Heater not working on 4 rack BDS

[eon]

I just went to put in a brisket overnight in my BDS and the heater is not working (smoker is fine, but cabinet heater is cold)

I have checked the connection from the smoker to the cabinet and the thermostat cable and all seems fine.

Any ideas? There are no errors showing.

It's quite cold outside but the unit is only a month or so old and kept under cover...

[Smoking Duck]

Make sure your plugs are really pushed in tight.  Even if you think you checked it, push it in really good.  This is usually the cause of the problem.  Make sure you have the tower portion turned on.  If that doesn't work, it may be the fuse.

[eon]

I have also tried plugging the cabinet straight into the power socket... (ie direct, not via the smoker unit)

Still no luck..

[Smoking Duck]

Well, I'm not really sure what it could be then.  You could always cold-smoke the meat and then throw into the oven at your desired temp.  After the smoke gets done rolling, that's all the Bradley is anyways.  Cold smoke it using the smoke generator only for 3-4 hours and then throw into the oven.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

SD

[Mr Walleye]

Eon

I'm assuming you checked the plug your using and it has power.

When you tried to plug it in direct to the tower, as SD said you want to make sure you wiggle and jiggle that plug, even unplug and replug a few times. If you have tried that with no success there really is only a couple of things it can be. One is the heater element could have a loose contact which you could check just make sure you are careful when you tighten the screws on the porcelain insulators or they will break if tightened too much. I guess another thing it could be is the heating element itself, although it is rare hearing about them burning out, they do occasionally do. The only other thing that comes to mind is there is a high limit switch in the back of the OBS but I'm not sure nor convinced there is one in the DBS because it's already digitally controlled.

Unfortunately if you have tried all this the next thing will be to call Bradley especially if it's under warranty. Their customer service is really good.

Hopefully you can get it figured out.

Mike

[eon]

Thanks Guys,

I think I'll have to give them a call next week.

I'll start preheating the oven !!!

[Mr Walleye]

Sorry Eon, wish we could have helped more.

Keep us posted what the problem was, it's always good for future reference.

Mike

[randman]

For what it's worth, I just got the 4 rack BDS for Christmas and have the same issue. Checked everything and no heat in the oven. Smoker is working fine. All racks filled with ribs. I'll cold smoke and move to the Weber or oven but I hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Randman and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to here about your problem.

Make sure you are getting a really good push on the power button for the tower hear (right side button). Sometimes it takes a really good push with the tip of your finger.

The other common problem is the power cord between the generator and the tower. For what ever reason they seen to have something like a little rough plastic or something from the casting when it was made. It seems if you plug and unplug a number of times making sure you are getting it fully seated. This problem seems to resolve itself with a little use. When mine was new I had this problem on the first couple of smokes until I figured it out.

Certainly if all else fails give Bradley a call. They will make it right.  ;)

Mike

[littlebitt]

Hello All,

I had a similar issue with a 6 rack DBS recently purchased.  The look on my face must have been something when I went to check on the ham I was attempting to smoke.   >:(

I called customer service, they were great.  They never had such an issue but had tech. support call me back. I was asked to check the connections, did this several times, nothing.  Then, I was instructed to take the guards off of the heating element and the ceramic holders and tighten the connections on the element.  I had to do this several different times to finally achieve the performance of my older unit.  But now that the nuts are tight on both sides of the element, the unit is working fine.  Just be sure not to tighten the ceramic back down too tight or it might crack. 

Hope this helps, this corrected the issue for me and I have successfully smoked several hams and alot of bacon in it since I got things tightened up.

Littlebitt