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Skutt 1027 need advice for repair


Denice

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I unloaded my 30 year old Skutt 1027 today and found that the tiles are fired to different temperature at different levels in the kiln .  It was a extra long firing but being a full load of tiles and shelves I wasn't too worried.   I did a coil glow test and the second and fourth set didn't glow and the bottom set glow brightly which I believe is normal.    I replaced the elements about 15 firings ago,  I am hoping to give my husband a place to start before he starts dismantling my kiln.    Denice

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Hi Denice!

fwiw, my 1027 heats fairly evenly - there's a half cone or so variance between shelves 1,2, and 3. I'm very much still dialing in, wrapping up 3rd bisque now, second glaze a few weeks ago. 

Cone packs on each shelf tells the story; I'd set the top/4th shelf just over 3" from the lid last glaze fire - it didn't get hot enough to move a cone; now I'm trying a 2 inch stagger on the top shelf. Without a cone pack on each shelf, I'd be guessin'! First glaze fire, all four shelves were within half a cone or so.

Any road, all the elements look red, then orangish later on... Where to start, good question, I believe all elements should be glowing - let's see what the forum regulars have to say? 

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If you've got elements out, they either have a break in them, or there's a problem with the power getting to them. I'm assuming by the age of the kiln that it's manual? Could be bad switches or bad connections. Start tracing the power with a meter and find where it stops.

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Be aware that manual Skutts with the 4 way switches operate as follows - Low turns on only the bottom element of the respective section (which would be the bottom 2 times around as each element goes around twice). Medium turns on both elements of the section, but they are wired in series. High turns on both elements, but now wired in parallel so they give off more heat than in series. Thus, if you are giving it a visual test of glowing, then you need to turn it on high to have everything come on bright enough to see. When things are all on, the topmost and bottommost coils in the kiln will be slightly brighter as they are designed with different resistance than the middle 4.

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I   thought it could be bad connection but my husband wanted a experts  opinion.  I guess   firing kilns for 40 years  doesn't make me a expert.   I have 15 firings on the new wires so I don't think they could be broken.   If my husband can't figure it out I have a friend who is a electrician that said he would work on it.    I am firing the some of the tiles today in a smaller kiln.  Thank you for your help.    Denice

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"...the 4 way switches operate as follows..."

Thanks for that Mr White! ...was curious how those switches work.

Hope your elements ain' broke Denice! If something's goin't'go wrong with new part/component, likely to happen sooner over later says the production experience; when we switched to Dell at the mill, just over a third of workstations replaced on warrantee within six months! Of the machines that lasted two years, over 90% lived to see graceful retirement.

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I hope it isn't the elements also,  I don't need that kiln for another month so that gives my husband some time to work on it.   He is getting ready to paint a 74' Challenger that he has been restoring for 4 years.   It has taken so long because it was wrecked on every corner and and had been side swiped.   It was my son's first car,  he wrecked it and then left it in a field for 5 years.  The floor boards, trunk and frame rusted away.   We just ordered a new custom leather interior for it so it needs to get painted. 

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With my skutt 1227 switches are always on high. I use a fire right controller (auto-mate)with a contactor/relay  switch. Its a simple device that turns up kiln. You set the dial 1-10 and thats is about the hours it takes to turn all zones to high.So say set at 5- means in approx 5 hours the kiln will be all on high.

I never turn my switches . Its a great device for manual kilns as I do not haver to be around to turn them up ever. The timer still functions and the setter shuts it down.

I had to convert the setup  in an old electrical box and being a sparky helps but its pretty simple.

They still make them

http://www.fireright.com/products/automate2.html

I bought a spare one on  e-bay years ago as the company is barley around thes e days. I love the thing. The contactor relay I use are separate 65- amp ones as they last longer-they are the weak link and make the most noise clicking on and off.

With electronic kilns this function is already built in but with old manual kilns this is the ticket.My kiln is hard wired.

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