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AIM Gas Kiln Firing Problems


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I am trying to fire my very old AIM gas (propane) kiln.  There are three burners that enter from the bottom of the kiln.  The problem is 1) first, there was a large amount of carbon being created and things pretty much turned black.  2) I noticed that there was no flame actually entering the kiln chamber.  The burners were lit, but the flames were only burning inside the burner pipe.  Therefore, the kiln is warming up, but no real significant heat is being reached and I know I will never reach my bisque temp. (going for cone 08). Can anyone help?       Oh, btw, I had to piece together the floor of my kiln as the bricks broke apart.  We added a steel plate that the base is now pieced together on like a plate and simply cut holes out where the burners enter the kiln.  Was this a bad idea?  Trying to get another year or two out of her to be honest.  Thank you!

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Plate good idea, overcut the holes for the burners as they were before. The oversized hole let’s secondary air in which could be your carbon issue if you cut the metal tight to the burner. Next is to make sure the primary air shutters are open, then lastly all the orifices need to be clean. No spider webs inside. Gently clean the orifices with a toothpick or small wire, then blow them out backwards opposite to the gas flow. No drilling or enlarging allowed.

post a picture or two of the burners as installed so we can see the overcut around them and a picture of them operating as well.

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  • Min changed the title to AIM Gas Kiln Firing Problems

Don’t forget the other two components, open the air shutters if closed and clean the burner and orifice. Probably dirty from excess carbon anyway. Also pictures of what you did, the openings need to be quite a bit larger than the burner. Not sure you have an old example to follow but if you post pictures, folks will let you know if it is enough. At least 50% of the air for combustion  must come in around the perimeter of the burner for it to function as designed.

In case you come back here I  added a picture of a typical burner overcut so you have an idea how important it is and how significant it needs to be to successfully fire the kiln throughout its full firing range. This one happens to be square, but round is fine as well.

468C581C-C7D9-4C32-87CE-57E7AD578760.jpeg

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