Information On Amaco Kilns?

[ronfire]

I was offered a couple of kilns but don't they don't know much about them maybe someone here could tell me from a few pics. Looks like one has a pyrometer built in.

 

 

[Mark C.]

These kilns are heavy like anchors and will hold a good sized boat in a gale.If In recall you use the dials for setting water depth  then hook a heavy chain up to them and toss them off the bow. It may take 4 men to clear the rail and do not get your foot caught in the chain as it unwraps at speed as it descends .If you use them only in fresh water they will last much longer. It always best to have about 5 to 1 scope of chain set out so when the wind blows the chain acts as a slack dampener .The tricky part will be getting them aboard without listing the vessel.

Since you can get two  of these they could be set up with boys and you can have two anchor points to tie up to on the lake.

I think Amaco means American Makers and Casual Operators once a well known boating supply company

They also had a hard firebrick plant in Gallop New Mexico for making boiler bricks for ships boilers back in the 60's

The thing I recall is once on the bottom you can open the lid with a rope and if you baited your box you could fill the whole box with fish and drop the lid and have a box of fish caught.

You needed a large windless or eighteen guys to pull the thing back up..

Those orange safety cones go around the chain and you feed it thru like a funnel..

I add more detail but its late.

[neilestrick]

Those kilns are a nightmare to repair. If the bricks aren't in good condition, throw them away. If they look good, fire them till the elements are dead and then consider throwing them away. Or convert them to gas. Or as Mark said, great boat anchors.

 

The biggest problem with these kilns is that the element grooves are way too narrow, so when the elements expand as they age they get too big for the grooves and when you have to get them out for replacement you just have to pull hard and let them chew up the bricks to get them out. It's a total mess. Another issue is that the walls are built as modules, so replacing a single brick requires cutting it out and fitting a new one (way too  much work). If you need to replace an entire wall, getting the framing apart to do so will be impossible due to everything being rusted tight. Plus they weigh so much that they're a bear to get into place. And the phenolic board in the control box always cracks, and the replacing elements in general is a real pain. It's just not a good design over all.

[oldlady]

this gift should be filed under "one man's junk is everyone"s junk".  tell the owner where the local landfill is located.

[PRankin]

Don't beat around the bush. Tell him what you really think about these kilns.

[oldlady]

paul, i made the mistake of accepting one of these kilns in 1991.  it took 3 men and a crane to move one into my kiln shed.  it took years and 3 refusals by the same 3 men to find someone to get it out of the kiln shed, onto a truck and out of my life.  yeah, it really was a bad experience all the way around.