Sensing Rod Bent to the side instead of centered

[littlefairyone]

Hello!

Yet another silly newbie kiln person question. 2 firings ago I accidentally loaded my kiln with plates vertically to fire. They shifted and shoved a post up against the sensing rod. I had to firmly force the sitter to switch off (my kiln was at the highest temp or close to and I was doing a cone 6 firing). 
 

Anyways, later when I unloaded it I noticed that the sensing rod was positioned off to the side instead of centered. I then did a bisque firing that was fine (my kiln has seemed to be a cone lower than the cone used. (Ie when doing a cone 6 firing I used a cone 7 cone. ) Then I did a glaze firing with self standing cones and cone in the sitter. It had just started to curve (maybe 1/4 of the way curved).

What do I do? Can I manually bend the rod back? Do I need to replace the tube? Is replacing the tube easy for someone who has only been using a kiln for a year?

Thank you!

[neilestrick]

You can try bending the rod back. Depending how old it is, it may or may not like bending and may just break. If the end of the rod is getting thin, it would be a good idea to go ahead and just replace it. You can just replace the rod, you do not need a whole new tube. That said, see if you can get the rod out before you order one. Sometimes there's enough corrosion that the set screw won't come out, or the rod itself will be fused into the tube assembly. Sometimes a little WD-40 soak will help to loosen it up. In that case that it own't come out, you'll need a whole new tube assembly. If the tube has the size stamped on it, great, just order that. If not, you'll have to measure it. HERE is a good page that will help you get the correct tube if you end up needing one.