Can't gain temperature above 203

[SFBayArea]

Hello, I was smocking two racks of meat yesterday, the outside temperature was approximately in low 60s. I was trying to bring insight temp to usual 220 for the last hour of smocking, but it wouldn't climb more then 203. I am basing my observation on the digital smoker readouts. I understand that the actual temp insight maybe fluctuating, but still in my few previous smoking "sessions" I had no problem raising temperature to 220 and even 230 (based on the digital smoking display readouts). Does it mean that my heat unit is going bad? If so what are my choices? I am afraid that with winter coming I will not be able to do smoking even though we in Bay Area don't have super cold weather.

[Tenpoint5]

SF my suggestion would be to purchase a Maverick ET-73 dual probe sensor. The one probe to get your IT the other to get an ACCURATE reading of your cabinet temp. It will take the guess work out it. So your not standing there saying is that the right temp or is it too low. Also I am reading into it a bit but you said you was doing racks of meat so I'm guessing Ribs. If you was opening the door a lot to spritz or baste your ribs, the cooler ambient temps might be making your smoker slower in its recovery to the set point.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi SFBayArea;
Welcome to the forum.

I have had my heating element for over four years, so it is unlikely that it's that. It difficult to tell what can be causing the problems; since you were obtaining your desired temperatures. Many thing could be part or whole of the problem. The size of your load and the type of meat or poultry you have in the smoker could make a big difference from one cooking session to another.

Besides getting a probe thermometer to help monitor the smoker, here are a few other tips.
Why won't my smoker reach the desired temperatures?

Why won't my smoker reach the desired temperatures?

What is the purpose of the vent, and how should I adjust it?

[Gizmo]

What is the set temperature on the Digital?  If it is set to your desired temperature (200 or 220), then it will not get there for a long time.  You need to set the oven temp higher than the desired target temperature.  As the meat begins to warm up, you will need to adjust the temperature lower to keep the appropriated box temperature.  When smoking large pieces of meat such as 10 to 12 lbs of brisket or pork butts, I usually run 260 and then get down to 220 after about 2 hours for a box temp between 200 and 210.  If memory serves me, the Internal Temp of the meat is around 140 at this point.  Not too long after this, you will be able to set the temp at the desired oven temp or close to it, and it will hold there for the rest of the cooking time.   

[SFBayArea]

SF my suggestion would be to purchase a Maverick ET-73 dual probe sensor. The one probe to get your IT the other to get an ACCURATE reading of your cabinet temp. It will take the guess work out it. So your not standing there saying is that the right temp or is it too low. Also I am reading into it a bit but you said you was doing racks of meat so I'm guessing Ribs. If you was opening the door a lot to spritz or baste your ribs, the cooler ambient temps might be making your smoker slower in its recovery to the set point.

Thanks for your input. I am truly puzzled now, what could go wrong with it. Like I said I had no problem reaching temps of 220, but not anymore. I did use Maverick probe sensor to see if the digital sensor got haywire or not. Well, the Maverick proves the same thing, the temps cannot be reached higher then 203. I was even trying to put temperature to 320 to see if it will raise higher, but no, with small load it reaches max 200-203 and with heavier load it cannot even get to 200. Very strange?
Yesterday I was trying to smoke couple of tenderloins and I completely ruined meet because I had to literally hold it in the smoker for 6 hours (which previously only took 2.5 hours) I ended up going to sleep and leaving meet for few more hours in the smoker and ofcourse the meet was ruined (dry) this morning.

[Tenpoint5]

Now that I think about it I had something similar happen to me. Check all of the connections on the back one may have gotten unplugged and not plugged in quite right. Kids do the darndest things sometime. That was all that was wrong with mine loose connection.

[josbocc]

SF,

TenPoint might have hit the nail on the head.  I too suffered from a loose connection problem, but was fortunate enough to find it before it caused any damage.

If that don't work, get a hold of the folks at Bradley directly.  I'm told that they have excellent customer service, but thankfully, I haven't had to access it yet.

Jeff

[Gizmo]

yup, I would recommend unplugging and re-plugging all the cords back in, a few times to make sure you have good clean connections.

[Consiglieri]

Any chance that you're using a long extension cord? 

Where in SF Bay Area?  I grew up in San Mateo County and spent 6 years on Fillmore at Union in SF.

[litespeedaddict]

During my initial 6 hour seasoning burn on my new BS I couldn't get mine above 160. Turns out one the the plugs was just a tiny, and I meany tiny bit not quite plugged in all the way. Pushed it in about one eighth of an inch (or less), and bingo, temps went up as they should.

[SFBayArea]

Hey guys, thank you for all the good suggestions. I am really out of ideas. I called Bradley couple of times and while they indeed have great tech support, they couldn't figure out what is wrong with my unit either :-(.
From the time I put this post I did couple of things to trouble shoot the problem. I live in San Bruno, CA where temps during the day easily in 70s and during night time low sixties. I tried running Bradley without any meet with set temp 320, but the highest temps it climbed was 230 (no meet at all). I then talked to Bradley guys and they told me to unplug smoke generator from the tower, unplug all connections from smoke generator to tower and plug tower directly into the outlet. So I did and the highest temperature it reached  was 250 (I used remote controlled temp probe). While I understand that 250 is more then enough, the problem is that all those test were with empty tower without any meat load. And like my post says, the last time I had a load of meat in it the smoker could never reach more then 203 :-(...
Oh and yes, I tried different extension cords.

[westexasmoker]

Since you plugged the tower directly, the only thing I can think of would be either the element has a problem or the voltage of that plug is not what it should be.

C

[beefmann]

SFB

what  gage  are your cords... and the  length of the  cords?...you  still  should be getting higher temps with the box directly connected to the  cord...

one other item .. you  may  want to  check the voltage at the  end of the cord..

it should read 115 to 120... closer to 120 would be better,,, if  you  could  check the voltage  when the bradley is connected and operating ( heater is  on at a high teml along with the  smoke generator ) depending  on how  much below 120 volts it  is  you  might  have to get a voltage  regulating transformer to get your  voltage up... have  ran into this problem with a  neighbor that is  some  distance from edisions pole  transformer and under load the voltage dropted to low for the  equipment  to operate..

the  solution was an voltage regulating transformer 25 % bigger  then you  need.. considering  that the bradley is at 625.. i would recomend a 750 watt or 1000 watt


hope this  helps

[Habanero Smoker]

There is one other thing you may be able to do. If you don't have the newly designed "V" pan, use a screw driver and widen the slots. The new "V" pan are made with a wider slot. If the slot opening is less then 1/4", you have the original design and the slots can be widened.