Kiln not firing

[tom suter]

I have a Evenheat 23" Kiln probably 10 -12 years old.
I do not use it much lately .
I have done several firing in the past 3 or 4 months no problem.
Yesterday I went to do a fire polish and it clicked a few times and did nothing.
No error codes, it just said not today buddy,would not fire.
I unplugged it and used a different program number,got it to fire.
Tonight once again it refuses to fire, it clicks 3 or 4 times like it is going to ramp up and nothing.
I looked at the plug to see if it nasty from over the years but it has no sign of corrosion.
I am just not sure where to start with it.
I can do what fire polishing I need to do for my ring cabs in my small kiln.
Every now and then I get a chance to play and need to get it back up for those days.

Thanks for any suggestion.

Tom

[Tony Smith]

Since you're hearing the relays click, that says the controller is working. If you hadn't gotten it to fire, I would have told you to cycle your circuit breaker, because half of your 220 volt circuit was off. I can't imagine what would make your 220 circuit intermittent, other than a loose connection. The fact that you got it to fire makes this a bit of a mystery. I would unplug the kiln, open the controller box and check for loose connections. Plug it back in and enter a new, one step program for 9999 to 1500 and try running it.

Tony

[Mike Griffin]

As my kiln is quite new I don't have any problems. As it ages though I expect that the relays will need to be replaced, because the contacts have eroded. Could that be the problem?
Mike

[Jeanne]

No error codes is tough. My guess is to either contact Evenheat or Bartlett (my guess for your controller manufacturer). Bartlett tech is helpful. http://www.bartinst.com/contact.html

[Bert Weiss]

First take a look at the relay. Is there any discoloration? Then I would look for a break in the element. You can make a temporary fix by overlapping a few coils. This can last long enough to order new elements. Tony's suggestion about checking the breaker is another good one. There are only 2 more components to the system, the thermocouple and the controller. Check for loose connections. Intermittent is tough.

[tom suter]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did tun the breaker off and back on. it did the same.
I think this weekend I will buy a new breaker and try that. If that fails I will open it up
and try cleaning all the contacts.

Thanks

Tom