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Old gas kiln flu caked in "stuff"


mcpower

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Hi,

I am new here, and seem to have a question that the internet nor my friends can answer.  

I'm the ceramics tech at a studio with 3 Geil downdraft kilns.  1 is used for bisque only, and is perfectly fine.  the other 2 are fired to cone 10 reduction at least 3x/month each.  They're both about 15-25 years old, and I have no idea how long they've been fired this frequently, but they've lived a long life to be sure.  They're both soft brick on the inside, as is the flu to where the damper is.  The damper is now sticking to the flu because of how much "stuff" is built up - my guess is that alot of glaze fumes over the years have caused this.

 

The problem is that the damper now sticks to the flu, and we broke one last week trying to get it back out.  Any suggestions on how to not let this happen again, or why it is happening now or is it just the build up of so many years?  I fear a rebuild is in the future, but would like for the problem to be solved by that.

 

Thanks for any help or thoughts

 

-Meredith

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2 minutes ago, mcpower said:

I fear a rebuild is in the future, but would like for the problem to be solved by that.

Sounds like a rebuild for sure followed by regular typical maintenance from here on. Interesting what the build up could be so pictures would be helpful. Hopefully not an insane amount of carbon else a change in firing habits may be in order to solve that problem.
I assume these are natural gas or propane so please describe the fuel, model etc….  with your pictures as well as an idea of what the typical firing schedule entails (including gas pressure adjustments and damper operation through the firing) and how folks are achieving reduction without generating tons of soot would be helpful. Finally, there are still a few other things I can think of but pictures definitely would be a good step, include the burners as well if possible, maybe top down if possible. Last I checked Geil is still in business so replacement parts can be had. http://www.kilns.com/

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