Smoker doesn't heat adequately

[twoller1]

Hi all.  First time posting.  I have had a four rack digital bradley for about a year and a half.  At first, it worked great.  THe last few times, the performance has degraded.  I just heated my smoker up to 230F (temp set to 280 in order to get there) to do a butt.  The butt was left at room temp for about an hour.  Once I put it in, the temp dropped to under 200 and did not recover.  Thoughts?

[Wildcat]

Sounds normal to me. As long as the bottom of the meat is being exposed to 190 you are fine. Especially on butts. Keep in mind you are essentially cooking with an Easy Bake Oven. That chunk of meat acts like a heat sink for the cabinet. If you are going by the door gauge and getting a reading around 200, then the meat is probably being exposed to around 225. The hotter the meat gets the hotter the entire cabinet will get. Have patience.

[beefmann]

the larger the  cut of meat lowers the box temperature and is normal,,, The  recovery time is based on the  amount of meat load, ,, 5  lb vs. 20 lb so as long as the  element is working  let the smoker do its job,, relax and enjoy

[Mozart]

I have read where users will fill the water bowl full of hot water to help hold the heat, and even one instance where some bricks were put in the bottom to act as heat sinks to help retain / radiate the heat

[Grouperman941]

I have read where users will fill the water bowl full of hot water to help hold the heat, and even one instance where some bricks were put in the bottom to act as heat sinks to help retain / radiate the heat

I always do both of these things.

[tskeeter]

I have read where users will fill the water bowl full of hot water to help hold the heat, and even one instance where some bricks were put in the bottom to act as heat sinks to help retain / radiate the heat

I've even taken the smoking brick concept a little further.  When I needed to smoke a turkey breast that was not as fully defrosted as I would have liked, I heated four bricks to 400 degrees in the oven.  When the turkey went into the smoker, so did the bricks.  This made a whole bunch of Btu's available to help bring the turkey up to temp.

And, like Mozart, I always use boiling water in my puck bowl and I keep a foil wrapped brick tucked under the feed tray of the smoke generator to help speed heat recovery.