So I got a Bradley Digital 4 rack smoker for Christmas (from Costco). Today I am trying to season it using the Hickory chips that came with it. But every time the GFCI that are on our external outlets tripp about 10 to 15mins in. I am now on my third attempt and getting a little irritated.
The outlet I am using usually works fine. We built a deck this summer using only that for drills, compound saw etc. and it newer tripped once. Today there is nothing plugged in except for the Bradley.
Outside temp is about 35-40F, oven is set at 200F and I set the smoker for 1 hour, but as said the GFCI tripps about 15min in... Is it really too cold to smoke today or do I have a fault product?
Thanks for you help!
Mads
Move the Bradley to a non gfi plug and see if it trips that.
I have mine plugged into a gfi but it has a one foot cord.
Does not trip non GFCI sockets.
I am using only the standard cord that came with the smoker.
Thanks
Mads
I believe they have two dif rated GFI's. A 15 amp and a 25 amp.
Check your fuse panel for that circuit and see what size breaker is on it. You can also get a tester from homedepot that checks circuits to see if they are properly wired. They have 2, one that will test GFCI's and one that just checks regular circuits. They are handy things to have. Or have an electrician check your panel. You can have drills and things that will run on a circuit that is not proper and then somethings will not.
I am an Electrician and i don't think it would make a difference if you plugged into a GFI receptacle or not but maybe the receptacle is just being sensitive. They are like that sometimes. The purpose of the GFI is to prevent electric shock. However if you are tripping the breaker you are overloading the circuit and will have to move the smoker to a different plug or remove some load from the circuit you are plugged into.
Quote from: jolt on December 30, 2009, 03:36:08 AM
I am an Electrician and i don't think it would make a difference if you plugged into a GFI receptacle or not but maybe the receptacle is just being sensitive. They are like that sometimes. The purpose of the GFI is to prevent electric shock.
However if you are tripping the breaker you are overloading the circuit and will have to move the smoker to a different plug or remove some load from the circuit you are plugged into. Not true with a GFI. The OP states he is tripping the GFI not the breaker, two different devices.
Inside a GFI there are coils wrapped around each leg of the circuit. These coils measured the load on the leg and if the measurements are equal the circuit is operating properly. It doesn't matter if the load is 1 amp or 10 amps, just as long as they are equal. If one of the legs senses a ground the measurement between the two will not be equal and the circuit will trip. I would say that inside the Bradley there is probably moisture or a bad circuit causing a potential imbalance.
Mads, have you resolved the problem? If so, how?
I know how a gfi works. I have replaced a gfi and the equipment that it was plugged into works fine. I was just trying to be helpful. Been an Electrician for 20 years.
OK, my $0.02.
First, I'd like to hear back from the OP. With no feedback, we're wasting our time.
I'd have to agree with RK in that the fault lies in the Bradley. It works for a while and then knocks off the breaker. This might be due to cycling on to off causing a fault. Or, who knows what happens after 15 minutes or so.
I'd first call Bradley customer service and explain the problem. It may have been seen before. Their CS is quite good.
Other than that, bring the smoker back to Costco (if possible) and get a replacement. If not possible, call Costco customer support, explain the problem and ask them how it can be handled. Costco's customer service is also quite good.
jolt - I'm sure you weren't being lectured so don't take it that way. I'm not an electrician but I've done electronic design work for the military, aerospace and commercial computing. I knew what a GFI is supposed to do but didn't know how it worked so I appreciated the explanation from RK.
Quote from: jolt on December 30, 2009, 10:28:33 AM
I know how a gfi works. I have replaced a gfi and the equipment that it was plugged into works fine. I was just trying to be helpful. Been an Electrician for 20 years.
Been a Chief Electrician for 36 years and had 105 electricians working for me and only 15% of them are worth anything. The rest only think they are electricians because they hold a union card. Had 3 guy's that all they did was change bulbs and because of the union they were labeled "Electricians". Darn those 3 couldn't even spell electrician. ::)
Yeah, some members get huffy and puffy. The electrical trade is too vast to know it all. The ones that can't take a little help would never be hired by me or wouldn't get the responsible jobs.
I've had some appliances trip GFI's out and the fix was to get a hair drier and dry out the unit that's making the fault, a real easy fix.
I had no idea that i would be personally attacked for just trying to help out in these forums. I will be sure in the future not to post anything in these forums.
Hi Jolt;
I wouldn't take replies too personally. You input is just as valuable as the next member, and I hope you continue to contribute.
Hey Jolt don't let one person who doesn't play well with others run you off. We all enjoy the new members and try to have fun with everyone. I have to admit his first comment did seem bullish and insensitive. But his second post more or less reaffirmed his first as not being terribly friendly, but don't be bullied off of the forum. We all have alot to offer this forum and that includes yourself. We try to just have fun and be informative but sometimes there's a slip of a cog. Stick around we'll still have fun, besides we need more canucks to help balance out them "mericans". ;D ;D
Jolt, I agree with Habs.
Roadking is a nice guy and really don't think that was directed toward you.
Come on back and have fun talking about smoke.
I woulden't let the key board cowboys scare you off. There are some good poeple here with some great advice about smoking.
OK, Thanks for all the inputs...
The problem went away by itself. On my third try I was able to season the smoker for a good hour, and after that I did a 3 hour Hickory Chicken (I know, but Hickory was all I had since it came with the oven). It was of course delicious but hickory is too powerfull for a chicken.
Two days later I did 15lbs of pulled pork (hickory for 4 hours, then and additional 5 hours of heat). It too was delicious and the GFCI did not trip once.. so I belive the problem went away by itself. Possibly it had been stored humid or something. I take the smoker unit off and store that in the garage, and keep the oven outside under cover.
Again thanks for all the inputs, I will begin to enjoy my smoker now
Mads
I'm, glad it worked out Mads. I know it must have been very disappointing when you fired it up and it didn't work.
I also keep my SG stored inside.
Keep the smoke rollin'. :D
Well, I happy to see a thread that went over the exact issue I have! I just received my 4 rack digital smoker from Costco yesterday.
Unfortunately, it's been nothing but problems. First power on resulted in an E message. Searching the FAQ I found that this was caused by a microswitch issue. I followed the instructions on how to open the smoke generator and found that the microswitch wasn't even plugged into anything! I went ahead and plugged the two wires back together and got everything put back in place. On the first seasoning run, the system heated up and about 15 minutes in, tripped the GFCI. This is the only appliance plugged into the circuit and I have tested it with other appliances with no issues.
My second try a couple hours later got about 20 minutes in before tripping the GFCI. Now I can't even plug it in without tripping the GFCI immediately. I have put a call in to bradley and left a message. Hopefully I'll hear from them on monday. I really don't want to try to get this thing back in its box to return to costco. Hopefully they'll have a solution for me. Now I have to think of something else to do with the meat I bought.
That's the s***'s!
I have never had a problem with my OBS and am thankful for that!
Hopefully your meat is in the fridge so it will just be a time delay for your. In the meantime, you have a whole lot of reading you can do on the forum.
Let us know how you make out,,,,
I don't plug into a GFCI so I never have this problem, but to blame Bradley for a GFCI that won't stand up is not really fair. Try plugging into an inside plug with no GFCI and see if you have any trouble. If you don't have any problems then maybe look into getting a GFCI breaker and replace your GFCI plug in for a regular outlet. I know it can be frustrating but once you get things straightened out you will never look back. Trust me. I had to return my first Bradley when it arrived too but they were great to deal with and this is something you don't find often. Unfortunately these things happen but Bradley's service makes up for it. Luckily for me I am ten minutes from Bradley's head office.
Thanks for the replies. Here's an update. I gave it another shot the next day and it was able to complete the seasoning without tripping. I have since logged about 9 hours of smoking in it across 3 separate occasions doing almonds and finally pulled beef. It has run without issue. Bradley did call me back and left a message. It sounded like the issue was not uncommon and they included a procedure to address it in the message. They said it was caused by moisture in the smoke generator and instructed me to open that up and use a hair dryer on it. I'm glad that it is working now and am happy with the results. However, this was a pretty rocky start for something I spent $400+ on. I would hope that Bradley starts packing some silica gel in with these units so that moisture is not a problem.