It's been awhile, but I thought I should tell you all about how I fixed my feed problem. I disassembled the smoker unit and found two possible problems. The first was over spray on the floor of the feeding chute. This caused little high spots that the bisquette and feeding arm would bump over as it was pushed out onto the heater. Complicating this was the second problem - a bad bend or lip on the thick metal chute that guided the arm and bisquettes out. The over spray bumps would lift the pusher just enough to hit the lip of the feed chute.
I sanded the paint smooth with emery paper and ground down the lip on the chute. Partially reassembled everything and disassembled a few times and reworked it until it seemed to run smoothly. Getting it to run partially assembled was a trick. I was just waiting to strip a screw out.
Anyway, I finally got to put about 6 hours of smoke through the thing last weekend (weather and family issues) and it went without a hitch. Great chicken and ribs.
Hope this helps someone else.
Thanks
Dare
Dare
Thanks for sharing that with the forum. I'm sure at some point it will help somebody out plus it's good to here the final outcome on any problems.
Mike
Also gotta love the tinkers that can tear something apart and put it back together again and still have it working.
Gotta know, did ya have any parts left over? I always find ways of getting things back together without all the extra parts they think they have to throw in to justify the price. ::)
I agree with Mike. Thanks for posting your results.
glad you got it fixed. now just keep it clean. Ive been taking a wire brush to mine after every smoke to keep gunk and stuff from building up, than a quick vacuum with a shop vac and Im ready for next smoke. ;D
Good thread,,, ;D
yea, why do they put all those unnecessary parts in things. ;)
Got an hour of smoke on some baby backs without a hitch so far. Yeah, I could have sent it back, but I'd rather fix the one I've got than wait for another unit with different problems. If the problem was more significant than I would have gone that route.
As far as maintenance I do blow it out every few smokes and scrap the crud off the heating end of the smoke unit. I may lightly clean out the housing every year or so, but I believe that the smoked interior adds more to the flavor so I don't plan on over cleaning it either. I can always run the temp up for 30 minutes to sterilize it.
I always come back to this forum when I have questions. Thanks for the resource guys.
Dare