I added a second 500w element to my smoker this spring. I replaced the original at the same time, and now with less than a year on element has gone out. I have just noticed it tonite so I have done no troubleshooting on it. It is the element that is NOT controlled by the bypass switch that I added. I guess I would like to know if anyone else is experiencing shorter element life with the dual element mod.?
Bradley has had a run with bad elements, I believe they have taken care of that issue.. though there might be a few still around which you might have gotten a hold of
I hope that is all there is to it..At least I kept the original.I can throw that one back in and pick up a new spare.
It is not a dual element issue as I did the mod in 2009 and mine still works fine.
Nope kept the old one in and added another both doing fine. Im one of the lucky ones.
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Quote from: viper125 on December 04, 2012, 08:45:44 PM
Nope kept the old one in and added another both doing fine. Im one of the lucky ones.
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LOL Ya but your door fell off ;D Hope your luck is not the bad kind ;)
Quote from: Bigun on December 04, 2012, 05:58:04 PMguess I would like to know if anyone else is experiencing shorter element life with the dual element mod.?
Several months after I added a second element one of them went out. I don't have any bypass switch and so the other element just continued like normal. I guess I had one of the bad batch elements because I replaced it and everything has been fine for over a year now.
Thanks everyone. Sounds good, I could not think of a logical reason for this mod. to cause a shorter lifespan, but I knew if that was the case you guys would have it all figured out by now.
Lil late here but. I've never had any trouble with either element. Original or the second added. I do keep a spare, just in case. :). No bypass switch
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My original element went out last week, purchased the DBS back in May. I had a spare and used it. Going to call Bradley for a warranty replacement this week
LOL! Devo. Well it seems the door breaking is expected. Seems they all do sooner or later. Figured more the 15 months though. But nope still blessed and lucky.
I have a spare element so of course it is not the element. Turns out to be the factory thermal fuse. I'm trying to figure out a cause.Runaway, or do these wear out over time? Guess I will be running a single element in the morning..
Nope! Not normally. Id go over it closely for a short. Could be dangerous.
I have looked it over very closely, no shorts. I guess my question now would be when I added the second element I did not add a thermal fuse to protect that portion of the circuit.Should I have added one? Or is it protected by the p.i.d.? If so is the protection sized large enough to handle both elements? I understand you would want the original thermal fuse in place to protect if you lost the p.i.d. and needed to go back to the factory controller(with one element).
When you are talking about the thermal fuse, are you speaking of the in-line fuse, or the temperature sensor? If it is the in-line fuse, and you wired the second element separately, I can't see why that would blow the in-line fuse to the original element.
I have the OBS, and did not install a second in-line fuse or a second temperature sensor. I've been running my unit with the second element for almost 4 years, and still have the same two elements since I made the modification.
I also have the two mod and no problem what so ever. I did add the switch and wired separately for a little more control. But didn't add any sensor or thermal or link fuse. I would think the problem has a good chance of being the slider. Because if you dropped and broke the handle it could have caused a short inside you cant see. And I don't know for sure but most plastics will burn pretty good when lit. If some one drops and breaks that switch be a good idea not to use till its replaced. If you use a PID a simple jumper wire would work. Shorts are funny some times and some times hard to spot.