Temperature Control Issues

[Langleysmoker]

Hi Folks..
My name is Mike from Langley BC..
I'm not a  Pro at this and so I;m still learning this Art.

I have had my smoker for a few years now trading in my Little Chief and I am thinking about going back to my Little Chief because it out performed my Bradley by Leaps n Bounds but taking 5 times longer to smoke my fish tho so that sucked.

The Last couple nights I have been smoking salmon and the only way I could regulate the heat was by putting a Puck in the door to let heat out.. and having to press the red button to advance the pucks to generate smoke.

I'm sure I'm not the only person to have this issue 

Mike.

[Gafala]

My thoughts are you need to contact Bradley Service about your issues they should be able to help.

[Coogles]

What is your target temperature and how hot is the cabinet getting if you don't prop the door open?

[Habanero Smoker]

Search the forum for "cold smoke setup". That setup will separate the generator from the cabinet, and reduce some of the heat inside the cabinet. .

As for the bisquettes not advancing automatically, you didn't provide much detail about the problem, but mainly if you have to use the advance button to advance the bisquettes, it may be a micro switch problem. Do a search on the micro switch.

[Langleysmoker]

Hey Folks Tks for your replies...

I had to order a new box for my smoker.
I had to many issues to fix so i decided to buy a new box and I received that today.

I will continue on my trek for Great Smoked Salmon.
:)

[Langleysmoker]

What is your target temperature and how hot is the cabinet getting if you don't prop the door open?

I was trying to reach 140 but with the door closed my smoker was going to 300.

[Coogles]

What is your target temperature and how hot is the cabinet getting if you don't prop the door open?

I was trying to reach 140 but with the door closed my smoker was going to 300.

300°?  If you have the control dial turned all the way down and it's still getting that hot you may have a bad rheostat.  Even with the main heating element disconnected you'll have a hard time keeping a temp as low as 140° due to the heating element on the smoke generator.  You can get a cold smoker adapter for the Bradley that allows you to move the smoke generator away from the cabinet to keep the temperature low.  First you need to figure out what's going on with your controller though, if the dial isn't regulating the power going to the main heating element you will need to get that fixed or replaced.  If you want to go all out you could just bypass the stock control with a PID controller like this one from Auber Instruments or you could do what I did and build a controller yourself.