Tried casting with a new mold yesterday. Everything was going fine then the spout started acting like it was getting clogged. It's happened before and I used a piece of a fish hook to clear it. Yesterday when I tried to clear it, it stuck open and drained the pot. Luckily I keep a small pan under the spout. Once it was empty (and still hot) I removed the rod. I couldn't see anything in the valve but used a piece of wire to clear anything out that may have been in it. Reassembled and everything went fine until I got the mold up to temp again, then the scenario played out again. This time I let the pot cool down, disassembled again and tried cleaning but still didn't see anything that would cause a problem. Heated everything back up, cast a few bolts and same thing happened again. Has anyone else experienced this?