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I have recently purchased a top loading kiln. I noticed this weekend that it seems to be getting grit or tiny pieces of fire brick on top of my work. I have brushed the top and gone over it with a vacuum to remove any loose particles. Does anyone have any other solutions?

Check out the Kiln Repair Cement thread in this forum.

I have used the cement to paint my lid and it worked to stop the brick from dropping off in bits and chunks. i got it form Ed Hoy, but I expect a ceramic store would carry it too. The other thing I did was to quit crash cooling. I used to always crash my brick kiln, and that is really hard on the brick. So if you do that, cut it out

There seem to be some who feel the cement isn't such a good fix, but it worked for me and I did it a few years ago and no more brick bits since then...no flashing or crashing of the kiln either. Who knows for sure what the fix was, but my guess is it's a bit of both.

Casey,
I had the a major cracking problem with my new Jen Kin. I even purchase the special cement that the ceramic people use. The I decided that I spent too much money on this kiln to be trying to patch things up and I called my supplier, Marty and CDV and he put me in touch with Jen Kin. I sent them some pictures via email and they responded with in a month with a new lid, without any argument. Apparently the first lid had been damaged in shipping. I couldn't be happier. No more crap falling on my work. So call the manufacture and tell them what it happening instead of trying to fix it. It just isn't worth the hassel in my opinion. My second kiln is developing some nasty cracks as well, for no apparent reason and I'll be replacing that one too if it gets any worse. In the meantime, I always vacume my lids, just because some stuff will always work itself loose and fall out.

Good luck.

Rob

Thank you both for the information. I have been very careful with closing the kiln and keeping it brushed/vacuumed and it seems to be helping. If this does not work I will look into the cement. It doesn't seem that the top has any damage to it but you never know. Thanks again!

Caseyalb,
I had a simular problem with a new top fire kiln I bought. Even though I vaccuumed it good it still was dropping stuff into my glass. Finally, I took our air compressor on a low pressure and blew out the grooved area on the lid. I think that when they route out the grooves for the elements it is a pretty dusty affair, the vaccum wasn't able to suck it out well enough. After the compressor thing I then vaccumed and haven't had any problem since.
Lynda

Thanks Lynda. That sounds like a good idea too. I do have access to a compressor so I will try that.