Hi my smoke generator is acting weird today. I put 4 pucks in and he burn only 3 the 4Th (to say the truth the 3rd) is not burnt. But the 4Th is burnt. Any idea? I'M not able to take off the cover and I red the FAQ first before posting. THX
P.S. Do you know how much cost a new one in the wrost case?
It seems that that all the bisquettes where advance immediately one after the other. Where you using Bubba Pucks that would push the fourth bisquette off. If not then the reason the fourth one was burned is because it was the last bisquette and it sat on the burner.
I would say either your advance button was stuck, or you micro switch was not working properly. Hopefully it is the advance button, and it may have been stuck and worked itself free by the time it advanced the fourth bisquette. Just keep a pair of needle nose pliers handy to pull the button back out.
If it is the micro switch, then you would need to have you friend who helped you with your modifications to open the generator and clean and/or make adjustments. Hopefully that will save you the cost of a new generator.
The situation i explained happend twice on 2 smokes same day and i did not even touched the advance button. And yes i used bubba pucks on both smokes.
It may be your micro switch. But on the other hand a faulty heating pad can cause this. It could be a loose wire going to the heating pad, or the heating pad may be going bad.
Would you know if the bisquettes are cycling every 20 minutes?
I checked and yes the pucks were advancing every 20 minute or maybe 19 or so.
I'd bet on the micro switch hanging occasionally. Open the SG up and see that the micro switch is free of wood chips, dust etc.
OK i will try again to open it. So far, no luck on opening it. It's jammed. Do i have to unscrew to ramp before trying opening it? The bottom screws are off but is there any others screws or anything else to unscrewing like the thing where the feeder pole? If not could you explain me CLEARLY how to open it please. So far the botom screws are removed. Still don't understand why i can not removing the cover.
Toker I have a project that I am working on. It is not finished but what I have might be of some assistance to you. I have emailed it to your
videotron.ca account.
I emailed you back. Thx for trying to help but i have a obs not dbs and your thing is for dbs Might be similar but because i don't reconnaise the smoke generator i'm mixte up a bit. But thx anyway.
Quote from: toker on October 24, 2010, 04:34:15 AM
OK i will try again to open it. So far, no luck on opening it. It's jammed. Do i have to unscrew to ramp before trying opening it? The bottom screws are off but is there any others screws or anything else to unscrewing like the thing where the feeder pole? If not could you explain me CLEARLY how to open it please. So far the botom screws are removed. Still don't understand why i can not removing the cover.
Did you remove 8 screws or 4 screws? The first time I tried to open my smoke generator I initially only removed the 4 screws in the corners. Here is a link to how to open and clean your smoke generator.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?488-Answers-To-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=987#post987
Sorry for the delay in help, but I had to log off this morning.
The link that smoker pete provided should help you. At the front top of the generator you will see two notches, that hold the the base more securely to the bottom. Sometimes those notches grip too tight. Use something to lightly tap the top up and off those notches. You can see the notches I am talking about in picture #7.
I finally opened it!!! The reason i was unable to open it it's because the thing that hold the feeder holder was jammed. The 3 screws (or mesh) or little up write things that goes into the hole of the holder to make sure it does not move has bend. Can i put it back up write without being afraid to breaking it or they are too fragile?
Btw no loose connection. Only dust but ALOT OF DUST.
Finally did it even closing back. The test are yet to be done but should be OK thx.
Did you clean and check the micro switch while you had it open? Hopefully the problem is resolved. Let us know if you still having any problems.
Yes i did at least as best that i could.
So are you saying they are advancing correctly but NOT burning at all?
HI FLB, nice to talk to you for the 1ST time, no, what i was saying is that some of the pucks were not burning AT ALL, i mean, not stopping on the hot plate AT ALL. Just passing from 2ND on the ramp example, and in stead of stopping on the hot plate, it was directly thrown into the water bowl.
Oh, Ok - So it advances two instead of one at a time then?
Nice to talk to you too.
You understood correctly. :D
Quote from: toker on October 25, 2010, 08:04:38 AM
You understood correctly. :D
I am by no means a SG expert, but it would seem to me that either the timer or the microswitch is the issue. I think I remember seeing here someone giving the micro switch an alcohol bath.
Contact cleaner works well - I get it at Radio Shack.
When the timer calls for a new bisquette, if you listen very carefully you can hear the microswitch activate. In a normal advance you should hear the little click twice - first at the start of the cycle and then again at the end to stop the motor. If you don't hear the second and the advance continues with a 2nd puck, then the microswitch is probably stuck. If you do hear the switch the second time and it advances a 2nd puck without stopping, then it is probably a bad microswitch.
Well, so far so good. I ran a couple of tests and it seems to work propertly. At least with the bubba pucks. I put 6 bubba and 1 wood chip at the end and i let 1 hour for the 1ST to reach the burner and drop 4 of them in water as usual (replacing the wood chip, i did not want to waste anymore in case of an other problem would be happening on my tests. The pucks were advancing the way they were supposed to. Not a fail!! ;D Just hope that i will be doing it with real wood puck next time. :P
Great! It should work fine with the bisquettes.