Too hot, even with temperature off?

[SturgeonLake]

I am trying to season my new original BS and have 1lb of salmon cured ready to go in.

I originally had a light extension cord plugged in, and the vent nearly closed, and slider nearer to medium than low. Temperature got up to 180, so I started moving the slider lower. That didn't seem to do much, so I opened the vent half way. Temperature came down a little. I then read about using a good extension cord to get better control of the temperature, so I put on a 10 gauge cord.

Eventually, after trying a variety of things including opening the door several times, I cannot get the temperature to go below 165F with the smoker burning biscuits, despite having the tower slider all the way off.

Outside temperature is 68F, and the unit is not in the sun.

Is this normal? How can I smoke salmon at 140F?

Cheers,
Russ

[pensrock]

Is this normal? How can I smoke salmon at 140F?

Yes it is normal during the summer. Keeping the vent wide open will help lower the temperature some. Also try putting a tray full of ice on the bottom shelf. Just make sure that when it melts it is in something to catch the water. I mainly cold smoke during the winter months but many users opt to make a cold smoke box. There are many examples on the site ranging from a simple cardboard box to more permenant metal boxes. The reasoning behind this approch is to get the smoke generator out of the tower. By putting it in a box then piping the smoke into the tower accomplishes two things. 1) It gets the small heating element and smoldering puck out of the tower. 2) the generated smoke has a chance to cool some on its way to the tower. Look around you will find many examples.
pens