Bad firing

[Natalie Bérbué]

Hello,

It's my first time ever on a for a forum and a new in the pottery world. I experienced a bad firing last week. I used a cone 6  with my kiln sitter. The firing went on for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours! and decided to shut off the kiln manually. My cone 6 didn't even started to bend...and of course some of the glazes I used didn't come out as they were supposed to. All the elements seem to wok fine. What could be wrong?

[neilestrick]

You can check if all the elements are working by turning them all on high and seeing if they all glow. However, just because all the elements are glowing doesn't mean they're putting out enough heat to do the job. They could be worn. How do they look- are they discolored? Are the coils laying over and bunching up? Ultimately you should check the element resistance with a mulit-meter. What brand of model of kiln is it? What voltage and phase is it supposed to run on? Check the serial plate. Is the kiln in your home? Have you had successful firings before, or was this your first firing?

[Babs]

Are you firing without a thermocouple and pyrometer?.can you see a set of cones thro'spyhole?

What firing schedule are you following?

What size and type of kiln do you have?

[Natalie Bérbué]

16 hours ago, neilestrick said:

You can check if all the elements are working by turning them all on high and seeing if they all glow. However, just because all the elements are glowing doesn't mean they're putting out enough heat to do the job. They could be worn. How do they look- are they discolored? Are the coils laying over and bunching up? Ultimately you should check the element resistance with a mulit-meter. What brand of model of kiln is it? What voltage and phase is it supposed to run on? Check the serial plate. Is the kiln in your home? Have you had successful firings before, or was this your first firing?

Thanks for the hints. I will check that.