New Digital cannot get about 160° Please help

[ssherman]

My first cooking attempt was not good as I had to fire up the charcoal smoker to finish.  I set the temp. on 320, but after 4.5 hours the highest temperature I could obtain was 167° and the meat was raw and >100 degrees after all that time.  Needless to say, I'm very concerned.  My connections seem tight, any other ideas?  I have not called tech support yet, and my outlet is just a few inches away from the unit.

[KyNola]

The first and foremost question is what were you smoking?  If you threw a 8-9 pork butt or a couple of chickens in there you are going to lose all of your heat when you open to door to put the meat in.  Then, the cold meat acts as a heat sink, sucking up every bit of heat energy the Bradley can put out, causing the heat recovery in the cabinet to take a long long time.  That's why it is called low and slow.

Patience is a virtue my friend, particularly when it comes to a Bradley.  Remember, you're cooking with the equivalent of 5 100 watt light bulbs.

[Alanfromwis]

  Did you have the vent wide open as it should be? Did you open the door often?  If you had the meat very close to the heat sensor on the back of the cabinet will cause a low reading. Check with another probe & thermometer if you can.

[GusRobin]

Also, what else is on the same power circuit? The Bradley does not play well with others when it comes to sharing power.

[beefmann]

while you  were  cooking  was the  main element in the back lower cabinet glowing  Red?? if it was  not , you  may be   only  getting heat from the  smoke generator hence  not getting to higher  temps, check the power to the element, ,  check the  element on ohms to see ifi t  is good  if it  is  let  us  know

[ssherman]

BEEFMAN, I think I've solved it.  Yes, apparently I was only getting heat from the smoke generator yesterday.  I re-seated the plug TIGHT and now the element is glowing red and the temperature is rising rapidly.  Thanks to everyone for their help.  You know, I always expect issues with new things and am wary against giving up too soon and there is almost always a solution.  That plug from the digital box was plugged in, but not popped in TIGHT.  Fingers crossed for the next attempt, but I am confident now that everything is working.  Happy Smoking.

[KyNola]

Outstanding!

[beefmann]

glad you got it  solved... keep up the good work

[rveal23]

Glad to hear everything worked out!

[ssherman]

Outstanding!

Just an off-topic question.  I traveled Paducah years ago...well make that decades ago.  Is Skinhead's Restaurant still open?  Thanks

[Yancey]

Ssherman, the EXACT same thing happened to me.  After seating the connections tightly I am getting great heat.

[KyNola]

Outstanding!

Just an off-topic question.  I traveled Paducah years ago...well make that decades ago.  Is Skinhead's Restaurant still open?  Thanks

Sorry I missed your question.  Sadly, no, Skinhead's hasn't been open for quite some time and my friend and relative Skinhead died a few years ago.  He lived about 5 houses down the street from me.  If I ran out of beer on Sunday I always knew who's house to go to. :)