cadenrank

As always, and again, thank you everyone for the responses. @neilestrick I was thinking about trying it. This last maintenance project has taken this kiln out of service since New Year's (mostly just waiting for parts), so the thought of just firing it and just keeping an eye on it and seeing what happened after crossed my mind, but I already had got the old one off, and got the plenum cup clean. I could still put the old one back on (It still has the uncured silicone all over it) but I already ordered a new gasket. I might put it back on just to bisque while I'm waiting for the new one and then clean the plenum cup again later if it doesn't cure still after firing. @Rae Reich I saw that when I was googling it. I found a JB Weld 100% Red silicone one that's rated for 650 that's available at an auto parts store nearby, so I'm probably going to go that route when the new one comes.

@Bill Kielb and @Hyn Patty Thank you guys for the information. The adhesive that all of the ceramic supply stores sell that is described to pair with the Skutt gasket is Dow Corning 732, which, according to everything I can find says "cured material stays flexible for continuous use from -76 to 350°F (-60 to 177°C) and up to 400°F (204° C) for intermittent use". Struggling to find any other information in the SDS, not relative to staying flexible, but I haven't found anything else to suggest it's rated to 600. I see a brand called Imperial that the hardware store sells that is rated for 600°f. I'm sure this one would probably be better for the application, but I'm wondering why most suppliers sell one for the gasket that's only rated for 400. I'm going to just order a new gasket, I don't think there's any way I'd be able to get all of the silicone off of the one that didn't cure. The plenum cup I think I can get it off of but the fiber gasket probably not.

So while working on one of my kilns, the fiber gasket that sits between the plenum cup and kiln got damaged. I ordered a new one, and was advised to use any silicone adhesive between the cup and gasket. All of this went without issue, however, 48 hours later, the silicone has yet to cure at all. I read the tube, says to check expiration if it doesn’t cure, sure enough it’s years expired. I don’t have any concerns about getting the uncured silicone off of the plenum cup, but not sure how I’m going to get it off of the gasket. So my problem, do I need to get all of it off the gasket? Both from a curing standpoint for the new silicone and from a firing standpoint (thinking like, uncured silicone getting hot or vaporizing or something from the heat)? or should I just get a new gasket on the way?

This makes sense. Good to know. I'll see what they have at the store. I never thought of a split bolt. I'll see what I can find! Thank you everyone, again, for the help!

I really liked the one's pictured (they're from TheCeramicShop, who say's "They are made of zinc coated copper for higher resistance to corrosion, and longer connection life"). Price was good, and I was confident in the connections when I made it, but the amount of times these have failed now have made me weary of them in general. I believe I did put the element on top in them, but not certain. And each time I've had a burnout (4 of them now) I've tightened all of the others while I had the box off. I just feel the washers bolt and nut is much more secure in combination with crimped on ring terminals on the wires, while still being able to take them off easily during changes or other maintenance. I never had any issues with corrosion or burn outs on them or getting them off when they needed to come off. Thanks for the information! I figured stainless hardware would be fine, but wanted to double check before I went and bought some. I think this is the route I'm going to go.

Hello all! Today, I got the 8 awg cable that supplies my one kiln upgraded to a 6 awg cable. The intention of this is to upgrade my elements to a different resistance configuration that will both supply the kiln with more power and hopefully more even heating, as well as make replacing elements easier (as I won't need to get them custom made, and hopefully won't have to do any stretching of elements, discussion of this project for this kiln has happened in the past on another topic of mine here, but about time for new elements, so progress towards getting the circuit ready for that transition is underway) This kiln currently pulls around 30 amps (8 sided, 5 brick layers deep. Skutt 822 is the most similar model.). At the end of this project, it should pull roughly 34.7 amps, with the new elements on the 6 gauge copper, and a 50 amp breaker circuit that's now finished for this kiln. During my last element change I used some of these types of connectors: I like these connectors because of how easy they are to connect, and they allow for changes to happen and repairs to happen much more easily than the crimp on connectors. My issue with these is that over the life span of these elements, I've had 4 of the 10 fail. They corroded, and eventually burnt out at the connector, leaving them unusable because the wire had melted where it burned out and essentially welded the connector to the element tail. This kiln is an older model kiln with entirely new components and wiring. The kiln originally came with brass nuts, bolts and washers as element connectors which I wasn't a big fan of at first, however, of all the types I've tried (the ones pictured, Skutt's crimp on barrels, and Paragon's version (which I mostly don't like because of cost)), I think the nut and bolt connector is the one that I like, and feel the most comfortable with. All of the connectors like the ones pictured above that have burned out I replaced with the old original brass nut and bolt and washers that I saved, and they still look perfect and feel the most secure to me while being relatively easy to perform repairs or replacements with in the future. So that being said, my question comes down to material. I don't have enough of the original brass nuts and washers to do the whole kiln with them once the new elements go in, so I'll need to purchase more and I'm just wondering what size as far as bolt goes, material they're made of, etc. Is brass the best option? Stainless? Are the brass nuts/bolts/washers I'd find in big box hardware store good to handle the heat and voltage/amperage that will be passing through it? Any other recommendations on where to get some that would if not? Thanks as always for any information and any help! -Caden

Firing went smoothly. Periodic peeks at that connection didn't show any heat or anything. The only thing I didn't like about it was having to make the loops in the element pigtail. But, I remember always feeling confident that it was tight once it was done. I believe they are brass hardware original with the kiln, and I saved them (which is what I used in this case) before I switched over to the screw type terminals. I like those too, but the bolt and washers just feels so much more secured.

Done. Kiln is running. Gonna keep a close eye on it, but pulling normal amperage again, resistance measurement was the same as the other elements. The ring terminal to ring terminal and bolt connection feels more secure to me than most other connector type connections I've seen. Makes me want to think about going back to the element loop and bolt/washers and ring terminal design the kiln originally had when I got it. I never had any second guesses about security with that type.

@neilestrickI cleaned it up with some emory earlier. Will try the ring terminals and a bolt. Just needs to last until I replace elements. Thanks again everyone. Will update how it goes.

I like the screw type connectors too. All of the others in this kiln are fine, but this one is definitely not reusable. The Euclid one's are high on my list for replacements for next element change. I was hoping to find a solution that I had on hand to make the repair to fire today. I appreciate your offer, though. I have enough to fit into the barrel connector I have, as well as plenty to fit into another type of screw connector, I just can't crimp the barrel connector because the type I have won't crimp within the space I have, and I don't have any spare screw type connectors on hand. Wow, glad to hear you haven't had any major damage so far! Stay safe.

You mean just the element side? It's just about less than a quarter of an inch outside the insulator. I have extra feeder wire. The burnt out connector is one of these types: And unfortunately I don't have any extras. And the burnt out one is heavily discolored, and full of some welded wire in the bottom of it now. The element pigtail itself still looks fine, just the connector and end of that feeder wire were toast. I can crimp a ring terminal on the element and make a good connection, with a ring terminal on the feeder as well, then a nut, bolt and washers to connect the two. I'm just not sure if the ring terminal on the element pigtail (900f rated, for reference) is a good option or not. These are the only terminals I do have excess of, but that little bump of metal in the middle makes it so I can't crimp my crimping tool onto it with the element inside of it. It won't let me get close enough to the kiln to crimp it down right, and crimp it down on the element too. also I just hate this type of connector. I probably only have a month or two of firings left on these elements anyways, but just trying to make them last.

Yesterday when I went to start a glaze firing, I was greeted with a nice little firework show from inside the control box of my kiln. I stopped the kiln, and identified a connector that was heavily corroded, and the remaining feeder wire basically welded inside the connector, and the wire itself broken off, free to arc to the jacket. I have some spare crimp on connectors, but these connectors have a small piece of metal in the middle, which only allows you to crimp past a certain length from the middle on each ends. (Which is why I never used these in the original install). I don't have enough element length left to crimp this style of connector on. A thought I had was to use a high temp ring terminal (900f rated) crimped onto the element, then crimped onto the wire, then use a screw, nut and washers to smash them together, but I'm not sure how good of an idea this is. My idea is that people use the ring connectors at that point too, but not attached directly to the element so I'm curious if this would work. I need to replace elements soon anyways, but the thought of crimping it (or anything) and then it not working or lasting until then pretty much leaves no ability to replace without cutting all of the remaining element off. I tried to use the screw, nut and washers to sandwich onto the end of the element like it was when I got the kiln, but there isn't enough to hold securely, and there's definitely not enough to make a loop. I know it'd be better to wait until I can get a new one of my preferred connector (the screw down types), but unfortunately that's not a fast process. Any ideas?

This isn't what skutts distributors, or their main website/product page for this kiln shows. In fact, I can't find a single product, technical, or kiln specific pdf from Skutt other than the one in your photo that shows 6awg for 822

Two of their distributors list 50 amp breaker in their specifications for the product. I thought that google information was from Skutt, but still. Giving the amperage, and the wire gauge still leaves questions following the 125% rule. This makes sense to me. I just never really thought about the conductor needing the 125% increase too until I was reading Skutt's recommendations for references for this kiln. That being said, I also didn't think on it very long. Logic eventually would have told me that lower rated wires can't be used on higher rated circuits. But, then I started to question if maybe my memory on 8 gauge NM cable's specs were wrong

You're referring to the circuit rating that the breaker would cover, when you say 50 amps? As in, even if the kiln wouldn't pull that? I understand the >125% <150% rule, but am just verifying that it does or does not apply to the conductor as well. I wish I would have run 6 gauge when I originally did the project like I did with my other kiln, but originally this kiln only pulled 24 amps, so I never thought I'd need the extra amperage there. Anyways, I plan to keep this kiln near 30 amps, I mostly just thought it was odd that skutt recommended 8awg and a 50 amp breaker for that specific model of kiln