Madschap Posted March 19 Report Share Posted March 19 I just purchased a kiln the other day. I’ve been a potter for many years and it is what I studied in school, but I’m not familiar with vintage kilns. I used to fire cone 03- this kiln seems to fire about 07 but that would be fine for my work- my biggest question is how can I go about testing it/ how do I understand when to shut it off. I’ve only worked with electric kilns and kilns with setters for the cones that shut off automatically. Any knowledge on what to do to fire this kiln, and if it even seems serviceable would be amazing. trying to figure out how to upload photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madschap Posted March 19 Author Report Share Posted March 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madschap Posted March 19 Author Report Share Posted March 19 There are 2 dials one I can’t move and seems broken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madschap Posted March 19 Author Report Share Posted March 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 19 Report Share Posted March 19 You'll have to use witness cones and turn it off manually. Not the safest system in the world. With a meter you can check the element resistance and see if the elements are still good. You can replace the switches with general purpose infinite switches. 120 volts, 30 amps with two power cords is a really strange configuration, and may or may not meet current code requirements. I'm assuming the 30 amp draw on the serial plate means the total draw of both sections since the other box doesn't have a serial plate, so to make it work you'll need two separate 120 volt circuits with 20 amp breakers. Each section will pull 15 amps, but code requires that kilns be on breakers that are 25% greater than the draw, but not more than 50% greater, so 20 amp breakers. So you can't just plug it into both sockets of a duplex outlet because those will be on the same circuit and overload it. You need two outlets on separate circuits right next to each other. Extension cords are not allowed. If it were my kiln, I would rewire it for 120/240 volt service with one 4-wire power cord that would be on a 240 volt 20 amp circuit, but that would require a new control box on the kiln or connecting the two boxes with conduit. It's an odd duck for sure. PeterH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 Looking for the x14 diagram on paragon's site I could only find one for the X14J, which seems to be for one segment only. https://eadn-wc04-7751283.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/WX14J.pdf @neilestrick The diagram gives a max temperature of 1650F (about cone 010?). Do you have any comments on expected element life versus firing temperature? It seems that the X14J was sold as a china painters kiln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 1 hour ago, PeterH said: The diagram gives a max temperature of 1650F (about cone 010?). Do you have any comments on expected element life versus firing temperature? Serial plate is showing max temp of 2000F so it should be able to do cone 04. I have no idea how long the elements should last in that situation, but if it's similar to firing a cone 6 kiln to max temp then maybe 50 firings. It's a lot cooler than cone 6, though, so they may last longer. I really don't have any experience with maxing out low fire kilns. PeterH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.