An email from a customer who replaced 3 thermocouples (at no charge under our pro-rated warranty):

Dear L&L – I love my eQuad-Pro kiln. I have two kilns: an older (and larger) Skutt and then my slightly smaller and much newer L&L. They are both wonderful, but one of these days (hopefully years from now!) when my older kiln just can’t go any more, I anticipate replacing her with a new L&L.

I already had the Skutt Envirovent before I purchased the L&L kiln. It was also the only brand/type available at the little clay shop in C—- that I was working with at that point in time. When it comes time to replace it, I’ll likely shop around a little bit more. The elements on the L&L are still looking pretty good: no sagging, no cracks, no sections “falling over”. She’s definitely taking a longer time to get to temperature (at first she was getting to cone 7 in 8-8.5 hours, and now it’s closer to a 10-10.5 hour run), but I checked each element a few weeks ago, all of the elements are still functioning.

I purchased this kiln because she’s a production-level kiln, and I fire a lot. I bisque fire to cone 06 and glaze fire to cone 5, 6, or 7 depending on the glazes I’m running, though the majority of glaze firings are to a cone 7. I also routinely have a 3-10 minute hold at the top of a cone 7 glaze run. She has fired approximately 120 times since I purchased her (I can count in the kiln log if you need an exact number) – the fact that it took this long for the thermocouples to have problems is actually quite amazing; the fact that the elements are still good is nothing short of miraculous! And this is just one reason why I anticipate that, whenever I’m forced to buy another kiln, it’ll be another new L&L eQuad-Pro.

I’ve been careful and lucky, and so there haven’t (fingers crossed!) been any glaze issues with splashing glaze on elements or brick or anything like that. I love her and want her to last (if possible) the rest of my life. I hope this information helps! Please let me know if there’s any other information you would find helpful. And, of course, thank you for your helpfulness and your patience with me yesterday as I was freaking out over Octavia (yes, my kilns have names) having thermocouple issues!

? Warmest thoughts, H—-