Kiln plug caught FIRE

[NickHFSS]

What gauge is the wire, and what's the power draw on your oven? Did you build this or buy?

I have no idea , it was build by a local who has being doing this for over 30 years so he knows his stuff , mostly for enamel work but its the same just different materials used , mine has old soviet kiln parts that are bombproof.

 

[NickHFSS]

as i remember its about 3 or 3.5kw

 

[weo]

but the wire coming out of it is a bit warm , just a tidy bit

Depending on what "a tidy bit warm" means, is this is an issue? I have many store bought appliances where the cord can be perceived as a "tiny bit" warmer than room temp, especially when the room temperature is on the cold side.

 

[Drew Riley]

You're probably pushing about 15 amps, give or take a couple. This means your wire should be at least 14awg, and 12awg would be better. It looks like your power cord is somewhere between 14 and 16 gauge. (It should be printed somewhere on the side of the outer sheath before it goes into the box.)

In general practice, you'll likely be ok, but I would keep an eye on that wire. Any time you start getting kinks and cracks in your wires, it weakens them. Eventually your wire still begin to break down, get brittle, start arcing, heating up, etc... until they completely fail.

As for temps, you should be able to find what kind of wire/insulation is being used (written on the side of the sheath once again, like THHN or something similar) and look up its temp rating. It's normally something like 160F to 180F, IIRC. (About what a cup of coffee would be). It could be slightly higher or lower, but if you can hold it between your fingers, you'll likely be ok. Just don't hold the cracked area.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

My confusion was you calling it the "PLUG" that had fire shoot out. It was the "SOCKET".

The insulation on the wires burned up due to overload and shorted to the case and BOOM, fire shoots out. Replace it with a 12 gauge single socket extension cord. Check the plug on the power cord to the oven for damage and replace it if needed.