neilestrick

To keep it simple, no, he cannot just change out the plug on the kiln. 50 amps is not the correct size breaker, plus we don't know the voltage of the electrical service in the building. If you want to use the kiln in that building, you first need to find out the voltage of your electrical service. If the service is 240 volts then you can go ahead and have an electrician install a 30 amp circuit for the kiln. If the service in the building is 208 volts, then you may need to change out the element for it to fire to cone 6. You'll have to talk to Cress Kilns about that, though. Either way, the 50 amp circuit is not appropriate for that kiln.

You can put a plug on your kiln that is 50 amps. It won't hurt anything to have a plug that's rated for higher amperage than it will be pulling. That outlet is rated for up to 250 volts and 50 amps. Again, not a problem since your kiln only pulls 22 amps. The problem is that a 50 amp breaker is way too big for that kiln. It doesn't meet code and could cause a dangerous situation if there's a problem with the kiln. A 30 amp breaker is what it needs. Also, 220V doesn't really exist in the US anymore. Electrical services are either 240 volts or 208 volts, and single or 3 phase. Most residential buildings are 240V 1P. Commercial spaces are commonly 208V 3P, but they could be 208V1P or 240V 1P or 3P. So regardless of the amperage situation, it may be that your kiln cannot even run on the the service in your building. Your kiln needs a 240 volt single phase circuit. On a 208V1P circuit it would probably be underpowered if you plan to fire to cone 5/6.

Hi @Wendy Hami, welcome to the forum! There are a few things to check on here. First, where are you located? Second, what size breaker does his welder use? Your kiln should be on a 30 amp breaker, 35 at the most. Anything larger than that will not be up to code and won't be safe. Third, what is the voltage and phase of the electrical circuit for the welder- 240 volts or 208 volts, and single or 3 phase (assuming you're in the US)?

Oh are we talking about that round kiln you posted about a week or two ago? That's probably 10 cubic feet at best. And I bet a 1" line would fire a kiln that size just fine. You'll just have to make sure the orifice size is correct.

Yes, but Alpine worked on 14". And there's also the issue of pipe size being able to deliver enough volume. If this is not a big kiln it will probably work fine, but I think we need to know more before giving the okay. I'm also wary of recommending folks start messing with their gas lines and regulators, especially if they're living within city limits with local building codes.

Stainless steel sheets are shipped from the factory to the product manufacturers with a thin blue plastic film to protect them. Often the manufacturers leave the film on the steel to protect it from scratches until it reaches the customer, only peeling the parts that need to be peeled for assembly. When you buy appliances they often still have the film on them in areas. Is that what you're seeing here? Photos, please. Typically, metal ribs are stainless and do not rust, however cheap stainless can rust over time. It may also just be some discoloration from the clay.

I respectfully disagree. It depends on the kiln and how the burners are set up. What brand and model kiln are you hooking up?

60 amps uses 6ga wire.

Only 120V from the breaker?

Another though- this kiln design is not really made to fire fast. The only reason it might fire fast is because it's small. It's a mini anagama, and anagama are not efficient, fast firing kilns. That said, even large anagama can get to cone 10 much faster than people typically fire them. A kiln that is fired for 3 days can get to temp in less than a day no problem, but they are fired that long in order to build up ash, giving the surface effects that are desired from this type of kiln. But still, 18 hours is a lot slower than 8 hours. So take your time and don't rush it. Let it soak, as we say. Anagama have a very small ash pit to firebox ratio, so the ash pit will fill up quickly if you try to fire too fast. Also, small pieces of wood burn quickly and produce heat quickly, but they also produce ash quickly so they're not great. You can quickly fill up the ash pit and then your air flow drops. Once you open up the flue and intake, I would definitely try firing with larger pieces of wood, like fireplace size logs, even if you can only fit a couple at a time. The little stuff is fine for early in the firing, but you need to get to bigger logs as soon as you can. Are you using a pyrometer to time your stokes?

It's a scam. I get these emails all the time about kiln purchases and they have a specific freight carrier, etc, etc. They'll probably want to use a stolen credit card to pay for it or something like that.

What voltage are you running it on, and do you have the correct elements for that voltage?

Which error code did you get? Might have a relay that's sticking when it gets hot. Does your kiln have 5 louvers at the top of the control box or 6? If it's got 5, then it uses the clear relays, and you can see if they're getting really dark and worn out.

@twsincich Welcome to the forum. It's really difficult to fix this without seeing it, as there are at about a dozen variables at play here, but based on your numbers, your ash pit it probably too small, as is the flue opening, as is the air intake. But it may not be. It may be that you're just letting all the heat out the chimney and everything else is fine. You may just be stoking too heavily or too lightly. But based on the fact that it does better with a fan, and that you have to leave the flue wide open, the air seems to be the problem. Like any fuel burning kiln (gas, oil, wood, coal, or whatever), you have 3 factors to deal with during the firing- fuel, air intake, and damper. They all work in unison, and adjustments to any one of them will require adjustments to the other 2 to get the rate of climb and atmosphere you want. You're maxed out with the damper, so the other 2 are limited. Is that base solid concrete? Is the floor of the kiln directly on the concrete? How thick is the floor of the kiln, and what material is it?

Did you get the pull-apart option, or does it have the spring mounted hinge and the control box attached to the kiln? There's no way to load that without unstacking the sections. You'd have to remove the hinge plate and lid, remove the control box, then unstack the top two rings, load those sections, then add the other rings and load those. Are the jumper wires and thermocouple wires long enough that you could remount the control box lower down, so you could make the top two rings removable without having to remove the control box each time?

You can, but the thing I don't like about the Skutt lid brace is that it's only on one side, so the lid twists a little when braced, which puts a lot of pressure on the wall bricks. You could put a brace on both sides, but that gets really awkward when trying to close it. Instead of the braces I would hang a chain and hook above the kiln to hook onto the handle and hold the lid.

I wouldn't allow anything that thick in my wood kiln, even with organic inclusions. If it blows up you're going to have your shards stuck to everyone else's work. A successful bisque firing for something that thick will take a few days. Do the owner of the kiln know they're that thick? They should be hollowed out, for sure.

The things being discussed here is are not necessary to good glaze formulation. I've been making durable glazes for 30 years without ever looking at a Stull chart or Katz's papers. Learning the basic of glaze formulation- fluxes, stabilizers, and glass formers- will serve you just fine, and allow for tweaking formulas to increase durability and adjust glaze fit for your clay body. Commercial glazes are not necessarily any more durable. They all take testing as well. Clear glazes are generally quite safe if they're free of lead and cadmium, which most all glaze recipes being used nowadays are, and they don't have the heavy metals (colorants) in them that are likely to leach in a poorly formulated glaze. The benefits of mixing your own glazes are that they are much less expensive, and you can alter them as needed to fit the clay body you're using. If you know another potter that has a good clear glaze, by all means ask them for a recipe.

@Ja.Sc. It's not normal to have any holes in the lid and floor other than the very small holes for the vent system. Were they just vent sized holes, like 1/4"? The breaker size will not affect the firing, however the breaker may trip. If you have the correct size wiring (6ga) then you can just swap out the breaker for a 60. Have you run a paper test to make sure all the elements are heating up? Place a small piece of paper on each element, let the kiln run for a bit, just enough to make the paper smolder, then turn it off and see if all the papers have burned a little. If both element in a section have not heated, then you've probably got a dead relay in that section. If that's the case, replace all the relays. Also check the condition of the wiring in the control box. If the wiring or connectors are starting to darken go ahead and put in a new wiring harness when you do the relays.

@Ariel23 I suggest changing the title of your post to better reflect the content so you get more replies. Definitely check the program and see if you accidentally put in cone 6 instead of 06. If the controller said it only got to 1400F but it melted cone 06 to a blob, then check if the controller is set for F or C, and also check to make sure it's set to the correct type of thermocouple that you have.

Whether or not it will deform depends on how thick the piece is and how soft your porcelain gets in the firing. Lots of variables there, so your best bet is to test it.

@hotzn I'm still not understanding. Is this a sculpture or is it functional in some way? What will the final product look like? How many pipes will there be? Why is this draft tolerance needed? Can they be joined after forming or do they have to be formed together? What are the dimensions of each pipe? How large is the grouping? What shape is the grouping? Are they all connected at the bottom, top, sides? What are the total dimensions? The function of the final product will determine which type of clay you need to use. There's also issues of warping in drying and firing, etc. "Normal pottery equipment" is not really good for things that require precise tolerances since things move. Is clay the best material for this project?

Most likely the 45 amps is for the entire thing, as that would be a typical amperage draw for a 23x27 kiln. To be 100% sure you'd need to measure the resistance of the elements, but I'd be pretty confident that the entire setup is 45 amps. So you'll need a 60 amp breaker, 6 gauge wire. It's a 3 wire system- 2 hots and 1 ground, no neutral. Should have a NEMA 6-50 plug/outlet. How's the condition of the jumper cord that connects the two sections? If it's the old cloth wrapped stuff or the plug is looking corroded I would change it out. You'd need a 12 gauge cord for that 15 amp section. Put some insulating sleeves on the wire ends inside the box. If the plug is corroded I would also replace the outlet it plugs into. That would be a 20 amp 240 volt outlet.

@sunil6784 Also, what is the total interior height of the kiln sections? 27" base plus a 9" ring, or a 18" base with a 9" ring?

Post a pic of the serial plates.