samf95•7mo ago

Vent: My kiln door seal is failing and I'm losing heat during firings.

The rubber gasket on my kiln is cracked. Has anyone found a good replacement that holds up to high temps?

3 comments

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3 Comments

the_linda7mo ago

Ceramic fiber gasket tape works way better than rubber. Got mine from a pottery supply site, it handles the heat no problem.

4

mary_johnson527mo ago

Tore out my old crumbling seal last year after it started leaking heat bad. Went with a thick ceramic fiber rope gasket from a general furnace repair site, not even pottery specific. Stuff was cheap and I just used high temp silicone to glue it in place. That combo has survived maybe two dozen firings up to cone 6 so far without any shrinkage. What kind of temps are you usually firing to?

2

the_mary6mo ago

Hold up, using general furnace gasket material sounds risky to me. That stuff isn't made for the repeated thermal cycling a kiln goes through. I've seen it get brittle and flake apart after a while, leaving little fibers everywhere. Pottery specific products are tested for that exact environment. Saving a few bucks isn't worth the chance of a failed seal mid firing.

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