After the last firing I enlisted Craig in helping me replace the elements (electricity freaks me out). I watched the Clayshare video with guest star Drew from Clayscapes so I felt really prepared. The video is fantastic and bonus - they were replacing elements in the same kiln I have. When we opened up the kiln found an issue that was not talked about. Two of my terminals were cracked.




My initial hope was that it was just a superficial crack, but taking the screws out revealed - nope - cracked all the way through




Terminals aren't all that expensive, but I still have no idea what would cause two of them to be cracked. If you know - let me know!
While we had stuff open I checked the thermocouples because that's what Drew said to do in the video. They were in rough shape so before I placed my order I added them as well.
So between the elements, the terminals, and the thermocouples my kiln is getting like a $600 face lift. To be fair, I haven't had to do any kiln maintenance since I got my kiln and I've done almost 100 firings.




While I wait for the parts to arrive I still need to scrape down and re-kiln wash my shelves. Almost all of them have glaze drips after that last disastrous firing.