Bisquette Burner Triping GFI (I think)

[mcelreathhw]

New Friends,

I just joined, did the introduction and now I need to see if I can obtain some insights/advice. 

I own a Digital Bradley, 6 rack, that is 10 years old.  This weekend i noticed the bisquette burner was not heating enough to cause the puck to burn and smoke.  It was getting too hot to touch, I checked, but not hot enough to burn and cause smoke.

Lucky for me I have a spare Bradley smoke generator box given to me by a friend who had given up on it.  I plugged it in and it immediately tripped the GFI even before attempting to turn on either the over or the burner.  I figured the unit was bad, but maybe i could pull out the burner and get my original unit working.

Next I read a bit on this forum, and learned the burner needed to read 115ohms.  I removed both burners and my original was reading 0, so it was certainly bad.  The burner I removed from the spare box read a perfect 115ohms.  I thought my issue was solved.  I was wrong. 

I reassembled the smoker box with the burner from my spare and plugged it in and 'click', there went the GFI.  I disassembled the box again and looked all over for a bare wire shorted to the case, nothing was found.  I unplugged the burner, plug the box into power and it worked fine, all the lights on the digital display came on, I could turn on the oven and burner ( although i got errors I knew why) even though not plugged into the oven box or temp sensor.  Next I disconnected the burner from the support arm on the side of the unit and had it propped up not touching any part of the box, but still plugged into the circuit.  I again applied power and all seemed fine, got the beep, the lights on the display, etc.  But when I pushed the burner over to touch the outside of the smoke generator box, click, the GFI tripped. 

If the burner was a dead short, why does it read 115ohms?

Before I spend $60 on a new burner, can someone advise if they have seen this issue?  Insights?

Thanks in advance.

Henry

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi mcelreathhw,

Welcome to the forum. Great job trouble shooting and describing the process you went  through.

A bad burner is known to trip the GFCI. I would check the wiring that goes to and from the burner. Make sure all contacts are clean and free of partials, grease and moisture.  Check for cracks in the wires, and/or loose connections. Also GFCI's are known to go bad, and it is recommended that they be replaced every 10 years. If you have a GFCI on another circuit, plug the fully assembled smoker into that circuit to see if it trips that one also. That way you will know if it is the GFCI or the burner that is at fault.

[mcelreathhw]

Habanero Smoker,

I certainly appreciate the advise. 

I have tried two different GFI circuits, sadly I got the same results. 

The wiring check you describe is a good idea.  At one point in my fault isolating I touched the box and received a jolt, which told me something was shorting to the case of the box, but I looked and looked and found nothing.  I will go back and look again, the box is still unassembled on my bench in the garage.

I would like to pull on the comment you made about a bad burner being known to cause GFI faults.  Is it your experience that a bad burner might still read the 115ohms spec'd out?  Just curious. 

henry

[Habanero Smoker]

I don't know if there could be a situation that a bad burner could have give a 115 ohm reading. If you are getting a shock you do have an electrical leak somewhere.

You may want to give Bradley a call. Even though you are out of warranty, the will still try to help you. They may have come across this problem and may have an easy fix.

[mcelreathhw]

Well after and hour and a half of checking and rechecking wires and connections I have not resolved my problem. 

I tried swapping out the white circuit box with my spare, disconnecting the display, and even swapping the entire top (non burner) of the unit, but the GFI problem remained the same. 

I can actually reassemble the box and plug it in and all is fine, but if I put one screw in the bottom panel, click goes the GFI. 

Tomrrow I will call Bradley and see if they offer any insights. 

Thanks for the help and advise. 

Henry

[Habanero Smoker]

I hope they can resolve your problem. If you could, let us know what your final outcome is.

[mcelreathhw]

So the Bradley technical support number for the US has a message on it that states "Due to the Corona Virus we have had to lay off staff and are unable to answer the phone".  It went on to give me an email address, so I sent in my information and question about the bisquette burner.  Awaiting an answer now. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the update. Sorry to read people have been laid off.

[mcelreathhw]

I received an email from Bradley addressing my issue.   This came from Olev Rumm, and I believe he has solved my mystery GFI problem. 

His response in part was:

"Hi Henry,

115 ohms seems to be a good range. But it may be that the internal resistancy coil may touch the heater body and when powered up blows the GFI."

He went on to instruct me how to fault isolate between the oven and the smoke generator, which i had done already, but it was cool that he took the time to lay it all out.  If you know it is in the smoker then his final thought was if I unplug the bisquette heater from the circuit and plug in the unit and it trips the GFI then I should replace the heater.   

He offered that Bradley can sell me a new heater for about $40 and i jumped on it.  Lowest I found on the web was $60. 

I will post once it arrives and I install it to let everyone know the results.

Henry

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the update. Bradley always provides excellent customer service.

[mcelreathhw]

Problem Solved!

I am once again smoking away with my Bradley.  The new bisquette burner arrived and I installed it last weekend with little trouble.  Today I assembled the Bradley, rub a whole chicken down, and it is now being smoked/cooked for a late dinner.  I cannot wait. 

I bought two bisquette burners so that i could repair both control boxes, so now i have a spare.  Plus Olev (from Bradley) suggested and I agreed to purchase a new in-line fuse and temperature sensor just in case.  Those are on the shelf await a need. 

I appreciate the support and help I received on this forum and from Bradley. 

Glad to be up and smoking again.

Henry

[Edward176]

Good News, glad you're up and running again... Happy Smoking.

[Habanero Smoker]

Great! Two Bradleys are always better than one. :)