Art By Iggy

Gentlemen, I cannot praise and thank you enough for helping my overall understanding of the entire electrical operations and details of this kiln, wonderfully helpful!!! Very interesting to see how the math comes into play on all these numbers and readings. Is there a reason that the other Skutt I have reaches higher temps more consistently then this Paragon? More life left on the elements? The Paragon kiln I use primarily for bisque and I have a longer soak at 200 degrees- I imagine that this is putting extra wear on the elements and making it difficult to reach higher temps when I decide to do so. Both have a max temp of 2300 but I have had no trouble getting the Skutt to temp. I attached the specs on it: This has been very educational

Okay, After some time with the multi meter here is my report: Element Resistance: Top-11.1. Ohms Middle-5.9 ohms Middle 5.9 ohms and Bottom 12.0 ohms Amps (measured in kiln control box): 27.2 and 27.4 going into relay. 13.1 and 13 coming out of relay. Per element: Top-12.8 , Middle 13.1, Middle 13.2 and Bottom 12.5 Volts (per element) : top 158.4, middle 82.5, middle 79.4, bottom 162.3 The elements were new in 2021 and even when new only got to 2050 degrees once. How can this kiln be rated to 2300 degrees and not be able to consistently get to 2000 or hotter? Of course i could get another kiln but I am reluctant as I feel like I would like to understand what I am failing to see on this one. Again, many thanks for all thought and input. My next step will be to run a cone fire program and not a custom program as someone on the thread had mentioned. Iggy

I will measure the OHMS and report the resistance to see if the elements are worn, Last time i checked they were within range. Very helpful and I SO appreciate your knowledge. Thank you

Bill, in response to your post, your specs on the TNF-82 are the same as the kiln i have-2300 degrees top temp and 30 AMP. I have a 40 AMP breaker and am measuring 15 amps per Element set.

I will post an image of the equipment tag and the other specs as well as measure and repost the electrical diagnostics. thanks!!very helpful indeed

Okay, the image below is of a Cone 04 that was in the kiln on the last firing. The digital display said it fired to 1983 degrees but this cone seems to be hotter than that. I did not have another guide cone other than a cone 5 in the kiln and that cone did not move at all. I guess i should order some other pyrometric cones and test further. I am thinking that the pyrometer needs to be calibrated or the offset adjusted, which i am unfamiliar with. Any suggestions are welcome and thanks

Thank you Bill and Neil, I ran the kiln again after replacing the thermocouple and slowing down the last segment of the program. Deviation is set to default. It still only got to 1983 degrees. When I checked the voltage it was 240V at all the elements. I did notice that the amps dropped from 15 to about 12 once the firing was underway. Not sure if this is normal. This kiln was the only equipment running at the time. I do not think it’s a problem with the power supply from the panel as I have another larger kiln that can operate fully with the same power source. Any further ideas would be helpful and thanks for your time and expertise. Iggy

Neil, I replaced the thermocouple today. I have replaced the wires in the control box as they were pretty worn. I will fire this kiln in a day or so and report back what the outcome is. Thanks for lending your expertise to this situation, so much appreciation. Iggy

Neil, I have double voltage and it is 240V …I have another larger kiln working fine on the same service. I have a custom slow fire schedule and it’s programmed to move at 140 degrees/hr. I have not replaced the thermocouple . The kiln is on a 40amp breaker and only needs 30 amps, I am not certain of the wire size but its the same as what is running to the larger kiln that fires to temp, The kiln is wired directly into the box so no plug to look at. How would thermocouple affect this situation? Thanks for your assistance, much appreciated!

Hello all, I have an older Paragon TNF-82 with Sentry 2.0 controller. I have been having issues for sometime reaching proper temperature and get an "FTL" code at around 1960 degrees. After replacing elements, relays, still the same issue. I thought that amps received from the power source could be an issue, so I replaced the old wiring, tightened connections and was able to get the kiln to 1984 degrees, but still not as hot as it should get. I have another larger kiln that works fine from the same fuse box on a different circuit. I have had the same issue with this Paragon kiln at multiple locations so I am skeptical about it being related to the power source itself. I am perplexed at what the situation could be as I have gone through with multimeter and have also successfully worked on other kilns, diagnosing and fixing. I am looking for suggestions, please.