Heating Element Issue (No Heat)

[aaparker]

Good evening!

My name is Austin and I have searched the boards trying to find an answer to my issue. I apologize if this is a easy fix or covered on another topic I could not find.

My Issue:
I have a Bradley Digital 6 Rack smoker and the heating element no longer heats inside the unit.

Smoker Background:
My wife gave me the smoker about a year and a half ago as a wedding present. At the time of our wedding we were in the process of moving and I had it in the original unopened box packed away in the garage at our new house and forgot about it. I was cleaning out the garage about 2 months ago and rediscovered the smoker. I immediately brined some chickens and began smoking with no problems the first 5 times. On my 6th smoking in less than 2 months the heating element went out on me.

Background during element failure:
In the middle of smoking a brisket I had the element fail on me. There was no spillage of liquid on the element or power surge to my knowledge while in use. I have it hooked into a 120v supply that is a GFCI protected outlet.

What I have done:

1) I made sure all my connections at the smoke generator and the tower unit were firmly pushed into the outlets.

2) Checked the fuse on the smoke generator. It was not blown.

Fuse:



3) I have replaced the heating element twice. I thought one was maybe damaged while it was in the process of shipping. I bought an additional element locally at a store. I installed both elements and I still have no heat. I also have the correct Ohm read out at the heating elements.

Heating Element 1:


Heating Element 2:*


*I'm not electrician by trade but I think the second photo shows a higher Ohm read out because I may have bypassed the smoke generator in that test.

4) I used my voltage tester to check all the connections.

At the smoke generator:


At the tower unit:


Thermostat at smoke generator:



3) I bypassed the smoke generator and plugged directly into the back of the "tower unit" (lack of better word) and still no heat/glowing red element.


4) I removed the cover plate on the back of the tower unit and tested the bypassed voltage at the power cord connection. I have 120v across the connection on the wire leads.

Connection:



5) I tested the voltage at the heating element wire (even though I have the correct Ohm's. Getting frustrated at this point). I did it not knowing if it mattered but I re-hooked the smoke generator up and had it call for heat.

Heating Element wire 1:


Heating Element wire 2:


*I probably should have tested higher on the wire. I could have a miss read because there's a lot of "hot" wires in the area after looking at the picture.

6) I checked all the wires to see if there was a blown wire. I could not locate one. I even had the heating element off and pulled the +/- wire back through the back of the tower unit to check. No evidence of a blown wire. I went as far as to slide back all the silicon protective covering on the male/female wire connectors to check the crimp of the wires at the locations in case one came loose. All had solid connections.

7) The only thing I noticed is in the below picture there is evidence of some "browning" of the insulation where my thermostat (red wires) come together just above the smoke generator power supply. There is a white wire tie  that is in the middle of the "browning" for picture reference.

Tower Unit wiring:


8) I disconnected and reconnected the thermostat wiring as a final attempt to try and get some heat from the coil. No luck.



I apologize for the length of the post but I wanted to be thorough and show everyone what I did in hopes of anyone pointing out a bone head mistake I made or should've tried. Any advice is greatly appreciated. For as much as this thing cost, I would like to get more use out of it than just 6 times.

[tskeeter]

Austin, I'd check the red power lead between the plug on the smoker cabinet and the heating element for continuity.  This wire contains a fusible link that is clipped to the back side of the back wall of the liner to the smoker.  If the smoker somehow got too hot, this "in line fuse" may have activated.

Replacement power leads are available from yard and pool.  At about $5, they are cheap enough that I keep a couple of spares on hand.

The browning of the insulation that you noticed is pretty common.  But, it may be an indication that the smoker temperature got high enough to activate the fusible link in the power lead.

[aaparker]

Tskeeter,

Thank you for the reply! I figured it was the in line fuse on the wire. I took apart the nuts and bolts at the thermostat housing but I could not get the housing bracket to separate from the back on the cabinet. Is there a trick? Mine has a substantial amount of adhesive under the clamp as well which is keeping locked to the clamp.

No problem just using a flat head screw driver and prying it off or a putty knife? Obviously, opt on the gentle side.

To be clear this is what I replace? The red wire with the green arrows. The inline fuse is behind the clamp/bracket on the cabinet with the blue arrow?


I figured it was something easy when I stripped this thing down and there was nothing to the unit. I should've tried harder to get the clamp off.

[tskeeter]

Yes, the wire you identified is the one I'm talking about.  After you loosen the machine screws and nuts that hold the clip in place, some careful prying should loosen the clip from the back wall of the cabinet.  I don't think that the material under the clip is an adhesive.  I suspect it is a heat transfer compound.  So it shouldn't take much to get the clip loose.  I don't remember getting the clip loose being a big deal when I replaced the power lead in my smoker.