Paragon Controller Overfiring

Steve Immerman · Post by **Steve Immerman** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:19 pm

Anybody have any insights:

Programed my Paragon GL22-AD with DTC 600 controller to fire to 1550 F.
The alarm is set to go off at 1700F.

I went out and came back, and the alarm was going off. The program was cooling down as it was supposed to. No error message on the controller, but it was clear that the glass was overfired. Large bubble on one piece, red, yellow and orange glass all had "struck".

The program continued to anneal and cool without incident. Reviewing the program, did not indicate any input error. The thermocouple must be working because it is reading an appropriate temperature now, and it notified the alarm to go off.

I called Paragon, and they said in the absence of an error message on the controller, they could not help. They suggested running the program again.

My concern is that maybe it will work next time, but not some other time...

Anybody have any experience with this?

Steve

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:25 pm

sticky relay? could be dirt, or the start of failure. i had a relay on my motorcycle that would be intermittant. it was sealed, so i just replaced it. took it apart and found weld marks on the contacts that caused partial making/breaking spots. the carbon sometimes insulated and sometimes conducted, depending upon how thick it was, along with some internal rust.

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:28 pm

Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum?

Replace the relays and if the control box gets hot, consider adding a small box fan.

You could also call Rob Bartlett and ask if he has any thoughts. Bartlett manufactured the DTC 600. (319)372-8366

Tony

Brock · Post by **Brock** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:33 pm

. . . Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum? . . .

We don't consider them OUR failures Tony, they weren't OUR kilns. Brock

Lionel · Post by **Lionel** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:48 pm

Call Paragon and ask for service. You can trade in your old one for a new Melinum version for 200 bucks.

If you ask for a new wire harnes it's another 10 but replaces everything.

Had the same problem and it went away.

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:26 pm

Brock wrote:. . . Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum? . . .

We don't consider them OUR failures Tony, they weren't OUR kilns. Brock

I was implying tandem kiln failures, not tandem B&A failures. Sorry for the confusion.

Tony

Brock · Post by **Brock** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:29 pm

Tony Smith wrote:
Brock wrote:. . . Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum? . . .

We don't consider them OUR failures Tony, they weren't OUR kilns. Brock
I was implying tandem kiln failures, not tandem B&A failures. Sorry for the confusion.

Tony

Nope. Just one kiln. Brock

Bert Weiss · Post by **Bert Weiss** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:34 am

Brock wrote:
Tony Smith wrote:
Brock wrote:. . . Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum? . . .

We don't consider them OUR failures Tony, they weren't OUR kilns. Brock
I was implying tandem kiln failures, not tandem B&A failures. Sorry for the confusion.

Tony
Nope. Just one kiln. Brock

We beat you at Millennium. We lost 2 Paragons to unknown electrical failure. Nobody could find the breaker box for them. The work had to be fired after the class was over and shipped. Sinks are just arriving back at their maker's home now. The problem was likely due to the funky electric system in the old school building, not the controllers.

On the other hand I thought that the old Paragon top loaders really sucked. They spalled rust whenever the lid was moved. It beats me why they designed it with mild steel holding the lid together and exposed to the hot kiln.

judith · Post by **judith** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:09 am

Brock wrote:
Tony Smith wrote:
Brock wrote:. . . Charlie may be right. Wasn't the GL24 the kiln that B&A had the tandem failures with at Vitrum? . . .

We don't consider them OUR failures Tony, they weren't OUR kilns. Brock
I was implying tandem kiln failures, not tandem B&A failures. Sorry for the confusion.

Tony
Nope. Just one kiln. Brock

Yep,
Just one kiln....and Paragon gave us SUPERIOR customer service on it. It turned out to be a faulty relay particular to our electrical situation - 208. We replaced the relays and have had NO problems whatsoever. We fire 5 Paragons (4 GL24's and 1 GL64) daily with a wide variety of firing schedules and projects and are happy to report that the kilns give excellent results. We certainly give them thorough workouts!
judith

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:58 am

judith wrote:
Yep,
Just one kiln....and Paragon gave us SUPERIOR customer service on it. It turned out to be a faulty relay particular to our electrical situation - 208. We replaced the relays and have had NO problems whatsoever. We fire 5 Paragons (4 GL24's and 1 GL64) daily with a wide variety of firing schedules and projects and are happy to report that the kilns give excellent results. We certainly give them thorough workouts!
judith

Well, I'm going to blame Phil for my bad information and me for a really good memory of this quote from a post in August, 2002:

On the minus side, Brock and Avery recently did a class at Vitrium Studios I beleive and had two GL24's fail (the controllers failed). I've heard this complaint about a number of kilns and again I'm not so sure if it is Paragon, and not how ALL of the kiln manufacturers mount their controllers.

Sorry for repeating the misinformation.

Tony

Brock · Post by **Brock** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:07 am

Sorry for repeating the misinformation.

Tony

Hmmmm . . . wouldn't this be repeating it AGAIN!!!!! Brock

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:09 am

Brock wrote:Sorry for repeating the misinformation.

Tony

Hmmmm . . . wouldn't this be repeating it AGAIN!!!!! Brock

You mean rerepeating?

Tonytony

Brock · Post by **Brock** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:22 am

That's funny Tony. Wasn't there a group, Tony, Toni, Tone? Brock

Phil Hoppes · Post by **Phil Hoppes** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:35 pm

Hmmm.....well I would swear that I was told at Jackie's class that it was a double kiln failure with a meltdown in both. I thought that was might strange at the time but anyway I blame it on a geriatric moment. I have that privlage. I've earned it.

Tony Smith · Post by **Tony Smith** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 3:01 pm

Why Phil? When did you get geriatricized????

Tony