Bisquette burn?

[Phone Guy]

I own two Bradley smokers, The OBS and a Smart Smoker. My OBS has never had a problem thoroughly burning the bisquettes. The Smart Smoker leaves the pucks about 1/2 to 3/4 burned. The bisquettes are from the same box so I know it's not the pucks. I compared the alignment of the burner on each and they appear to be about the same. There is a significant difference in the burn/waste in the two smokers. I have read everything about preheating and cleaning the puck burner etc..

Is it possible I have a bad burner? 

Is it possible I can move the burner from the OBS to the smart smoker and try that?

I read where someone changed the burn time to 40 minutes instead 20 but I don't see that as a good solution.

Any ideas?

[Gafala]

I think this is what you are talking about. A quote for a post earler.

I have the same thing. The puck on the burner starts the next puck burning and when they are advanced the 1st puck goes in the water but every puck after the 1st ends up being pushed only halfway off the burners.  Only the 1st puck burns for 20 minutes, each one after that burns for 40 minutes instead of 20.
I contacted Bradley and they say this is how it is supposed to work

[Phone Guy]

Thanks for the reply but that is not what I'm talking about. After the 20 min the pucks drop into the bowl but they are not fully black. They are about half black

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm not sure if you can swap them out. I also don't know if they become weaker over time or they just burnout like an incandesent bulb. If you have an infrared themometer test the temperature of the plate - after it has preheated for at least 20 minutes. The temperature of my OBS bisquette plate reads between 550°F - 555°F. It is best to test the generators indoors, so that wind doesn't become a factor.

Several things can effect the burn rate of the bisquettes. Though they came from the same box, you didn't mention if you did a side-by-side test. During storage they may have absorbed more moisture since the last time you used them.

The amount of voltage getting to the smoker can vary, depending on how many other appliances are using that same circuit.

The set temperature of the cabinet has an effect on the burn rate. The lower the cabinet temperature, the less efficient the bisquettes burn.

[Phone Guy]

Thanks for the info Habanero. I will take both inside and use my IR temp gun and check the temps after heating up.

[tskeeter]

Phone Guy, one forum member cut a small part circle out of the end of the infeed chute to his puck burner.  He had found that pucks were straddling the gap between the infeed chute and the puck burner plate.  That prevented the puck from sitting flat on the puck burner.  The cut out allowed the pucks to make a positive drop onto the burner plate and reduced the heat transfer from the burner plate to the infeed chute.  Overall, I believe this gave the member a more complete puck burner.

Please be aware that there are a variety of factors that may cause variation in the puck burn you get.  And you may see that variation between pucks in the same box.  Causes include variations in compression density between the individual molds mounted in a puck forming machine, the moisture content of the pucks when you use them, the type of wood in the puck, the outside temperature when you are smoking, the amount of wind when you are smoking, and probably some other things I haven't thought of.

Even with the variation in puck burn, I haven't noticed any differences in the product that I turn out that I can attribute to puck burn issues.  One of the charms of a hand crafted product is that each time you make it, it's a little different from the last time.  Celebrate the difference.

[TedEbear]

Here's a link to the puck burner mod thread.

2nd Element, Fan and Burner Mod