Heating Element not working

abngourmet · March 28, 2011, 09:19:11 PM

My heating element in my Bradley six rack digital smoker is not working at all. I checked the fuse - it's fine. All electrical connections are fine as well, as is the the connection between the digital unit and the smoking box. Smoker works. Any ideas?

Alan

GusRobin · March 28, 2011, 09:21:26 PM

call Bradley in the morning

abngourmet · March 28, 2011, 09:23:45 PM

I will, but I currently have pork shanks in it at the moment, that need to be cooked to 150 degrees F. Doesn't do me a lot of good to call them tomorrow.

Tiny Tim · March 28, 2011, 09:25:42 PM

All I can advise is to finish the smoke part, then put them in your house oven to get them to temp. Sounds like you may possibly have gotten one of the naughty elements that were running around for a while. Apologies to you about that (even though I'm not an Employee or owner of Bradley Technologies).

abngourmet · March 28, 2011, 09:36:56 PM

I've already switched to an alternate smoke device. But geez - I haven't used it that much and the heating element dies?

Tiny Tim · March 28, 2011, 09:51:34 PM

They had a bad batch of elements sent to them...flaw in the mfg process. Some got taken out of service before distribution, others didn't.

Habanero Smoker · March 29, 2011, 01:45:41 AM

In the future the below link may be helpful for trouble shooting when you need help when Bradley customer service lines are not open.

Bradley FAQ's

TedEbear · March 29, 2011, 04:39:24 AM

Quote from: abngourmet on March 28, 2011, 09:19:11 PM
My heating element in my Bradley six rack digital smoker is not working at all. I checked the fuse - it's fine.

Did you check both fuses? There's also a 10A inline fuse in the cabinet. You have to remove the back of the tower to access it.

abngourmet · March 29, 2011, 12:23:11 PM

I could not locate a 10 amp fuse in the cabinet. All I saw was what appears to be wires going to a ground, the wires going to the electrical outlet, and wires going to what looks like a temperature sensor half way up the cabinet.

Habanero Smoker · March 29, 2011, 12:54:32 PM

Did you try plugging the cabinet directly into an outlet; you will need to swap out the short cord for a desktop computer power cord.

The in-line fuse is located on the wire that goes from the temperature sensor to the plug. It has a clear plastic tubing covering it, but you can't tell if it is blown by looking at it. You will need an electrical tester, or use a piece of 14 gauge wire to by past it to see if it is blown.

But if you didn't follow any of the trouble shooting tips in the link I provided, then a non working element could be cause by several things. A primary problem is that the user is not making full contact with the buttons.

abngourmet · March 29, 2011, 03:00:36 PM

I sent an email to Bradley, and basically what the problem was was the short cord was not seated properly in the control unit. Apparently one has to really push that sucker in to make sure the connections are straight. She's working great now, and I'm going to cold smoke some cheese tonight. Thanks to everyone for the help.

Alan

Habanero Smoker · March 30, 2011, 01:16:06 AM

Glad to see you are up and running again.

Spin2Win · June 05, 2014, 08:34:42 AM

I just had a similar problem. No heat from the oven element. The digital display looks okay, with a flame showing that the oven should be on. If the smoker is on, then the animated digital display shows smoke rising from the flame.

I emailed Bradley, and they said to test by plugging the power cord directly into the back of the oven. The element should glow red in 5-7 minutes, and to call support at 1-866-508-7514 if it did not.

When I called, they were happy to take my order for a new $25 element. "It needs to be replaced periodically, just like a light bulb."

I complained that the 3 year old smoker had been used less than 10 times, and they suggested that the element had been jostled.

I'm not happy, but it's just not worth the fight.

Habanero Smoker · June 05, 2014, 01:01:20 PM

Hi Spin2Win;

Welcome to the forum.

The element should last must longer than yours did. Seeing that it is 3 years old you may had a defective element installed. If I recall correctly, it was about 3 years ago that the bad batch made it to the market. Unfortunately Bradley would only replace the element if it burned out during the warranty period. My current elements are 5 years old, and they have a lot of burn time on them. So you should get a lot more usage out of the replacement.

TedEbear · June 06, 2014, 04:32:45 AM

Quote from: Spin2Win on June 05, 2014, 08:34:42 AM
When I called, they were happy to take my order for a new $25 element. "It needs to be replaced periodically, just like a light bulb."

I notice that a reply from yesterday morning has been removed, probably by the author.

Anyway, if you want to verify whether it is a bad element or something else you can remove a wire off one end and use a multimeter to check the resistance through the element. A working element should have around 27-32 ohms.