Totally frustrated with my smoker and its the 2nd time I have used it. It won't heat up past 180. Its plugged directly into a grounded outlet, no extension cord. The fuse is not blown and all connections are secure. The smoker mechanism seems to work fine and the pucks do smoke and advance as normal. The lower heating element is glowing red but not brightly. Two digital thermometers verify its not getting above 180. Smoking a 15 pound turkey that was cooled to room temp before it was put in. I let it heat up to 180 for an hour empty and with the meat in it won't get above 160 now. The first time I used the smoker it heated right up to 340 degrees in about 30 mins and now it seems broken. Anyone have an ideas?
what is the ambient temp?
is there any breeze ?
both these factors will come into play if it is very cool , 50 F or cooler and a breeze will suck the head right out of the smoker.... also check the voltage at the outlet, if it is low it wont allow the heater to get as hot, is your slider control to the right? giving the heater all the power it needs?
Even if theres nothing plugged into the same outlet as the Bradley there could be a refrigerator or something else on the same circuit. Sounds like you know about circuits by the way you have already tried to troubleshoot the problem. If your Turkey is Room Temp it will take awhile to bring the box temperature up to the desired Temp. Hope all works out, were here to try and help.
was your vent closed? Should be wide open with poultry>
QuoteThe first time I used the smoker it heated right up to 340 degrees in about 30 mins
Is it just my smoker that will not come close to this temp or is this some super duper smoker I never heard of? :o :o
Thinking about this a little more, if your smoker got that hot the first time out then your high temp sensor is shot.
A 15pound meat load placed in the Bradley will also inhibit the temp's rise.
Quote from: ericblaine on November 22, 2012, 12:14:14 PMSmoking a 15 pound turkey that was cooled to room temp before it was put in.
Not that it has anything to do with the smoker not getting as hot as it should but you should never let a turkey sit out and get up to room temp before cooking. You have 4 hours to get through the danger zone (http://www.gov.ns.ca/agri/foodsafety/pdfs/dangzone.pdf) once it reaches 40*F to get it above 140*F before harmful bacteria can start to make the food go bad.
This is one of the reasons I'm finally going to break down and get a new smoker. We shouldn't have to modify it just to get enough heat to do your smoking. In the summer it's fine, but in MN winters you just can't get enough heat out of it. I'm going to keep my DBS for doing cold smokes and the occasional nut's and sausage smokes. I'm leaning towards getting a pellet smoker/grill.
I have owned my BDS 4 rack for over 5 years. There has been zero mods done to it to boost the heat output. It sits outside year 'round and it has never failed to come up to heat. I would submit to you that if you figure out a way to block the wind from blowing over the top of your vent that your Bradley will work just fine year 'round.
A Bradley is not designed to hit 350 degrees and bake a cake. It is designed to be a smoker. Smoking temps generally run 140 to 250 unless you are cold smoking. Patience is a virtue.
Mine (6 rack) has been running for about 24 hours, set at 225 with two 9# pork butts. It is outside, and there has been a breeze. Right now the temp is at 195, that is as high as it has gotten in the 24 hours. In the winter I usually smoke in my unattached garage (wife hates it) with the window open and small fan in window. IMHO they need a higher watt heat element in the 6 rack smoker, most of the other similar style and size smokers I've looked at have a 1000 watt. Don't get me wrong, I've had a good time with my Bradley, just wish it had more heat for winter smoking. Time for me to try something different.
Quote from: gbsorenson on November 27, 2012, 11:06:57 AM
Mine (6 rack) has been running for about 24 hours, set at 225 with two 9# pork butts. It is outside, and there has been a breeze. Right now the temp is at 195, that is as high as it has gotten in the 24 hours. In the winter I usually smoke in my unattached garage (wife hates it) with the window open and small fan in window. IMHO they need a higher watt heat element in the 6 rack smoker, most of the other similar style and size smokers I've looked at have a 1000 watt. Don't get me wrong, I've had a good time with my Bradley, just wish it had more heat for winter smoking. Time for me to try something different.
add a second 500 w element
I could, I just don't want to. I will keep the Bradley for small jobs and cold smoking, but want to add a pellet smoker to my arsenal. I am hesitant because I've read a lot of people are disappointed with the lack of smoke flavor from pellet grill/smokers, but I figure I could always smoke it in the Bradley first and finish it on the pellet smoker if I want it more smokey. I also would like to be able to do bigger briskets, it can be hard to find 10-12 lb briskets sometimes. And I often have to smoke several for bigger events.
Like I said in an earlier post, I do still like my Bradley and plan on continuing to use it, this just gives me a good excuse to add another toy to my patio! ;)
Instead of adding a 2nd element, consider a change to a 900 watt finned element as the fins are a more efficient heat transfer system. That is why most heating & cooling systems that are not forced air have fins. A little more expensive initially & I have not heard of any failures with them, however there may have been.
Alan
Quote from: ericblaine on November 22, 2012, 12:14:14 PM
Totally frustrated with my smoker and its the 2nd time I have used it. It won't heat up past 180. Its plugged directly into a grounded outlet, no extension cord. The fuse is not blown and all connections are secure. The smoker mechanism seems to work fine and the pucks do smoke and advance as normal. The lower heating element is glowing red but not brightly. Two digital thermometers verify its not getting above 180. Smoking a 15 pound turkey that was cooled to room temp before it was put in. I let it heat up to 180 for an hour empty and with the meat in it won't get above 160 now. The first time I used the smoker it heated right up to 340 degrees in about 30 mins and now it seems broken. Anyone have an ideas?
Have you contacted Bradley? Their customer service is excellent.
Quote from: Alanfromwis on December 01, 2012, 01:23:09 PM
Instead of adding a 2nd element, consider a change to a 900 watt finned element as the fins are a more efficient heat transfer system. That is why most heating & cooling systems that are not forced air have fins. A little more expensive initially & I have not heard of any failures with them, however there may have been.
Alan
Do you need a pid to run 900W element? Also do you have to add additional fuse? I am a newbie too, I am also thinking about just doing the fan mod. So many options here I do not quite know what to do.
As a newbe I joined the forum to learn to use my new OBS and found out that smoking in the north I would need a little more power. I currently have the Auber Dual Probe PID and the finned 900 watt element on the bench. The 14awg high temp wire and connectors will be here monday. For those of you that have completed this mod are you bypassing the high limit sensor because of the PID control or should I leave it inline for safety? Thank you for the great content on this forum and your assistance with my question.
I just added the second element and did the quick and easy 3 inch loops off the first element and it works perfect - also use the PID.
I would beg to differ that their customer service is "excellent." I just tried calling their customer service and got their answering machine. Now granted, it's a Sunday morning, but don't a lot of people smoke on the weekend? A company with excellent customer service would have someone available on the weekend. I just bought my 4 rack BDS for Christmas and I'm a bummed. I've got a 7# pork butt in it, with the desired temp set at 220 F, and the highest it would get during the night was 180 F per the temp gage. If the internal temp of the pork is supposed to reach 190 F, I'm never gping to make it. I live in SE MN, it's cold here, with a slight breeze, but it's not exceptionally cold!?! I would say that during the night it may have gotten down around
15 F at the lowest out on my deck where I have the smoker located. But WTF, isn't this company based in Canada?!? Did they really engineer a machine that can't operate effectively in the cold?!? What were there engineers thinking? Out $400.00 in MN.
Nathan
Quote from: nwc03 on January 06, 2013, 10:06:05 AM
I would beg to differ that their customer service is "excellent." I just tried calling their customer service and got their answering machine. Now granted, it's a Sunday morning, but don't a lot of people smoke on the weekend?
People do a lot of things on the weekends that they normally wouldn't do during the week. That doesn't mean the business that sells whatever product they're using should be open. In my experience, very few businesses are open on a Sunday morning unless it's a gas station or a restaurant.
Anyway, on your smoking problem, you can finish it in the oven once the smoking part is through. Don't foil it if you want a crisp bark to mix in with the rest of it when you pull it. Put it in the oven at 225 and let it cook to an internal temp of 190-200.
As far as your Bradley, a breeze can cause the temp to be lower. It sort of sucks the heat right out of the vent but don't be temped to close the vent or it'll just make things worse with condensation and even lower temps.
BTW, welcome aboard. Lots of great people on here to help you out and we're even here on Sundays. :)
you probably already tried this, but make sure you are not using an extension cord and its on its own circuit, if you have to use a ext cord make sure its a heavy duty one
But, I agree. The 500w element is wimpy.
I did the 2nd element mod and now its like a different smoker. Well worth it. Should not have to do it but thats how it is I am afraid...
nwc03, welcome to the forum. A couple of things you should know, 1. when you put that cold 7 lb pork butt in your smoker, the heat pretty much escaped from your tower and the 7 lb cold pork butt acts like a 7 lb heat sink, meaning it is sucking up all of the heat and energy the Bradley is producing until the meat comes up to temp. 2. If you are going by the temp readings from your digital unit alone, you are most likely getting false readings as to the accurate temp inside your tower. I'm not sure how you can blame any of that on customer service.
Bradley will be back at work bright and early on Monday morning so if you still feel the need to call them they will be there. Even God rested on the seventh day.
Well I bought a new digital and cured it at 150 degrees yesterday no problem today tried to do ribs and in 5 hours it finall got to 220 and ribs started T room temp. Ribs are spoiled. To stayed at 112 for first 4 hours
Does anyone have the step by step instructions on how to add a second heating element and PID? The link that most forums go to seems to have been shut down. I love my Bradley smoker except for the temp issues and want to try upgrading vs. buying a new smoker. But I have no clue how to do this upgrade. Thanks for the help
bradmanning Try these. I did install an 1100W and replaced the wire with 14G oven wire. I do use a PID... I don't think the SG will handle 900 TO 1100w
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=31078
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=29038
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=32920.msg385349#msg385349
Thanks JohnM70. A lot of great info...