1) Vacuum Your Kiln Regularly. One of the best and easiest ways to maintain the health of your kiln is to vacuum it regularly. How often should you vacuum your kiln out? You should vacuum your kiln as often as possible. You don’t have to vacuum your kiln after every firing, but if you did…that wouldn’t be a bad thing. If you can vacuum your kiln once a month, you will be in the top 1% of kiln owners in terms of kiln cleanliness. If you want your kiln to stay in great shape and last a long time, vacuum it as often as possible. Use a strong shop vac with a HEPA filter and completely vacuum out the interior kiln chamber. Use a narrow nozzle attachment and carefully vacuum the heating element channels. Removing debris from the element channels will extend the life of your kiln. You can use a pair of needle nose pliers to gently lift the elements up in their channels to allow the vacuum nozzle to suck up debris from the bottom of the channels. Vacuum out any debris from the holes in your kiln floor. If there are chunks of clay in the vent holes, you can poke them down through the kiln bottom to clear them out. Use a brush attachment and vacuum the kiln floor, and side walls as well as the top rim and underside of the lid. Do this as often as possible and your kiln will thank you
2) Use A Downdraft Vent System. Using a downdraft vent system to remove the toxic and corrosive fumes from the kiln chamber during your firings will drastically improve the health and lifespan of your kiln. Not only is venting your kiln beneficial for your ceramic work, it is extremely beneficial for increasing the longevity of your kiln. Toxic and harmful fumes are generated during the firing process. Carbon dioxide, sulfur compounds, heavy metals, carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride and other harmful materials can saturate the air in your kiln room. If you’ve ever been in a studio or kiln room where a kiln is firing with no vent system, you may have experienced first hand the toxic and harmful atmosphere that be created during the firing process. Using a downdraft vent system will produce cleaner firings and better glaze results. Organic materials in the clay body will burn off during the bisque firing and will saturate the kiln chamber with a thick haze of fumes. If you turn on a downdraft vent system during the firing, you will see the kiln chamber environment clear immediately. This oxygen rich environment will improve glaze color, fit and will reduce the amount of glaze faults in your ware. When you operate a kiln without a downdraft vent system, these toxic and corrosive fumes can escape the kiln. As they exit the kiln chamber, they attack the metal housing and the electrical components of the kiln. A kiln operated for years with no vent system will literally eat itself from the inside out. If you care about your health,
your kiln and your ceramic work…vent your kiln!
3) Be Proactive With Heating Element And Thermocouple Replacement. You may be tempted to push your heating elements beyond their lifespan by squeezing as many firings out of them as possible. This might seem like a good way to save money on repair costs, but pushing your elements and thermocouples beyond their lifespan can wreak havoc on the structure of your kiln, and lead to more costly repairs in the long run. As heating elements age, they become extremely stiff and brittle and will actually grow in size. When you attempt to remove the heating elements from the element channels, you may damage the delicate kiln brick that houses the elements in your kiln. If you then repeat this process over and over, allowing your heating elements to become completely worn…the cumulative effect of damage to your element channels can destroy your kiln. Elements can burn out inside the element channels, causing molten metal to eat into the brick causing more costly and involved repairs. How many firings can you get out of your heating elements? The answer to that question is “it depends”. There are many factors that determine element lifespan including, firing temperature, organic materials found in the clay body, glaze materials, paper clay, armatures, wax resist etc. All of these materials can attack the heating elements and cause them to age faster than normally. As a general rule of thumb it is recommended to change your heating coils approximately every 100 to 150 firings. You may be able to get more firings than 150, but we have found that every 100 to 150 is the sweet spot for getting the most life out of your elements while at the same time minimizing risk to your kiln’s structure. When changing your heating elements, always vacuum out the element channels and kiln chamber before installing new ones to prevent contamination of your new coils. Regular scheduled maintenance of your kiln a little earlier than you might want is a sure fire way to help your kiln last a very long time.
4) Remove Clay Chunks And Debris From Your Element Channels. It is extremely common in electric kilns to find chunks of clay and glaze contamination in the heating element channels. Clay breakage caused by air bubbles, firing pieces that are too thick, firing work that is not completely bone dry, poor attachments, and weak spots can occur no matter how careful you are. When you see this material inside your kiln, vacuum it out completely. Use needle nose pilers to lift the heating elements up in their channels to allow the vacuum to remove the debris. Use those same needle nose pliers to remove by hand the stubborn chunks that escape the vacuum. This debris can come into contact with your heating elements, and can melt causing the heating element to fail. We have seen clay and glaze contamination turn molten and eat into the kiln brick, sometimes up to a few inches deep. During glaze firings, glaze ware can sometimes develop a bubble on the surface of the piece. This bubble can burst and a small droplet of molten glaze can land on a heating element. You should examine your heating elements after every firing, and if you see glaze contamination on a heating coil…replace that coil immediately. If you are close to needing a full set of coils, you should be proactive with the repairs and replace all of them. If the glaze contamination has worked its way down to the bottom of your heating element channel, gently dig out that chunk of glaze. Some of your kiln brick may come out with the glaze chunk, but this is better than leaving that material in the channel where it can damage the new heating element. If you have an L&L kiln with har ceramic element holders, you should remove and replace that element holder as well. Keeping your element channels clean and free of debris will keep your kiln and your wallet happy!
5) Keep A Firing Log, Kiln Condition, And Service History Spreadsheet. Maintaining accurate firing logs, keeping track of your kiln’s condition, and documenting your service history is a great way to maintain your kiln and extend it’s lifespan. Most newer models of electric kilns have a firing log tracker built into the controller. Use this firing log to keep track of heating element lifespan, relay health and service history. When you change your heating elements, write down the firing log number at the time of the repair. This will help to inform you of when you need to perform future repairs. Keep a spreadsheet of your firings, noting the program that you ran, the temperature fired to, the time it took to get to temperature, your pyrometric cone results, and any notes on glaze results. Keeping this information is a great way to monitor how your kiln is performing over time and can also help you forecast future repairs…allowing you to be proactive with your kiln service, thus extending the life of your kiln. Periodically check the components of your kiln. Examine your kiln’s power cord prong head, heating elements, element channels, thermocouples, and electrical components inside your control panel. Examine your power connection block, relays, and power wires that connect from the block to the relays and to the elements. Examine the connection points of these components and make notes of any corrosion or heat damage found. Keep all this information in your kiln data spreadsheet. If you are part of a shared workspace, keep the spreadsheet in a google sheet or some other shared document give other members of the studio access and editor privileges. Any time that something needs to be written down, it can be added to the shared file so that everyone has up to date information on kiln condition. This is even more helpful if you are part of a studio that has more than one kiln. Service history, replaced parts, thermocouple offsets, custom programs etc can all be tracked so that there are no surprises no matter who is firing the kiln. Keeping good data is one of the best ways to maintain and extend the life and health of your kiln.
BONUS TIPS:
*Keep the kiln lid closed at all times unless you are loading or unloading the kiln. Not only is it unsafe to keep a kiln lid open at all times (KILNS GET HOT!), but it also causes more wear and tear on the lid and lid hinge components.
*Never store anything on your kiln lid. Remember that kilns get hot! One of the most common causes of fires related to kilns happens when people are unaware that a kiln is firing. Towels, wooden ware boards, wheel bats, kiln gloves etc will catch on fire if placed on the lid of a firing kiln. This should go without saying, but it is easily overlooked- especially in shared studio environments.
*Keep your kiln room under lock and key. Keep kiln and kiln room access off-limits to untrained staff or studio members. Loading and firing kilns should only be performed by trained and experienced kiln operators. This may seem like a harsh rule, but kilns are some of the most important and expensive pieces of equipment in the studio. All it takes is one mistake by an untrained person to completely destroy a kiln. Be firm in this rule and limit access to these vital pieces of equipment.