How to Control the Cooling
Rate of an S-Series Kiln
After you hear the Kiln Sitter weight drop and the kiln
shuts off, turn the kiln switches to the OFF position. Add
more time on the Limit
Timer. Raise the weight and
press the Kiln Sitter plunger
(the button that turns on the
Kiln Sitter). Then gently lower
the weight. The kiln is now fir-
ing again. Please be aware that
the Kiln Sitter is operating on
manual and will not shut off
the kiln.
With a pyrometer, adjust
the switches to maintain the
desired cooling rate. When the
needle on the pyrometer goes
too high, lower the switch set-
tings. When the needle goes
too low, raise the switch
settings.
If you don't have a pyrometer, you can still control the
cooling rate by observing the
color of the firing chamber. (You
can see the color through the
peephole and around the edge of
the lid.) You might want to ex-
periment with a test sample be-
fore adjusting the cooling rate of
a full load of ware.
Note:
You can set the Limit
Timer for the length of the
desired cooling time.
SnF-Series Models:
Non-Digital Automatic
Kilns
The SnF-series kilns fire in stages. Set the switches at
the beginning of the firing, and the kiln will automatically
go through its firing stages,
turning itself up at the proper
time.
WARNING: After the
Kiln Sitter shuts the
k i l n
o f f ,
t u r n
a l l
switches to their OFF
position.
The top switch is an infinite control. When you engage
the Kiln Sitter and turn on the top switch, the elements
controlled by that switch cycle on and off. You will hear
them hum as they turn on. A click followed by silence
means the elements for that switch have cycled off. The
higher the setting,
the longer the ele-
ments stay on during
each cycle. On the
MAX (Maximum, or
High) position, the
elements stay on
continuously. The
setting on the top
switch remains the
same throughout the
firing unless you
manually change it.
The
second
switch is a timer. It
does not cycle on and
off like an infinite
control. When you
turn the timer knob
pointer to a number,
you are NOT turn-
ing on the heating el-
ements for that
switch. Instead, you
are setting the timer
for the hours of fir-
ing that will elapse before its elements turn on. The
switch-timer will begin counting down its time only when
the top switch is turned on.
The third switch (if your kiln has one) is also a timer.
The third switch begins counting down its time only
when the second switch runs out of time.
When the timers run out of time, they click on. To turn
them back off, turn clockwise one more click. Do this af-
ter the Kiln Sitter shuts off at the end of a firing.
In summary, the heating elements controlled by the
top switch come on at the beginning of the firing. The el-
ements powered by the second switch (and third, if your
kiln has one) remain off until the timer runs out of time.
SnF-82 & SnF-82-3
These kilns fire in two stages: LOW and HIGH. Turn
the top switch to the amount of power that you want dur-
ing LOW, the first stage.
The second switch is a timer. Turn the switch pointer
to the number of hours that you want to fire the kiln on
LOW. As the kiln fires, you will notice that the pointer
gradually moves toward the ON position. When the time
is up, the second switch turns on stage two elements full
power. The kiln is then firing on HIGH.
Look inside your kiln. It has eight rows of brick grooves
each containing an element. Counting down from the
top, switch #1 controls elements 2, 4, 6 and 8. Switch #2
controls elements 1, 3, 5 and 7.
SnF-24, SnF-24-3 & SnF-28-3
SnF kilns with three switches fire in three stages:
LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. Three-switch kilns oper-
ate the same as the two-switch kilns just described except
13
Set the Limit Timer.
A pyrometer measures the
heat inside a kiln.
