Knowledgebase

A customer writes: I have the Vent-Sure from L&L...great product. When firing glazes what is a good temp to turn off the vent so kiln can hit target temp in my case 2190 Deg F. Do glazes off-gas after say 2000 degrees? Is there a general temperature to turn off vent?

Answer:

• Generally speaking it is best for your kiln to leave the Vent-Sure on for the entire time the kiln is heating up. Mostly this is to get all of the corrosive fumes before they get to your elements, wiring, and other metal parts of the kiln.
• You can leave it on for the cooling as well if you need it to cool off more quickly.
• Usually a slower cool-down is preferred though, so often the fan is turned off for the cool-down.
• High-fire clays and glazes out-gas until the kiln begins to cool. Once the glaze has set, and the clay has vitrified no more gasses escape.
• The heat in a red-hot kiln is almost all radiant heat. The hotter the kiln gets,

It is possible to convert a J230 manual kiln into a JD230 automatic kiln. 

(1) L-G-PC50/72 50 amp power cord (1) L-A-P300/31 Complete control box (3) T-G-E800/00 8 gauge TCs (3) T-G-MKIT/00 TC mounting kits (3) T-G-TUBE/00 TC protection tubes (3) L-J-JC36/20 20 amp Jumper Cords (3) L-G-JMP6/00 Element box jumper wires (1) C-G-PEEP/00 Peep hole plug

Highly recommended: (6) E-E-23TX/31 Stronger 48 amp elements

This question gets asked a lot around the holidays. L&L's official line on cooling the kiln is leave it alone until it reaches 200F, then you can open it and unload it.

However, I have heard of all sorts of different cooling practices, and there are up and downsides to each. The upside is obviously a faster cooldown. The downsides are things like possibly cracking pieces in the kiln, possibly cracking the kiln's firebricks or lid/ floor slab, crazing (fine network of cracks) the surfaces of glazed ware etc. Here is how I was taught to cool the kiln back in school:

• First leave all the peephole plugs in until you cool off to about 1000F, at that point you can remove them. Put them somewhere safe and non-flammable.
• Put a non-flammable 1" prop (kiln post or better yet a chunk of firebrick if you have one) under the lid in the front of the kiln around 500F or 600F.
• Listen carefully for any pinging sounds. Pinging means

In a word- No.

Yes - there is no problem putting a smaller element in a larger holder. Just be careful on the first firing so that the element doesn't come out of the holder while it is still "springy". Once the element has "relaxed" it will be fine.

• You can try to restart the kiln after getting an error code.
• Some messages, like flashing ErrP and FAIL, will not necessarily turn off the kiln.
• Depending on the problem, re-starting it may or may not let it finish the firing, or it may not even be able to start up again.
• An Errd will usually not re-start easily because the temperature top to bottom is drastically different.
• An Err1 at the end of the firing will re-start but will probably re-occur in about 22 minutes.
• A FAIL message will not go away even if the problem is fixed during the firing. The kiln will still be firing with the FAIL message flashing along with the number of the TC that failed. Stopping and then re-starting the kiln after fixing the problem with the TC circuit is the only way to erase the FAIL message and continue firing.
• ErrP flashing with the temperature means that the kiln is still firing, after just a short power outage or interference. Just press

Question: We received this semester a DaVinci 2327-D and I'm hoping you can help us with some venting questions.

When our kiln room was set up, the designers created a vent system which linked all three kilns via flexible ductwork to a main duct with a large fan system and we assumed we would vent this new kiln the same way the last one was.  The duct connects to the lower rear side of the kiln, (as opposed to under the floor) similar to the Bailey venting system.

In the manual we received with this kiln, the Vent-Sure Vent System is shown, and now the HVAC folks here, having seen that manual, say they will only hook that system up because that's what's in the book.  But is seems to me that other than being mounted on the bottom, it's not much different.

Can you offer a suggestion or opinion about this. I certainly understand the efficiency of the Vent-Sure Vent, but as ours are linked, does it sound like we should add your system in? Since the fan

I have several e28-T kilns. I'm considering buying the Advancer kiln shelves made for the electric kiln. I like the idea of less density, lighter weight, and no warping. We fire all kilns almost every other day, they are heavily used. Do you have any input on using these new shelves in this model?

Advancer shelves are great - just very expensive. If you can afford them, go for the investment. Do be sure to keep them totally dry because if they get water in them they can explode.

L&L does not carry these shelves because they are so expensive and they are a specialty item. The major retail outlet in the US can be found at this link: Click Here. Some other major distributors may have these.

It is fine to go through a roof with the L&L Vent-Sure kiln fumes vent system.

Sometimes when you press the Bisque or Glaze button on the One-Touch control you are not able to change the options. The control does nothing.

Couple of possibilities here...

First is that the kiln must be on the IDLE screen when the Bisque or the Glaze button is pressed and held down. If the screen reads something besides IDLE, then pressing the Bisque or Glaze buttons will do nothing.

If you are on the IDLE screen, you press and hold Bisque or Glaze, and nothing happens- it still just says IDLE and the temperature- then try it again. Press and hold Bisque or Glaze again for longer than 5 seconds. If it still does not change, the controller must be replaced.

One thing to note- if you press and hold Bisque or Glaze, and it does change to where you can change what the Bisque or Glaze program is, you only have a few seconds to change things there before the display times out and goes back to IDLE.

I notice the temperature on the display is saying 121F. It's not 121 in the studio. An independent Pyrometer says 80F. There is no error message on display. Did I do something wrong?

See this: hotkilns.com/thermocouple-cone-offset
There is an 18 Deg F offset programmed into the control to compensate for the thermocouple protection tube. Nothing is wrong - just assume the control won't be accurate at room temperature.

Even though you know the kiln is not that hot: this indicates a thermocouple failure.

The molecules of air (which expand during the heating of the kiln) do not carry many BTUs. The hottest the air gets at the output of the motor is about 140°F. Moreover the heat quickly disipates as the vented air moves beyond the output of the motor. It is not much more than a dryer vent.

However, the final decision to use an insulated or heat-isolated device through a wall is up to the individual installer and must follow any local codes. 

• You should vent a test kiln if your regular kiln is vented.
• You want to recreate as closely as possible everything in the test kiln that is happening in the regular kiln in order to get real feedback from what you are testing.
• Any electric kiln will benefit from a vent.
• You can hook up the Vent-Sure to the Doll Kilns.
• About a 1/8" hole on the .5 cubic foot Doll Kiln should be sufficient.

• Before you purchase oil, check to be sure that you do not have a motor with sealed bearings.
• A motor with sealed bearings is permanently lubricated and does not require oil.
• If you have this type of motor there will not be any oil ports on the motor in which to add oil.
• The only motor that we have used that requires oil has a label on it that says Dayton Model 4C446. If you have this model, any lubricating oil will work including 3 in 1 oil found in every hardware store.

If the controller is in the limit state (i.e. LMT flashing in the display), you must use the Up Arrow button to raise the Setpoint above the current temperature reading. Then press the Start/Stop/Enter button on the right to Reset the control.

Once the kiln is properly calibrated after the test firing, it will fire very reliably for many firings.  The digital controller achieves this reliability by constantly comparing the thermocouple (TC) readings to the program that it is following.  Having multiple TCs in the kiln makes this a redundant operation as well. While calibration issues like firing a little too hot or cool are common, it is very rare to hear that someone seriously overfired a digital L&L kiln.

That said, there are still a few ways to seriously overfire the kiln that the controller cannot prevent. Here are some examples:

• The relay is told by the controller when to turn power on and off to the elements. It makes the clicking sound in the control box
• If the relay sticks closed- fails and stays on all the time- it will not turn off from the lack of a signal from the controller, like it should. Even when the controller says the program is complete or

Download a file of the DynaTrol standard programs in Excel format here.

Specifically this error code means that during a cooling segment in the programmed firing, one of the thermocouple temperatures is more than 50 degrees above the set point for longer than 18 seconds.

In other words, the kiln is cooling off. The programmed rate of cooling is lets say 400 degrees F per hour. This is the rate of descent that the set point will travel as it moves through the program.

The DynaTrol tries to get the thermocouple readings to follow the set point. It does this by turning the different kiln sections on or off.

There is a limitation to how quickly the kiln can respond to a change in the set point’s behavior. Normally this does not matter, but during a controlled cool down, if the set point cools faster than the natural rate of the kiln cooling, it can be enough to set off the E- 4 (E-4).

Typically E- 4 (E-4) will be seen by glass artists, or by people using a two step slow cooling for pottery.

Glass

One of the most difficult kiln performance problems to address is a problem with the electrical supply to the kiln. The apparent symptoms might be an Error 1 (E1), sluggish heat up, or poorly fired work.

Kilns are designed to operate at particular voltages. Typically (in the US) this is either 240 or 208 volts although it can be 480 volts (mostly industrial) In many non-US locations 380 volts/220 volts is common. Just because a circuit box is labeled for a particular voltage does not mean it can deliver that voltage consistently.

A kiln is a large resistive load that will pull a lot of electricity. When you turn the kiln on the voltage will decrease. Voltage can be compared to water pressure. Imagine a water hose that is full where the nozzle is turned off or down. There is lots of pressure in the hose making it rather stiff. As soon as you open the nozzle the hose goes slack – because the pressure goes down. In the same way when you turn on the kiln chances are

An element connection can begin to glow if it is overheating. There are a few ways this can happen.

If different materials were used in the element connection ... like if you went to the hardware store and got regular zinc plated washers, bolts, or nuts to replace the high temperature stainless steel hardware, OR if you used hardware store wire terminals instead of factory high temp wire terminals in the connection point.

If the connection point is not tight enough... A loose or even a somewhat snug connection there can overheat from not enough surface area contacting between the parts. Element connection points must be as tight as they can be (without stripping it).

If the element tail is wrapped too many times around the bolt... One wrap only, with no overlap. Snip off the excess element wire. The element tail gets hot too so the more times it wraps around the bolt, the hotter the bolt gets.

You will need to replace the bolt and

Indicates the thermocouple has failed. Replace the defective thermocouple. To clear the error, press any key.
Errd Displayed whenever the kiln temperature is 100°F (38°C) above the traveling set-point, which is the current desired temperature in the kiln. The traveling set-point will increase or decrease according to the programmed rate.

Displayed whenever the kiln temperature is rising during an up ramp slower than 15°F/hr. (9°C/hr) If this rate continues for 8 minutes the firing will be stopped. Err1 may be an indication that the elements are worn or that a relay has stopped working.

Displayed whenever there is a power interruption that is long enough to stop the firing. If the power interruption is brief, the kiln will continue to fire when power is restored; in this case, there will be no indication of a power failure. To clear the error, press any key.

Displayed whenever the kiln

There are a few things to check to help remedy the problem and get your controller's WiFi up and running.

Using the WiFi opens up new possibilities with the Genesis controller. Not only does it allow for software updates as soon as they are available, but users can also send firing info to a computer on the same network. Bartlett has an app available to allow for remote monitoring of your kiln as well.

To get your WiFi up and running, check these few things:

The OTHER button contains a menu which contains many of the different user-programmable settings. As you press OTHER again and again the menu will scroll by. You can press REVIEW SEG to go backwards in the menu. NOTE: You can not access the Other menus while the control is firing a program.

ERCd - Used to turn ON or turn OFF the error codes. When you receive your Dynatrol the error codes are turned on. In most cases, you will want the error codes on. They can be turned off if you are doing special firings, such as jewelry or glass firing where the kiln is opened while hot. Turning the error codes off turns off the dynamic zone control feature that keeps the temperature in the kiln even top to bottom. It eliminates nuisance shut downs but side also eliminates built in fail-safe measures that help prevent mistakes.

Press