Don't feel bad trapperbruce, I thought the same thing as you did,
only four hours, must have a defective machine.
finally figured it out ( push set time, push arrow up) DUH
it's a lot easier on the long smokes

Im sure i banged my head on the same ant your talking about

I was just wondering what you plan to smoke for that long. 
I leave the smoke generator on for the extra heat