Second "no heat" diagnosed and "possible" explanation for hinge failures.

[Dean405]

The moderator seems to like to delete my posts, but I think my topics are as legitimate as anyone else's in this forum... so I am willing to keep trying.....

Got my ohm meter out today to diagnose the issue. My second no heat failure was the heating element again. The heating element that failed has no more than four smokes on it. This was supposed to be the "fixed" heating element design.

In addition to this, I have discovered that the screws that hold the bottom plate on the oven cavity had two screws that were sticking out of the bottom of the cabinet about an 1/8 of an inch (on bottom of front right side when in the upright position). The fact that these two screws were not tight, would allow the plate to flex if you tried to move the smoker cabinet on a hard surface. This may be part of the reason for the broken hinge port in the bottom plastic. I have had two of them fail and I never could figure out why because the door has received no rough treatment. Maybe this is the answer. It is difficult to understand how both of these backed out in shipment because one of them offered quite a bit of resistance when I tightened it.  The other one was stripped out, which would leave you to believe that someone at least attempted to tighten it at one time. Hard to marry both of those scenarios together. I have received another replacement door from the factory that I received today. I didn't disassemble it, but it appears to be the same original design, so I am not sure that the durability is there, but I am hoping that tightening the screws that held the bottom plate may be the additional fix that was needed... time will tell. If you are having hinge failures, this is worth checking at least.

Additionally, one of the screws that holds the top hinge mount to the oven cavity is also stripped out... but the other one seems to be sufficient to hold the hinge. I have discussed this before... I have not attempted to fix this issue. Maybe I should.

Hope those of you that have hinge failures will turn the cabinet upside down and check the screws. Maybe this is the missing info that was needed (I can always hope).

[viper125]

Hmmm not sure why they would delete your posts. I've seen plenty on here if I owned the company I would delete or throw the user off. But they don't. As far as those screws being stripped I use to build 100 million dollar car dies. And some of the workers would do the same. Now that wasn't the employers fault.  They can't be liable with what they don't know. As far as the screws I have heard before to loosen and retighten gently. I would think that would be a good thing to do with all. The Front legs are also a problem but is a easy fix just adding two more legs on a more solid surface. Mine don't get moved the days. But I have a 2 strips of wood under it foe better contact on stronger areas. I think. Just my way of extra insurance.. Have had mine for over 6 months now and have done dozens of smokes. usually 2-4 times a week I guess. But lots for me. I haven't had a problem with any thing on the Bradley. Don't know why either. I bought the extra element in case and haven't had to use it. I hope you work your problems out with yours. The company always seems willing from what i know of. Tomorrow I start modding mine.

[Meat tooth]

I've had two door failures in the ten months since I bought the OBS. One bottom cover failure. All fasteners seemed to be ok. I was waiting for Brian to call me back regarding the second door failure. He never did talk to me. So, I made a new door bottom out of aluminum because I couldn't use the smoker and needed it to work. I believe the plastic used is somewhat unstable and breaks down over a short period of time. My door bottom became very brittle and chunks would fall off until it finally gave way completely.   

[Dean405]

After further inspection, I have noticed that the bottom hinge pin has quite a bit of play and wiggle in it. With this new information, I am now in doubt that the loose screws in the bottom plate would have contributed to the hinge failure. The hinge pin play would not have allowed the flex in the bottom plate to put the hinge in enough stress to break the plastic The plastic is not very thick and there is a lot of stress on the pin, so I can only assume it is some kind of fatigue failure or just not strong enough to handle the stresses. I fully expect the door that I received today to eventually fail. The first two lasted about 2 or 3 months each.

I don't know anything about the original smoker, but the digital smoker has very little framework at the bottom of the door to securely fasten a homemade metal hinge.

[viper125]

After all the posts about the hinge and bottom plate also bottom of door. I think if or when mine fails ill replace with aluminum instead of replying the original. I would rather better it then retaining a poor design. There has been a few mods to fix it.

[RFT]

I cut the feet off the plastic front cover and did the foot mod (added additional rubber feet.  Theory here is that the weight of the smoker only rests on two four feet, two of those are on THAT front cover.  With the smoker loaded the additional weight of the load puts to much strain on the front feet causing the cover to crack on middle screw and sometimes other places.  Since doing this my plastic cover is still in one piece, no cracks.

I had my door hinges fail also due to the fact that when or if opened just slightly to much it will put strain on the hinges and crack them.   I have since installed two one inch door stops on smoker and have not had a problem with door any more. I am positive I would have had these issues repeat themselves no matter how careful I was with my smoker this is why I did the improvements. 
Also did the 900W element mod so no probs with elements either.

[Dean405]

I had my door hinges fail also due to the fact that when or if opened just slightly to much it will put strain on the hinges and crack them.   I have since installed two one inch door stops on smoker and have not had a problem with door any more. I am positive I would have had these issues repeat themselves no matter how careful I was with my smoker this is why I did the improvements. 
Also did the 900W element mod so no probs with elements either.

This may be a valid concern. I certainly didn't think I was doing anything rough enough to break the hinges, but it may not take much under these conditions. You are correct that the hinges bind when you open the door all the way. And you have to have it almost all the way open to slide the wire racks in and out. When I take my meat out of the smoker, I take the entire rack, meat and all out so I have to have the door wide open to do this.

[viper125]

I also remove the whole tray but i try to becareful and not bump the door. You are probably right.