paragon kiln element not working

[OracleGlassArts]

Hi everyone, ive been having a problem with my f-130 the last month or so. one of the two elements isnt working most of the time, this started happening on its own after a year of steady use. sometimes it chooses to come on though, again without any cause. ive tried paragon's customer service and the lady had me check for loose connections on the controller and element connections, but i did not find anything to be visibly wrong.

can anyone help me diagnose this? its still working but i worry about peg legging it on one element.
thanks in advance

[Mike_Aurelius]

Is there one or more contactors (relays) between the controller and the element? It is quite possible that the contactor has given up the ghost.

Many times, the contactors are not rated high enough (amperage plus at least 30%) for the current and the contacts get fried. Very occasionally the coil itself inside the contactor will burn out, but thats a very rare occurance.

Disconnect the power supply, open up the electrical box and put an ohmmeter across the contactor leads (from the power supply and to the elements), then manually close the contactor. If the ohmmeter still reads infinity, the contactor is bad and needs to be replaced.

[OracleGlassArts]

ill look into that, would you say its likely to be found near the controller? the lady from paragon didnt mention a relay but that sounds right. and the ohm meter will still (if its working) read when i manually close even without the power connected?

[Mike_Aurelius]

The ohm meter will read zero or a small amount if the contacts are functional, infinity if not (when closed).

The relay is usually located near the controller, although sometimes it may be in a separate box near where the power lines feed into the kiln itself.

[brads]

Mike is very likely right about the problem being a bad contactor. But if that turns out not to be the case there are two other things you should check. One is to make sure the connections at the end of the elements are tight. The other is to look for a cracked element, especially where they go through the wall of the kiln. Both of these have the potential to cause the problem you mentioned, although a bad contactor is the most likely culprit.

In fact, check your element connections anyway. They should be checked periodically since they can loosen over time and cause problems.

Brad

[OracleGlassArts]

right on very helpful advice. i still gotta track down a multimeter but ill keep posting with success or further troubles

[MikeyMan]

The last time I had intermittent problems with my F-130, the relay was going out. If I restarted it a few times I could get it to heat up. Eventually that wouldn't work anymore and the relay had to be replaced. So if it's not a loose connection...maybe a failed relay.

[brads]

There are usually (but not always) two relays/contactors on a Paragon F-130. You'll find them inside the control box on the front of the kiln. The photo below shows the inside of the box. It's a screenshot taken from this Paragon video. Skip to the 2:50 point in the video to see the relays.

[dnug42]

good luck...just had small prob. wiith my f-130 but was able to work it out with the help of paragon...sound like yer getting some good advice...