GFCI keeps tripping during initial seasoning

[_Bear_]

I woulden't let the key board cowboys scare you off. There are some good poeple here with some great advice about smoking.

[maho]

OK, Thanks for all the inputs...

The problem went away by itself. On my third try I was able to season the smoker for a good hour, and after that I did a 3 hour Hickory Chicken (I know, but Hickory was all I had since it came with the oven). It was of course delicious but hickory is too powerfull for a chicken.

Two days later I did 15lbs of pulled pork (hickory for 4 hours, then and additional 5 hours of heat). It too was delicious and the GFCI did not trip once.. so I belive the problem went away by itself. Possibly it had been stored humid or something. I take the smoker unit off and store that in the garage, and keep the oven outside under cover.

Again thanks for all the inputs, I will begin to enjoy my smoker now

Mads

[ArnieM]

I'm, glad it worked out Mads.  I know it must have been very disappointing when you fired it up and it didn't work.

I also keep my SG stored inside.

Keep the smoke rollin'.  :D

[ChemGuy]

Well, I happy to see a thread that went over the exact issue I have!  I just received my 4 rack digital smoker from Costco yesterday.

Unfortunately, it's been nothing but problems.  First power on resulted in an E message.  Searching the FAQ I found that this was caused by a microswitch issue.  I followed the instructions on how to open the smoke generator and found that the microswitch wasn't even plugged into anything!  I went ahead and plugged the two wires back together and got everything put back in place.  On the first seasoning run, the system heated up and about 15 minutes in, tripped the GFCI.  This is the only appliance plugged into the circuit and I have tested it with other appliances with no issues.

My second try a couple hours later got about 20 minutes in before tripping the GFCI.  Now I can't even plug it in without tripping the GFCI immediately.  I have put a call in to bradley and left a message.  Hopefully I'll hear from them on monday.  I really don't want to try to get this thing back in its box to return to costco.  Hopefully they'll have a solution for me.  Now I have to think of something else to do with the meat I bought.

[Slamdunk]

That's the s***'s!

I have never had a problem with my OBS and am thankful for that!

Hopefully your meat is in the fridge so it will just be a time delay for your. In the meantime, you have a whole lot  of reading you can do on the forum.

Let us know how you make out,,,,

[Quarlow]

I don't plug into a GFCI so I never have this problem, but to blame Bradley for a GFCI that won't stand up is not really fair. Try plugging into an inside plug with no GFCI and see if you have any trouble. If you don't have any problems then maybe look into getting a GFCI breaker and replace your GFCI plug in for a regular outlet. I know it can be frustrating but once you get things straightened out you will never look back. Trust me. I had to return my first Bradley when it arrived too but they were great to deal with and this is something you don't find often. Unfortunately these things happen but Bradley's service makes up for it. Luckily for me I am ten minutes from Bradley's head office.

[ChemGuy]

Thanks for the replies.  Here's an update.  I gave it another shot the next day and it was able to complete the seasoning without tripping.  I have since logged about 9 hours of smoking in it across 3 separate occasions doing almonds and finally pulled beef.  It has run without issue.  Bradley did call me back and left a message.  It sounded like the issue was not uncommon and they included a procedure to address it in the message.  They said it was caused by moisture in the smoke generator and instructed me to open that up and use a hair dryer on it.  I'm glad that it is working now and am happy with the results.  However, this was a pretty rocky start for something I spent $400+ on.  I would hope that Bradley starts packing some silica gel in with these units so that moisture is not a problem.