Anybody have trouble with pucks being a bit too large?

[CoreyMac]

I am in the process of smoking some garlic sausage and I just checked things out after about 2 hrs. I noticed a puck was hung up in the feeder tube above the smoke generator opening, even with my bubba pucks on top pushing it down it was stuck. I pushed it down and it seems to be ok. I pulled a puck out of an old box and compared it to the new ones I got yesterday, the new ones are a hair larger in diameter. Its not a huge problem but just never have seen this before. I guess if you are not paying attention the potential for a fire is there if the pucks stop feeding and one is allowed to sit on the burner plate too long.

Corey

[GusRobin]

Never ran across that. Could it be the new ones were exposed to a high humidity somewhere along the line?

[CoreyMac]

They are working perfect, and I actually just opened the box this morning, once they are on the burn plate they smoke just like any other puck would. I put one on top of the other and they are a bit larger. I just had another one stick in the feeder. Just pushed it down and it popped into the correct position. :o

Corey

[Habanero Smoker]

Occasionally when I'm loading the bisquettes, if one is at a slight angle and I don't notice it, it will wedge itself inside the tube at the exact area yours got hung up.

[tskeeter]

One other thing to keep in mind is that Bradley may be bringing some new production capacity on line to replace what was lost in the fire.  If there are slightly different sized pucks in a single box, it is possible that one of the dies on a new machine is improperly sized.

Corey, if you can confirm that the problem is not an improperly positioned puck (I'm discounting high humidity as a potential cause because you just opened a fresh box of pucks), you might want to contact Bradley customer service so they can start on addressing the issue as soon as possible.  I'd expect that Bradley might ask for samples of the normal sized and the oversized pucks as well as the box or other packaging the pucks came in.  So, it would be helpful if you haven't thrown that stuff away.  (The packaging often contains markings that identify the plant, machine, run lot, and time of day that the package was produced.  This information expedites trouble shooting.)   

[Pistol Pete]

CoreyMac'
I've only smoked 5 times and had one hangup.  I attribute it to user error. Flotsam, jetsam, or detritus, that you usually find at the bottom of the package, got between pucks and skewed the next in line.  I am now very careful when loading.  At that point I am also usually also very sober.

[CoreyMac]

I did pull the feed tube right off and remove all the pucks i could. The only one i couldn't remove was down inside the feeder. I was able to move it freely. I replaced the feed tube and added the pucks again of which none got cocked. I again noticed a hang up. This leads me to believe a puck issue. Right at the moment i am going to just keep.an eye on thing's, i don't want to jump to any conclusions yet.

I will report any more issues if they arise.
Thanks  for all the insight.
Corey

[Habanero Smoker]

You may want to check the inside of the feeder tube. Over time gunk can build up inside the tube. I clean mine out about once a year.

[KyNola]

Is it possible that your feeder tube has a slight dent in it causing the puck to hang up on it?  Try flipping your tube around 180 degrees and see if that makes a difference.    Another possibility is that your feeder tube could be slightly out of round thereby causing a puck to hang up.