kiln side elements not working

[Deb Brown]

I have an Evenheat Rampmaster II, GTS 23-13. The side elements are not coming on when I fire. The lid element works fine. I just ordered new elements and replaced them, turned kiln on, and grrr, they are still not coming on. I do not understand what is going on, I am stumped, ----anyone with advise or input??? I need HELP...

[Tony Smith]

Sounds like a failed relay.

Buy a pair and replace them both.

Tony

[Arnold Howard]

I agree that the relay has probably failed. A relay is a switch that turns on the elements. The temperature controller turns on the relays. The heating elements in a glass kiln rarely fail. It is almost always a relay. The exception is the elements in crucible kilns.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

[Deb Brown]

Thank you for your input Tony and Arnold - I will look into replacing the relay(s), this makes sense to me .

[Arnold Howard]

Deb, the problem could also be a disconnected wire. A multimeter would help determine why the elements are not turning on.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

[Deb Brown]

thanks, input re thermocouple very useful, really appreciate being able to get advise,

[Deb Brown]

Thanks Arnold, I have a multimeter. I will open up the kiln electrical again and take a look at everything, see what I can see, test what I can test.

[Brad Walker]

Tony and or Arnold - I just looked in my kiln owners manual, kiln maintenance, and it does not show me a relay. I am not sure what a relay would look like, is this different than the thermocouple? Where in the kiln would the relays be? In the electrical connections area where the leads come from the controller , or in the controller itself. What do they look like?

The relay is inside the controller box.

It looks like this: https://shopevenheat.com/index.php?main ... ts_id=1484

[Arnold Howard]

Deb, please be very careful with a multimeter. If you test the connections with the kiln plugged in, you will be exposed to live wires.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

[Deb Brown]

Hi Arnold, Brad and Tony - I have used my multimeter ( with care ) and determined that no power is getting to my side elements, and made sure power is coming into the kiln ok. Therefore you are correct that it is the relay that needs replacing. I will order one tomorrow, and am confident I can install, thanks so much for all the help.!!

[Valerie Adams]

For a lack of power to one set of elements, I'd always replace relays first, since they're easy.
I had an extremely severe meltdown once, where the elements sagged out of the lid and were embedded in melted glass on the shelf. I cleaned them up, got them back into their groves, and continued to use that kiln without issue until I sold it.

Replacing relays are much easier than replacing elements!

[Tony Smith]

Hi Arnold, Brad and Tony - I have used my multimeter ( with care ) and determined that no power is getting to my side elements, and made sure power is coming into the kiln ok. Therefore you are correct that it is the relay that needs replacing. I will order one tomorrow, and am confident I can install, thanks so much for all the help.!!

Please throw the circuit breaker and pull the plug before you do anything with the relays. The relays are always live when plugged in regardless of the switch position.

Tony

[Deb Brown]

Thanks Tony. I have now successfully replaced my relay, and yayyyyy!!!!! my kiln is now working again. This solution is directly because of the input from this forum, I thank you all with all of my heart!!!