Heat Elements

vargy49 · July 31, 2011, 06:12:52 PM

My smoker is only 2 months old. I have some thing in it every weekend!! Today I smoke a pork Loin and it turned out great!!! I will call Bradley in the morning to see what they think. I was very impressed with the service on the heating ele. It was a simple fix and worked great after.

Vargy

Quarlow · July 31, 2011, 07:57:58 PM

Better wait till tuesday. We have a long weekend this weekend. They will be close.

natemr2 · August 06, 2011, 07:57:02 AM

I just experienced an element failure, I love my smoker and would of recommended to anyone, but I am very dissapointed with the response I got when calling Bradley about the element, My whole unit was replaced 7 months ago after a fire, They were great and I the smoker was back to me in no time. My new unit has only been used 3 times and half way through a Salmon smoke my element goes out, I called bradley and they said since my unit was replaced, the warranty runs from my original smoker and I would have to replace the element at my cost. So basically I am pretty dissapointed that they are not willing to stand behind their product, and furthermore I am still waiting for the element it was ordered two weeks ago. :-[

classicrockgriller · August 06, 2011, 09:00:24 PM

So you caught your Bradley on fire and they replaced the WHOLE unit. ($400)

Now a $13 element goes out and you are MAD?

OK.

mikecorn.1 · August 06, 2011, 09:22:52 PM

Quote from: classicrockgriller on August 06, 2011, 09:00:24 PM
So you caught your Bradley on fire and they replaced the WHOLE unit. ($400)

Now a $13 element goes out and you are MAD?

OK.

$24.99 at yardandpool.com ;D

Hows this texas heat treating you? :'(

classicrockgriller · August 06, 2011, 09:27:31 PM

Quote from: mikecorn.1 on August 06, 2011, 09:22:52 PM
Quote from: classicrockgriller on August 06, 2011, 09:00:24 PM
So you caught your Bradley on fire and they replaced the WHOLE unit. ($400)

Now a $13 element goes out and you are MAD?

OK.

$24.99 at yardandpool.com ;D

Hows this texas heat treating you? :'(

I am a indoor Hermit from 10am to 7pm and maybe longer.

natemr2 · August 07, 2011, 08:06:54 AM

Quote from: classicrockgriller on August 06, 2011, 09:00:24 PM
So you caught your Bradley on fire and they replaced the WHOLE unit. ($400)

Now a $13 element goes out and you are MAD?

OK.

No I paid for the new unit, the warranty does not cover fires, I am dissappointed that the new unit has on 15hrs on it and I am on the hook for more money out of pocket, I would think if I pay for the best I should get better quality.

Tenpoint5 · August 07, 2011, 08:24:59 AM

Quote from: natemr2 on August 06, 2011, 07:57:02 AM
I just experienced an element failure, I love my smoker and would of recommended to anyone, but I am very dissapointed with the response I got when calling Bradley about the element, My whole unit was replaced 7 months ago after a fire, They were great and I the smoker was back to me in no time. My new unit has only been used 3 times and half way through a Salmon smoke my element goes out, I called bradley and they said since my unit was replaced, the warranty runs from my original smoker and I would have to replace the element at my cost. So basically I am pretty dissapointed that they are not willing to stand behind their product, and furthermore I am still waiting for the element it was ordered two weeks ago. :-[

Quote from: natemr2 on August 07, 2011, 08:06:54 AM
Quote from: classicrockgriller on August 06, 2011, 09:00:24 PM
So you caught your Bradley on fire and they replaced the WHOLE unit. ($400)

Now a $13 element goes out and you are MAD?

OK.

No I paid for the new unit, the warranty does not cover fires, I am dissappointed that the new unit has on 15hrs on it and I am on the hook for more money out of pocket, I would think if I pay for the best I should get better quality.

I am thinking there is more to this than what you are telling us.

natemr2 · August 07, 2011, 08:48:11 AM

My orignal unit had a fire, last year maybe my fault maybe not, Bradley service was great I did not expect them to cover the fire but they did cover the taxes on the new smoker, I was happy to have it back. The new unit arrived within a few days and was put away for the winter ( I am in Ontario). brought out the smoker last month, did some salmon. I did one more smoke after that with it and half way through 10 pounds of salmon the element goes out. Called Bradley and expected the element to be replaced being it had less than 15hrs on it, I mentioned my smoker was replaced last year and was told the warranty goes from the original unit.
In my opinion that is wrong, this is a new unit, 15hrs on an element there is obviously an issue with quality here, I am upset because I have over $900 spent on smokers now, so yes a $13 part burns me a bit. :(

GusRobin · August 07, 2011, 08:54:45 AM

How long ago did you buy the replacement. 15 hours doesn't matter if you had it over a year. Its like my car, 36 months or 36K miles. Did you explain that you bought it and it was not a warranty replacement? The way you say "it was a replacement" gives the impression that it was a warranty repair. I would call and re-explain it and if you get the same answer ask to talk to the boss.

muebe · August 07, 2011, 09:10:38 AM

Natemr2....It sounds to me like a misunderstanding between you and the Bradley service rep. If your unit was replaced for free I could understand but if they just covered the taxes then the unit should be covered under warranty IMHO.

Sorry to hear about your fire. The fires that I have heard about have been due to too much grease build-up over long, overnight cooks where the grease was allowed to build up in the v-tray and water bowl causing a grease fire. So Bradley may have deemed that it was not a result of a faulty unit but user error. Remember to change the water over long cooks periodically and scrape the v-tray.

The element issue is a tough one. Many companies depend on different manufacturers to build parts for their products. If another company makes a faulty part then the blame will be put on the main company of the product. In this case Bradley did identify the issue and moved to a different element. But there are still bad elements out there that are slowly being replaced. The next step would be to recall the units that are known to have the defective elements or send one to new owners that have registered their units. But it would be tough to know what units have the bad elements or not because not every unit sold in the past year is having the issue.

natemr2 · August 07, 2011, 09:15:09 AM

I already paid them for the element, two weeks ago, don't get me wrong I love my smoker and have done many pounds of fish in my original unit, but it burns me a bit that this is a known problem, like others have mentioned it would be easy to get the serial #'s of the affected elements, and remedy the issue. I will continue to use my smoker and keep an extra element on hand, but I feel I shouldn't have to do that, I have contributed to many bradley purchases by friends and family and mostly touted the quality in comparison to other brands but after this experience I can no longer do that.

Tenpoint5 · August 07, 2011, 09:49:58 AM

Yes it is a known problem with the elements and has been dealt with. They now have a different supplier.

jmf · August 29, 2011, 01:36:08 PM

The problem with the elements is definately not fixed. I have had two elements go out and this time they are not only replacing the element but also the temperature control. Last time they replaced the element and the temperature sensor. Did not work. I don't think they know what makes the elements go out or how to fix them. They just keep replacing random parts hoping to get the right combination.

This time my smoker went out the last week in July and I have been waiting over a month for the parts to ship.

I called Bradley today to check on the progress of the parts and they said they are still waiting on some of the parts.

>:(