Replacement Kiln Element

[Patrickknives]

I replaced by kiln element once, I got the wrong one and it takes forever (4+ hours) to get close to 2000F. I am running 240 v off a 30 amp breaker. I run two elements in series to get the length I need. I think I just bought elements with too low of a wattage. Is that so? I see some that are 1000 to 1200 watts, will that speed up my heating. Prior to change out, it did reach 2000 in little over and hour. This is an old metal burnout oven, not sure of the make but I converted to a digital controller with all hefty stuff so it should handle the extra wattage.

 

[Kieran Klein]

If I read what your saying correctly you are running 2 220v elements in a series. I did the same thing and took forever. From what I was told double stacking it in a series creates too much resistance and makes it heat slow. If you hooked them up in a parallel set up I believe you would be fixed or. Just use one 220v element. That's what I did and I went from 4 hrs to 1hr. However I would see what other have to say in case I'm wrong.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

This happens often with oven builds and re-builds. Before choosing the new coil resistance, learn to calculate Ohm's Law or use an online calculator like: http://www.anycalculator.com/ohmslaw.htm


If the oven is designed to run at 3600 watts on 220 VAC that is a coil with 13.44 ohms and it will draw 16.36 amps. If you used two coils, they need to total 13.44 ohms in whatever configuration they are wired in. Changing for series to parallel with multiple coils can really change things. This is where people go wrong. See the examples below:

If one 13.44 ohm coil was used, it would produce 3600 watts, and draw 16 amps.
If two coils are wired in series, and each is 6.72 ohm, it will produce 3600 watts and draw 16 amps.
If two coils are wired in parallel, and each coil is 26.88 ohm, the oven will produce 3600 watts and draw 16 amps.
If two 13.44 ohm coils are wired in series, it will only produce 1800 watts, ,and will draw only 8 amps.
If two 13.44 ohm coils are wired in parallel, it will produce 7200 watts and draw 32 amps.

 

[Kloepper Knife Works]

This happens often with oven builds and re-builds. Before choosing the new coil resistance, learn to calculate Ohm's Law or use an online calculator like: http://www.anycalculator.com/ohmslaw.htm


If the oven is designed to run at 3600 watts on 220 VAC that is a coil with 13.44 ohms and it will draw 16.36 amps. If you used two coils, they need to total 13.44 ohms in whatever configuration they are wired in. Changing for series to parallel with multiple coils can really change things. This is where people go wrong. See the examples below:

If one 13.44 ohm coil was used, it would produce 3600 watts, and draw 16 amps.
If two coils are wired in series, and each is 6.72 ohm, it will produce 3600 watts and draw 16 amps.
If two coils are wired in parallel, and each coil is 26.88 ohm, the oven will produce 3600 watts and draw 16 amps.
If two 13.44 ohm coils are wired in series, it will only produce 1800 watts, ,and will draw only 8 amps.
If two 13.44 ohm coils are wired in parallel, it will produce 7200 watts and draw 32 amps.

This is your answer. Time to pull out your multimeter.

 

[Patrickknives]

I looks like my error was running in series, I need to buy two coils, run in parallel and place one coil on each side of the oven. I should have the 32 amps needed for the 13.44 ohm.