Oven won't work.....

Bullelk34 · February 18, 2011, 05:06:35 PM

Well this stinks! I've used my new DBS 6 rack only 4 times, and it looks like the element is shot. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to call Bradley to get a replacement >:(

I have a butt prepped, so I guess I'll just smoke it for the planned 4 hours and then put it in the roaster overnight. It's really disappointing and I'm bummed as hell.

What ever happened to quality control?

Habanero Smoker · February 19, 2011, 01:54:15 AM

It may not necessarily be the element, it could be due to something else. Did you do any trouble shooting?

This link may provide some help:
Bradley FAQ's

Tenpoint5 · February 19, 2011, 06:35:06 AM

Like Habs said it may not be your element. There has been a lot of talk about bad elements lately, which has folks that are new to the Bradley thinking "My element doesn't work" the first time the temps don't recover as fast as they like. For instance if your used to just smoking jerky and maybe chicken, both of which are relatively small cuts of meat. Now your wanting to throw a big Boston Butt in there, there is going to be a learning curve. It is going to take several hours for the cabinet to recover back to the 225-250º pre-meat loading temp. You just stuck a 5-10 pound chunk of meat that is probably 36º in there. That's a pretty big heat sink and will absorb a lot of heat for quite a while. Again like Habs said try some of the FAQ's and Give it another shot.

Bullelk34 · February 19, 2011, 07:07:30 AM

Yes I tried some troubleshooting- it won't heat at all. With the smoke generator going the cabinet temp made it all the way up to 45 degrees. No orange glow, you can touch the element and it is cold. I may try a few things today, it seems like a loose fit, maybe thats normal I don't know. I'll probably try to take out the element and measure voltage from the contacts points.

Quarlow · February 19, 2011, 08:26:53 AM

First thing to try is to plug the cabinet straight into the wall and see what happens. You should light it up good and then you know where to go next.

Bullelk34 · February 19, 2011, 10:38:39 AM

Tried that Q- nothing, nada, nanka.

BuyLowSellHigh · February 19, 2011, 10:48:30 AM

Well, if you are taking out the element and you are comfortable checking voltages, you could check for the voltage across the element ends before you remove it. If you have voltage then that pretty much rules out the in-line fuse. After you remove the element check resistance - if it's shot it will probably show infinite (open circuit).

The good news is Bradley's support is excellent and they will send you a new one as fast as they can. Call 'em first thing Monday morning.

Bullelk34 · February 19, 2011, 11:12:30 AM

It's wide open, as suspected. I might try to see if I can find one locally, doubt it but it's worth a shot I guess.

Tenpoint5 · February 19, 2011, 11:40:15 AM

Well we tried. Give Bradley a call on Monday and you should be back in business for the weekend.

Bullelk34 · February 19, 2011, 12:09:21 PM

I will, thanks for the help guys-

jdomep · February 22, 2011, 01:37:52 PM

my brand new smoker wasnt working for my third smoke the other day either. i just unplugged all the plugs and replugged them back in and low and behold the thing started working again. i was in a panic at first but all worked out fine.

Slamdunk · February 22, 2011, 07:48:36 PM

Glad to hear your new toy is up and running.
Now what,s on your smoke list?

donk · February 27, 2011, 03:55:40 PM

i had the same problem with my digital it was not the element the generator was bad. try this plug the power cord i and the burner cord together then plug in to the outlet no longer than 10 minutes if burner lights up its your gen.

Bullelk34 · March 01, 2011, 06:25:17 PM

Bradley got the replacement element sent out very quickly, and I'm up and running again. I might try a chicken this weekend-