Heating element won't fire up

[Beechnut]

OMG this is soooo frustraighting.

Have a multimeter and have done the following.

Plugged up normal. Only smoke generator is making heat. Back heating element doesn't glow.

Unplugged smoke generator and use the main power cord into the cabinet. Holy glowing smoking heating element. 120 volts gets that thing going. Back to original config....

Bust out multimeter. Have voltage present coming out of the smoke generator with the power turned on and the vari temp control turned on. I can observe the change in voltage as I turn the knob to higher settings. Caps at 116

Plug cable into smoke generator and see if I have voltage out of the cable tha goes between that and the cabinet. Yup. And I can watch it change as I turn the knob. Plug into the cabinet.....

Heating element won't fire up......

[Beechnut]

This is sitting on the counter, expecting guests this evening...boooo

And I've jiggled and wiggled and braced the cord, trying to make a good connection...

[Beechnut]

And for reference, the power to the cabinet from the smoke generator is not applied unless you flip the switch on the smoke generator. I had wondered that before and confirmed it with the multimeter.

My next step...I nipped the tip......of the power cord. So, now it's seating about an 1/8th of an inch deeper than before. More to follow....

[KyNola]

Here's a "band-aid" fix that might work for you until you can permanently correct the problem.  Do you have an extra power cord that will fit your smoke generator, such as a computer cord, etc?  Plug the smoke generator directly into the power.  Use the separate cord and plug the tower directly into the power as well.  Heat the tower as high as you can get it.  Put meat in tower and smoke for however long you are going to smoke.  Then, transfer the meat to your house oven set at 225 and complete the cooking there.

Might save the day.

[Beechnut]

Veteran move good sir! This shall be my work around for today.

[Beechnut]

Heats moving north. Hot day today so I bet the cabinet gets up there. (south Texas...)

This problem has me stumped though. Had this my last smoke too, but unplugged, replugged and it worked. Should have followed up.

It is plugged into a GFCI outlet outside but that doesn't seem to be an issue.

There's now quick way to put the multimeter on the contacts going into the heating element in the cabinet. But that'd be my next step.

Oh, and I did ohm out the jumper from the smoker to the cabinet...no issues. And visibly, it looks like it should make contact.

[Beechnut]

So, as I went outside to get the bisquettes going, I noticed something. The light above the dial is now "lit". Don't think it was when I was doing everything before. Even though, I was still getting voltage out of the cable. More to follow...

[Beechnut]

Heat has settled in at 248. Thanks again for the veteran idea!

[KyNola]

You're welcome.  Glad it worked out for you.  Call Bradley Monday morning.  They will make all things right for you.