[neilestrick]

wongwaypottery, on 31 October 2012 - 03:49 PM, said:

On the L&L kilns they offer the options of having quad elements per section. If I get the 23t, is it worth the extra $300 for the elements upgrade (I'm probably going to be doing cone 6 for the near future)?

The quad element design is great, but it's not necessary. The regular elements work very well, so don't spend the money if you don't have it. But if you have an extra $300 it's a nice upgrade. You'll probably get longer element life which could pay for itself in the long run.

[neilestrick]

alienor, on 31 October 2012 - 04:58 PM, said:

those l&l element holders were a hard to work with especially if your element melts in the holder. it seems that is what mine did very often and so i had to dig out the holder and thus break into the brick.

This is an interesting phenomenon with the L&L element holders. If the elements are fired to death, sometimes they can stick to the holders. I've seen this happen in only 2 kilns, and those elements were fired to death. The elements come out in small pieces (couple inches long) and it's a real pain. I'm not sure why it happens, though, because I've seen many elements fired to death that did not stick. Still trying to figure out what causes some to stick and not others. But if you keep up on your element changes, replacing them before they are toast, it doesn't happen. Pretty much all kiln manufacturers recommend replacing elements once the resistance is off by 10%.

If an element becomes completely fused into a holder, like from a glob of glaze or something like that, the holder can be removed and replaced without harm to the brick. You just have to crack the holder with a hammer and pull it out. Then nip off the bottom lip of the new holder and put it in, with the top lip holding it in place. I've done this a couple of times on my kilns and it works very well. Detailed instructions here.

[Pres]

neilestrick, on 01 November 2012 - 09:18 AM, said:

alienor, on 31 October 2012 - 04:58 PM, said:

those l&l element holders were a hard to work with especially if your element melts in the holder. it seems that is what mine did very often and so i had to dig out the holder and thus break into the brick.

This is an interesting phenomenon with the L&L element holders. If the elements are fired to death, sometimes they can stick to the holders. I've seen this happen in only 2 kilns, and those elements were fired to death. The elements come out in small pieces (couple inches long) and it's a real pain. I'm not sure why it happens, though, because I've seen many elements fired to death that did not stick. Still trying to figure out what causes some to stick and not others. But if you keep up on your element changes, replacing them before they are toast, it doesn't happen. Pretty much all kiln manufacturers recommend replacing elements once the resistance is off by 10%.

If an element becomes completely fused into a holder, like from a glob of glaze or something like that, the holder can be removed and replaced without harm to the brick. You just have to crack the holder with a hammer and pull it out. Then nip off the bottom lip of the new holder and put it in, with the top lip holding it in place. I've done this a couple of times on my kilns and it works very well. Detailed instructions here.

I've also noticed this fired to death melt down with the L&L's. My earliest one 74-92 would get this at times. I would often use the kiln until the next year budget allowed new elements. Some times the old ones would heat up in a particular area-often in the center of the holder. You could see this heat up when checking the kiln elements visually. It often happened near a turn in the kiln wall. Don't really know why. The holders also made it easy to "force weld" a break when a spare element was not around.

[neilestrick]

The effect of 'fired to death' in a kiln without element holders is that the element coils tend to expand and deform as they age. Because they are typically made to fit relatively snugly in the grooves in the brick, the bricks get chipped or worse when trying to remove them. No matter what kind of kiln you have, it will cost you more in the long rung if you don't keep up on your element changes. If the brakes on your car start to grind, you don't keep using them until they won't work any more....