Maybe A Rant

[charlesk]

I bought my BDS in the late summer and was very pleased with the results ( cold and hot smoking)
After a lot of research I picked the Bradley over the Masterbuilt because of the controlled puck burning and ability to cold smoke and more Bradleys here than Masterbuilt. So living in Southern Ont it dosen't get that cold anymore maybe to zero F or so I thought from reading the reviews it would handle the cold because it stays inside my unheated garage which never freezes. I was wrong, seems a 500 watt heater isn't enough sometimes and a dual element should be installed and then I find the temp swing is a little more than I want and I can get a PID controller to fix that also. Temp swing I could handle if I had more heat, temp recovery takes way to long.

Any Bradley parts that are needed come from BC nobody else has anything I guess so be it. BUT if Bradley knows the 500 watt can be inefficient in colder climates why not offer a replacement 1000 or 1200 watt replacement. And if they know the temp can swing more than a person may like why can't they offer a add on PID.

To the best of my knowledge we have nothing here that I can buy for the Bradley except from BC or the States. I don't think I should have to do all this research and track down add ons when Bradley could offer them as upgrades.
I paid a lot of money for this smoker because I thought it would out perform the Masterbuilt, Masterbuilt has a 1200 watt heat element why can't Bradley if they know they have a problem in certain areas of colder weather.
I am a little peed off after spending 500 bucks for what I thought was a superior smoker only to find that I can spend another 200 to upgrade

I talked to Bradley customer service and they couldn't help me so I asked to talk her manager, she said he would call but never did.

I do not have parts at my finger tips and find it frustrating that I need to do these mods to get what I want when I thought I was set from the get go
I like the smoker but don't think I should have to all this running around :(

Sure would be easier if Bradley offered the upgrades :)

[GusRobin]

where are you located?

[charlesk]

Close to Stratford Ont. which is between London and Kitchener Ont.

[OldHoss]

Got one of these?



Made with this stuff......



Also toss a couple or more of these:



pre=heated wrapped in tin foil somewhere in your unit.  See here for more info on these babies.........

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/firebricks.htm

Also pre-heat the unit to high before putting product in and while you must keep the vent all the way open most all of time you can make yourself a little wind guard on top of foil blanket out of smaller cardborad boxes (I use 3 in a small triangle around the hole with each box no taller than 5 or 6 inches) and  to sheild the wind abit and prevent a vacuum from sucking all your smoke away fast.  I got my unit in early Fall and have already figured all of this out.  I have done smokes outside on the pork in -5C weather with a good little wind going and my recovery times are not terrible at all (this is on the front porch with 3 sides open but notice from the picture that is in the sweet spot on the porch).  If you load the unit with cold meat or alot of food it will take time to come up but only when it is fully loaded.  If I am putting a couple chickens or a single pork butt in there is no real drop in temp when putting it in a fully heated unit.  Also when you preheat the unit do it with the vent on top closed off....when you have product in it you MUST open it all the way......and especially if you have alot of moisture in there.  And this being a smoker that has a water pan in bottom...that counts as alot of water.   Also add boiled water to that pan and if you are adding liquid food.....say some beans or chili......warm it up on the stove some first so you are not adding cold product.  I live just down the road from you and have not changed out my heating element nor thought to seriously.

[GusRobin]

Pardon my ignorance, but are not both BC and Ont. in Canada? So what is the issue of buying from Bradley in BC?

[charlesk]

Oldhoss
Thanks for the info I was thinking of the bricks but did not know of the ones you suggested.
I have my smoker wrapped in insulation, but not as nice as yours.
I preheat to 300 vent closed and use hot water in the pan. I do a lot of brined poultry so I am aware of the moisture and black rain and vent postion. I don't peep either.
Did a 12 lb brined turkey on Fri temp in the garage was 36f. Did my usual preamble, figured about 6-7 hrs at 240f. At 7 hrs I was at meat temp of 150f watched the smoker temp and it would drop from 240f to about 217f then take a long time to recover. I bumped the temp to 260 to finish off the bird,didn't think I should of had to do that. I am fairly new to this type of smoking and always learning but I don't think I did anything wrong and especially when the smoker is in the garage.

[charlesk]

GusRobin
The fact that Bradley has a ware house in BC is a plus because there are no border or broker fees to add to the shipping costs.
I ordered two heating elements last week and off their site and the shipping costs for the two pieces was $30.00 I phoned customer service and asked for a break, they were very nice and emailed me back the next day with a price of $9.00. Got the product 5 days later not including weekends. I read a lot of posts that say I went to Rons Pools and picked this up or stopped by Lowes and grabbed this. I just thought it would be nice if I wanted to buy for example a PID it could be from somewhere that I had driven to and didn't include border or broker fees and  shipping costs.
I talked to Bradley about available parts supplers and they were not aware of anyone stocking parts, just the smokers
Like I said
Maybe a Rant
I still think it would nice if bradley picked up the ball and offered the mods

[GusRobin]

Bradley doesn't offer the mods because they are all "non-authorized". Many folks have not moded their units and are totally happy with them as is.
Yard and Pool offers Bradley parts here in the states, not sure what their shipping costs are to Canada, but the unit prices are usually cheaper from Bradley direct then Y&P. They are the only ones I know of besides Bradley. The "ron's pools" or "lowes" are for improvised parts, not official Bradley parts. Those "improvised" parts you probably can get at any DIY store in Canada.
Not sure on PIDs. The only one I know of that is plug and play is from Auber Instruments here in the states. Not sure what controllers, if any are available in Canada.

Hope that helps.

[viper125]

Well i picked the 4 rack because i like the mod idea. You can use as is.  Which i have done at 5* and never no problem. If you put it were wind can get to it. Well dont do that. I mod every thing i own pretty much. Just working is never good enough. And people with experiance. Knows you cant just set and smoke. I spent several months on three sites reading and comparing. I do for every thing. Then i dont need to rant. Only complaint i have with bradley is id like to see them dump the pretty plastic for strong steel. Oh and if you heat that bradley to around 300 degrees you need to fix your saftey sensor it should cut out around 260 degrees i believe.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[Tiny Tim]

Viper, sensor cuts power at 320, or close to it.

Charles...don't see it mentioned, but are you using the display on the Smoke Generator for your cabinet readings, or are you monitoring with a remote read, with the probe located just below the meat (3-5 inches would be best placement)?

[charlesk]

Viper
I have been relying on the generator display. I assumed since the sensor was placed in the the back and it was a digital read it would OK. But now that you mention it if it is off, which I will admitt I didn't check because it was digital assumming it would be fairly accuate.
Then what you are saying is hang the remote through the vent 3-5 inches past the meat and rely on that temp. I'll  have to check that forthwith. But then the question I would have to ask why dosen't the temp sensor that came with the unit do the job like it is supposed to??What did I pay for or is there problems with it.

Thanks for that thought viper that is probley gonna help

[Tiny Tim]

Running the probe wire through the door works as well.  The big reason the sensor doesn't give the "true" reading, is that the load is trying to cool the cabinet, while the element is trying to heat it (the element will always eventually win though), and since the sensor is located reasonably high in the cabinet, it is reading an already cooled temp...would guess that's why it hits your set temp and starts to decline, rather than overshoot by a few degrees (designed that way so as to not overheat things).

Feel like experimenting?  Watch the temp while it runs empty for a few hours (also without rolling smoke...this is just a time killer suggestion), then do the same test with your kitchen oven...unless the oven is a "top of the line" model that will do everything but butcher your critters and mix your batters, the results will probably be very similar.

[KyNola]

The heat sensor is on the back wall directly above the heating element.  Heat rises so the heat from the element rises directly up the back wall where the sensor reads it.