Thread: Safety solenoids for gas kiln?

This is not really metalworking, but I'm looking for some help with a gas burner safety setup.
I have a functioning burner witb a manual shut-off valve and a pair of gas solenoids that came of a functioning commercial kiln. The two solenoids are in series and one of them has a very small copper tube attached which I suspect goes to a pilot light. Their function would be for one to shut the main burner off if it blew out (to prevent gas entering a red hot kiln). The second one presumably to turn everything off if the pilot went out, e.g. if the gas bottle went empty during firing (again to stop gas going in when a new bottle was connected).
The solenoid coils are 240V AC.
So what is needed to switch them off when these fault conditions arise? What can sense them and what controls the coil power?
Lastly, there are two separate insulated spark electrodes on the end of the burner (I assume for safety/redundancy). Is an ignition spark kept going all the time on a kiln to ensure any gas is ignited before entering the kiln? If so, how is that done?
I asked a friendly gas installer, but he said he would rather a) not enlighten me and b) also not install anything for me because his insurace won't allow him to do anything other than domestic heating and hot water...

Cheers,
Joe