Burner Warp

[Grouperman941]

It looks as though my bisquette burner has warped. I have been having problems with them advancing for a while and finally opened it up for a good look.

The burner rails are turned inward and the burner surface is slightly concave. This is wrong, right?

It is possible to bend this back to shape? Any other ideas?

It functions now, but every time a puck advances, I have to squeeze it with my tongs so it touches the burner.






(I did clean this right after the pic!)

[beefmann]

not sure on what to recommend there. as the element is embedded into the burner it self.. any adjustment / flexing of the  metal may damage the element  causing it to no longer work... I  would say buy a new puck burner...

[Grouperman941]

not sure on what to recommend there. as the element is embedded into the burner it self.. any adjustment / flexing of the  metal may damage the element  causing it to no longer work... I  would say buy a new puck burner...

That's what I am thinking.

[Orion]

You mentioned having to squeeze the puck with tongs to maintain contact with the burner.

Is this because the pucks are hanging up on the rails of the burner plate?

I would yank the burner assy out of the SG and use a small straight edge to determine exactly where it has warped. If the rails have folded in so much as to interfere with the pucks you could consider filing them back to increase the space for a puck to fit between them.

Failing that, the body and rails of the burner is aluminum and if you clamp it evenly and securely in a vice and heat it along the line of warpage with a fine tip of a small propane torch you should be able to tweak it back to shape. Trick is to get it to the right temperature.

How are the pucks burning? Do you get complete combustion?

As long as you have it apart I would perform the chute mod as it appears you have had a lot of puck material burning on the delivery chute which does not make puck travel any smoother.

You don't have too much to lose at this point by attempting to fix the problem by any means available to you.   

[Grouperman941]

You mentioned having to squeeze the puck with tongs to maintain contact with the burner.

Is this because the pucks are hanging up on the rails of the burner plate?

How are the pucks burning? Do you get complete combustion?

When the puck feeds, it 'pops a wheelie' when it reaches the pinch in the rails, and the new puck ends up on top of the edge of the old one. Sometimes, the old one falls.

After a couple of minutes, the puck is burned enough on the edges so that it fits. Then I can squeeze it onto the burner.

I am not sure I can file this enough to allow the puck to fit. If I can, I could live with the problem, because I still get plenty of smoke once the puck is in place.

I have 9 pounds of pastrami to smoke tomorrow, and then I will commence this repair attempt. Thanks for the ideas.

[Orion]

I'd be willing to suggest that the pucks would traverse the burner just fine without the burner rails at all. Have a good smoke tomorrow :)

[Habanero Smoker]

I have never seen that problem. I would send those pictures to Bradley and make them aware of it. I'm not sure what could have caused the warping. Maybe you bisquette burner is faulty and burning at a much higher temperature then intended. If you have an infrared thermometer, test the temperature of the burner. The temperature measured dead center of the burner should fluctuate between 245°F to 255°F; with maybe an occasional spiking to 260°F, but the average temperature should be around 250°F.

Unless you are using a large pan instead of the water bowl, I would be cautious about filing the burner rails completely off. Without the railing there is not telling where the spent bisquettes will end up. They could be pushed straight forward, or they could shift and be pushed off to one side or the other. If you file them, maybe leave a small lip to help guide the bisquettes.