PLEASE DO NOT TURN OFF KILNS unless you are the person who loaded them, or you have been taught how to tell if the cycles are done and they are safe to turn off and open the kiln door.
Yesterday, sometime between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM someone turned off the purple kiln in hot crafts while a project was still running in it (during a 14+ hour firing). Doing this can absolutely cause projects to be ruined, leading to too fast cooling and cracking/explosion of the project pieces. Fortunately, this time, the project was fine and no damage was done, but if the kiln had been turned off at an earlier stage of the cycle, it would not have been so lucky.
Likewise, if the kiln says a cycle is complete, but it is still at an elevated temperature (above 200°F), do not open the kiln door, as the slow cooling of the closed and well insulated kiln is an important part of ensuring projects do not crack while cooling to room temperature.
