Extension Cord

[oakville smoker]

You learn something new everyday
I have been using what is probably a 50 foot extension cord with DBS
Everything seems to have been fine so far, but now I will be getting a shorter one

[ArnieM]

The OBS is not exactly a powerhouse when it comes to current draw.  The SG and tower, at max, do 650 Watts, or about 5.5 Amps on 110-120V.  That's less than half of a toaster.  I use a 16 AWG 8 foot extension cord and it works fine.  If I were to go for a 15-25 foot, I'd use 14 AWG (American Wire Gauge).  Too much more than that and I'd be thinking about a charcoal/pellet smoker.  ;)

Also make sure the extension cord is suitable for outdoor use, assuming you're smoking outside.  And, yes, keep it out of the way.  That sometimes justifies a longer cord.  You don't want your adult beverage drinking guests to trip on the cord and take the Bradley with 'em.  ;D

Just don't use one of those $0.99 cords from the Dollar Store.

[squirtthecat]

I use about 30' of super heavy gauge extension cord and never had a problem..  However, it is a pain to move around/trip over, so I'm going to bury some romex out to my patio and just put a heavy plug on the end.

Eventually, I'll have a circuit dedicated to it.

[Huntnfreak]

HawkeyeSmokes is right on the money with his explanation.  After I gave my two cents worth(which was obviously worthless and before I read HawkeyeSmokes thread) I talked to a buddy of mine who is an electrician.  He explained to me that it is all about the volts.  On a cordless drill, saw or anything like that length isn't a big deal.  Anything with an ECU's or onboard computer it is a problem.  Computers require a specific minimum amount of volts to function properly.  If they are operated at too low of volts it will fry the ECU's.  Obviously those of us who have been using longer extention cords have been fortunate so far.  I made a trip to a local electrical supply store and purchased 12-3/SO wire and two Commercial grade plugs.  I could have purchased 12-3 wire somewhere else cheaper, but what I purchased is commercial grade, extra flexible and rated for outdoor use.  $20 bucks invested and well worth it after my lessons learned!

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Good choice there Huntnfreak! It never hurts to oversize an extension cord but undersizing sure can. And shorter is better.  :D One other thing to watch out for is any other loads on the circuit you are using. Example, add 2 100 watt light bulbs and a tv. Now it went from about 650 watts to about 1000 watts. I read an old post from Iceman a while ago where he hooked up a load generator and checked the surface temp of the smoke generator. The drop was pretty dramatic. Toss in a cheap extension cord, the performance drops even more. Not that it won't still work, but will be less than optimal. Since reading that, I only use a dedicated outlet.

[Quarlow]

Here's something I never even thought of till it was explained to me. The electricity does not actually flow inside the wire, It travels along the outside of the wire.That is why the wire has a plastic coating on it. If the current flowed inside the wire you could touch bare wire as long as you did not touch the end. We had a demonstration at work by the electrician that does the work at our quarry because we have some heavy duty power running into the place, so they wanted us to know the basics of electricity.

[blackbelt1955]

+1 on what HawkeyeSmokes said.  One of my careers was an electrician.  Note that I did not read all of the previous posts ... his was enough me.

Best Regards,
Dave

[Quarlow]

Yeah well I went out today and got 15' of 12 gauge extension wire and 2 new ends. So this should fix my troubles with uncooked pucks. When I did my stuffed pork loin yesterday, even though I used the cord that I normally use, I did have some not fully burnt pucks still. So that was it for that cord, and now I should be good.

[classicrockgriller]

Q, when u plugged your cord in, it was probably not an isolated plug (meaning the electrical line from the fuse box was only going to that socket). So therefore it was share with something else in the household. If something else is "on" that line and being used while your bradley is plugged into an extention cord (going to the same source), some of the players might not get all the juice they want. That is a drop in amps, the voltage is still there, just not the amps.

I am not an electrician, but after "burning up" $$$ worth of tools in my business, I started asking questions.

Some things I have learned the $$$$ way:
Always know the size wire that is coming from your main to your plug.
Never start with a smaller guage ext cord and then plug into a larger guage ext cord. ie:
  Plug(being 12 ga from main) a 16 ga ext 12 feet then a 14 ga ext.....if you have to use two different ext's ...use the larger ga first.
  ( have you ever felt a ext cord and it was hot....cause what ever it is plugged into is starving for amps)
If you open up your breaker box and look at all the "fuses"... you will see a variety. 15, 20,25, maybe a 30.
That is what your contractor of the house decided....ie: cheapest way. I'm not saying go change all your breakers to 30 amps,
but what I am saying is you might be trying to get amps off a 15 amp breaker with a toooooo long ext cord.
Find out what amp breaker you are drawing from and make a good decision as what to do to correct it. Hope it makes sense.   CRG

[Quarlow]

All good points CRG I will have to look at them see whats what. The way this house is wired it's amazing anything works. But I just rent it so I have had to fix a few things in the panel but there is only so much you can do. It's not an old house and it did pass building code, but then after that they put a suite in the basement and put all the services for it on 2 circuits, so the one breaker pops often. But like I say,aside from ripping walls and adding wire and breakers there is not much you can do with it. The upstairs where we live is ok, Although I did find that the ground on the plug in I was using was not attached, 30 secs with a screw driver fixed that. I'm not a dummy with electrical,but I'm no genius either. I have to refer to my basic electrical book sometimes. I should test the amps of the outlet I am using and see what it reads and maybe figure out what else is on this circuit too.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

CRG has made some good points, like not plugging a 12 GA cord into a 16 GA cord. And if an extension cord is hot or even warm, it is overloaded. The cord heating up is being caused by resistance, just like the heating element in the Bradley smoker gets hot by resistance. If that happens, you now have a heating element the length of your extension cord. That resistance in turn causes a drop in voltage, not amps. The drop in voltage causes a heating element to drop in temperature, or in the case of a light bulb, to become dimmer. On power tools and electric motors, to run hot and cause premature failure. A 15 amp circuit will provide 15 amps of power until you overload it and then the circuit breaker trips. I don't think there is a way to test the amps of an unloaded circuit, only a loaded one and that requires a special tester. The rule of thumb is not to go over 80% of the rated capacity of the circuit so you should stay under 12 amps for a 15 amp circuit. BTY, a 15 amp circuit is the most common in a house. And using a larger circuit breaker is not a good idea, that creates a fire hazard and it will be against most if not all electrical codes.

[Quarlow]

Yeah 10-4 hawkes I would never switch to a bigger breaker unless the wire on it could handle more power. That said I have a buddy who is very good with elctrical and his step dad is an electrician with B.C. Hydro. so before I do anything I always check with them. But it is easier to get a hold of you guys than him. So thanks again

[classicrockgriller]

LOL, Sorry I wrote that under the influence of about 1/2 bottle of 1.75 ltr adult beverage (whiskey). I kept reading it before I posted it and couldn't put my finger on what I had said wrong. In fact I forgot I made that post till just now. rofl Thanks HES for saving Q from burning his house down. Sorry Q I won't give technical advice under the infleunce anymore.   CRG

[Quarlow]

lmao No harm no foul CRG. ;D

[HawkeyeSmokes]

lmao No harm no foul CRG. ;D

Couldn't agree more Quarlow. CRG, keep on posting, I try to read them all and enjoy the creativity that you bring. Youve opened my eyes more than once with your smoking, grilling, cooking! So when is the timeout from the wife on smoking over? ;D