A little discouraged......but not giving up

[ilwaldens]

Seasoned the BDS smoker this morning and everything went great.  Achieved 150F and life was good.  Went to breakfast, did some running around with the hubby, fired up the smoker and could not get over 138F.  Other then a rain storm that came through, the weather has been in the low 70's, no wind.  Attempting to smoke 2 small turkey tenderloins, 5 sweet italiam sausages, 4 chicken thighs and 2 small cuts of salmon.  Been on the cooker for about 4 hours now and now where near done.  Will have to transfer to the grill so we can eat dinner.

Any suggestions?

[deb415611]

until the guys who really know this stuff come along...

Is your vent open or closed?  It needs to be open, probably at least 1/2 way.  Closing it down will make it so the moisture can't escape and will keep the temp down.

[ilwaldens]

Yes, that was one of the things I made sure when I started cooking.  I've played with a little, but pretty much it's open about a 1/4 to 1/2 of the way.  I did manage to go up to 149F after I sent the note, but it's fluctuating between 147 and 149 right now.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

A few questions:

How are you determining temp?
What is the DBS oven setting ?
Is the smoke generator on or off?
Peak inside at the heating element - is it glowing red or is it dead?

[ilwaldens]

Oven is on w/temp setting at 220.
Smoke generator is on
I'm using a standard temperature gauge.  One I had around the house that I used with my old oven.
Just checked element and it is not glowing read...but it's not dead.  There is heat.

[Up In Smoke]

You may want to try to disconnect the power cords and plug them in again making sure they seat all of the way,
do this a couple of times to make sure you get a good connection.
DEB and BLSH have you steered in the right direction.

one other question, are you using an extension cord? if so maybe try going directly to the outlet if possible.

[ilwaldens]

No extension cord.  Plugged in to outlet directly.  Will try the connections.

[NePaSmoKer]

Like said re plug everything.

Take some of the water from the pan, vent 1/2 open, V-Tray in the proper position. Remember on the Digital there is a push pad for heating the puck burner and one for the box element.

[ilwaldens]

Thank you everyone for the advise.  I appreciate it!!!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Based on what you're describing, two possibilities come to my mind:

1.  the heating element is not getting power - if the sensor is seeing temp below the set point, then the element should be on.  The heat you are sensing may be just the smoke generator alone.  For this do exactly as NePaSmoker suggested - unplug and reconnect everything, paying particular attention to both the power cord between the SG and the tower and the sensor cord between the same two - try reversing the sensor cord as well.

2.  the sensor in the tower is seeing temp at or near the set point and as a result the heating element is not being supplied power.  The temp sensor you are reading may be either wrong or sensing at a very different location where it is that much cooler (where do you have that sensor placed?).  What does the oven readout on the SG tell you for oven temp?

From what you've described my SWAG would lean toward 1 being the most likely.

[ilwaldens]

You guys ROCK!!  I went and played with the connections a little while ago and I justed check and the temp gauage has me at 200F and the display reads 212F.  So, it looks like one of the connections wasn't plugged in all the way.  I unfortunately had to pull some food off to grill up and feed the hungry husband, but I'm going to let everything else finish. 

Thank you all again for the advise!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Cool.  You're learning your tools.  Food should still be good.  Enjoy!