing. I set it to fire to cone 5 and end up close to a 7.

 

This is my first time dealing with a kiln with a digital controller, so is this normal, or an indication I need to fix something. It also takes 11 hours to shut off with a request to fire to cone 5 on the medium setting. This seems way too long for how small it is.

 

Should I just ask for cone 4 and hope I get a 6 or is it broken?

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I had a similar problem recently with a used 3.3 cubic foot kiln (see this thread), which I'm pretty sure was caused by the thermocouple being worn and/or not protruding far enough into the kiln. I managed to reach the cone I wanted by firing to a lower temperature. Some controllers allow you to program an offset in the temperature reading, so if setting the controller to cone 4 doesn't give you cone 6 exactly, you may still be able to make adjustments to get cone 6.

Alternatively, you might just want to buy a new thermocouple if yours looks worn.

 

The fact that it took 11 hours may be due to it slowing down near the top temp it was trying to reach, especially if your kiln is only designed to reach cone 6. Above a certain temp, my kiln slows down substantially. What make of kiln and controller are you using? 

 

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