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PotterPutter

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  1. It sounds like you already know that opening your kill while it’s too hot as well as candleing for a very long time are both contributing your elements wearing out. Is your kiln vented? If not, do you prop the lid until it reaches 900° and leave the top plug out during the entire firing? Do you regularly vacuum your elements? All of this will help you get the maximum life out of elements. I have a Skutt 818-30A and also fire to Cones 06 and 6. I have about 175 firings on my elements and they still work fine. My bisque-to-glaze firings are about 2/1 and I only candle bisque firings for 1-2 hours. I don’t candle glazes firings.
  2. Want to give a final update in case anyone else has this issue in the future. Disconnecting and reconnecting the thermocouple wires helped, a bit. Two firings failed at 250F, and a third at 500F. The thermocouple was new, and only had a handful of firings on it, but I replaced it anyway and that solved the problem. I've run two successful bisque fires in the last two days. So, a new thermocouple can fail and when your Skutt displays FAIL without an error code, it's the thermocouple as Cadenrank mentions above. It's nice to be back in business.
  3. All good now! We disconnected the thermocouple and reattached the wires. She started right up.
  4. Hi all! My Skutt KM818-30A hasn’t been fired in several months, but the last firings were fine. I turned it on and the display says FAIL and the temp is displaying as 465° even though it is room temp. The thermocouple is new and has about 5 firings on it. All wiring looks good. I have another thermocouple on the way just in case, but wanted to see if anyone has had this issue and/or knows what the problem may be. I’ll call Skutt tech support tomorrow, and have a call out to a local repair tech too, but I’d love any advice in the meantime. Thanks!!
  5. Well said, Mea! I was 44 when I threw my first pot, and have always collected pottery, have a business in the art world and have dabbled in a lot of hobbies and activities that require working with my hands, including being a pastry chef in a past life. So, I brought a lot to ceramics based on my interests and experiences... and age.
  6. I started selling my pottery after 4 months of working on it 1 day a week. I have (hopefully!) improved since then, but I started selling it when I felt it was good enough for a stranger to buy it and like it. Worked out fine. Plenty of pieces ended up in the trash though and I was very selective about what I would offer up for sale.
  7. Music via Alexa. I can tell her to play whatever I'm in the mood for without having to touch anything. Very helpful during throwing.
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