R-14 universal electrical muffle kiln stopped working

[Algiz]

Hi

I have an R-14 universal electrical muffle kiln and it has simply stopped working. I’ve got the user manual pdf but there’s no mention of any possible faults.

I’ve checked the fuse and that’s fine and the plug socket it’s plugged in to works fine. Nothing seems burnt or damaged. But it won’t turn on.

Any ideas?

Thank you so much in advance if you are able to help.

[Bill Kielb]

1 hour ago, Algiz said:

Hi

I have an R-14 universal electrical muffle kiln and it has simply stopped working. I’ve got the user manual pdf but there’s no mention of any possible faults.

I’ve checked the fuse and that’s fine and the plug socket it’s plugged in to works fine. Nothing seems burnt or damaged. But it won’t turn on.

Any ideas?

Thank you so much in advance if you are able to help.

This is a small kiln and I believe  all models have a digital controller.  Without a circuit diagram it’s hard to suggest other than are you familiar with  checking things with a voltmeter / ohmmeter?  If so then a technique we coined jump shooting  when we teach basic electrical troubleshooting might help. Basically you will systematically start where the power comes into the kiln and probe in a step by step fashion forward until you find where the power stops. Usually that would be a good indication of a bad component .

As an example for a bad receptacle controlled by a light switch you might start at the main panel and make sure there is power, then jump to the switch and make sure  it closes and power goes to the receptacle then jump to the receptacle itself and  finally jump to the lamp and light or whatever is supposed to operate when plugged into the receptacle.

Other than that if you are confident in your control programming there  appears to be  a door safety switch, so if the door does not fully press this switch in the kiln will not operate.

If you are unfamiliar with the above then maybe a good kiln tech is in order.

[Algiz]

Thank you Bill.

We ended up changing the heating elements as that’s what a DT teacher friend of mine suggested and it worked perfectly once then not again and back to the same issues.

I can’t get anyone to suggest anything or help since then. Lock down means I can’t take it anywhere for advice.

 

[Bill Kielb]

2 hours ago, Algiz said:

Thank you Bill.

We ended up changing the heating elements as that’s what a DT teacher friend of mine suggested and it worked perfectly once then not again and back to the same issues.

I can’t get anyone to suggest anything or help since then. Lock down means I can’t take it anywhere for advice.

 

Pictures and measurements would go a long way here as the speculation above ponders if what is causing it to not work at all. Without some measurements there is no way to determine which components are bad. I assume at one point this did work. Are you able to have someone actually measure and troubleshoot. Replacing parts can work but often does not address the root cause of the problem.

[Algiz]

My kiln is EXACTLY the kiln is the photo.

[Algiz]

It won’t let me upload photos or videos but the switch does seem to be pressing in when the door is closed?

[Algiz]

Ah this worked. Door open on the left and closed on the right

[Algiz]

The temp gauge sits on 21 degrees Celsius and doesn’t move. The green OUT1 light is lit.

If I touch the controls it blinks between the green OUT1 and then changes to red and ALM1 and it shows funny non numbers then might change to a higher number, but rapidly counts down back to 21.

[Algiz]

In response to Bill the people who made the kiln and sold it to me wont help at all.

A DT teacher friend changed box that lights up and shows the temp and then the heating element. But due to lock down I can’t get it back to him.

It worked fine after the heating element was replaced once. I heard a slight ‘pop’ sound but nothing seemed wrong and it hasn’t worked since.

[Algiz]

[Bill Kielb]

10 minutes ago, Algiz said:

Hmm, that slight pop sound likely was significant. I am wondering what this kiln is rated, also as if it’s not designed for cone six, taking it there likely ends its life. Those appear to be very lightweight elements. You really need to be able to diagnose this using test equipment in my view else we are all guessing.

[Bill Kielb]

17 minutes ago, Algiz said:

The temp gauge sits on 21 degrees Celsius and doesn’t move. The green OUT1 light is lit.

If I touch the controls it blinks between the green OUT1 and then changes to red and ALM1 and it shows funny non numbers then might change to a higher number, but rapidly counts down back to 21.

Hopefully there is a relay in this thing as this temp module directly controlling the element would be a risky design in my view. These modules are very programmable and you would need to download their program documentation to figure out its programming. There is an alarm setpoint in these and it sounds like you are at it for some reason. Having programmed many similar, there are an overwhelming number of parameters to deal with if you have never done anything like this. My best hope is you can get a decent tech there to help. This is hard stuff for most kiln techs not familiar with PID module temperature controllers.

[neilestrick]

That's a general purpose heating controller, not specific to kilns. As Bill said, there's a million parameters that can be set with these things. For starters you'll want to go through and make sure everything is set as it should be. The kiln manual that I found is worthless, but a quick search will bring up the manual for the actual controller. If it doesn't make a lot of sense, ask the kiln manufacturer what their factory settings are so you can compare.

Wiring wise, make sure your thermocouple connections are good, and that the thermocouple itself is in good condition. If it's got a relay, you'll need to see if it's working by using a multi-meter and tracing the power path.  Without getting our hands on it, there's not much else we can do from here.