Keeps blowing ground fault

[Double T]

I have an older Bradley - I think first generation, the kind with the slider temp controller.  My neighbor gave it to me and the first time I used it, it worked fine for about 6 hours.  Then the wall ground fault interrupter kept blowing.  I thought maybe it got wet or something, so cleaned out and dried the smoker, but I am still having the same issue.  Any ideas what could be wrong?

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi ,

Welcome to the forum.

This can be a difficult problem to trouble shoot. A bad or failing bisquette burner will cause the GFCI to trip. Try running the smoker with the bisquette burner off for a while. If it runs fine without tripping the circuit, then next turn on the bisquette burner. If the circuit trips, then a bad bisquette burner may be the problem.

When you cleaned the generator, did you check to make sure there was no worn insulation on any of the wires, corrosion, or loose connections?

If you have too many appliances running on the same circuit drawing too much current, this can cause it to trip.

Too long of an extension cord could cause the problem.

GFCI can degrade over time, and can fail. If your GFCI is more than 10 years old it may need to be replaced. I had to replace one that was about 12 years old.

There is more information about GFCI's tripping - on this forum, but the search function is not working at this time. When search feature is working again do a search on GFCI.

[Double T]

Thank you for the quick reply and the search tip. I hadn't thought of using the acronym.  Hopefully the search function works again soon.

I forgot to mention, the problem seems to be in the box, not the brisquette burner.  I unplugged the jumper between the two leaving just the burner on and had no problem.  As soon as I put the jumper cord back on, it blew the GFCI.

I also tried on two different GFCIs and had the same problem (neither had anything else plugged in).  The GFCIs are all older than 10 years, so maybe just bad luck.

[Habanero Smoker]

It looks like it would not be the GFCI. Have you plugged the box directly into the GFCI circuit. To do this you will need a desktop computer cord (NEMA 5-15P to IEC-320-C13) to plug the box directly into a socket. First check to make sure there is no foreign object wedged inside the plug. If it blows, then you have to take the back off, and check for moisture, loose wires, or wires with missing insulation or that are corroded. Also, you may want to clean the terminals on each end of the heating element, and check the insulation.

If plugging the box directly into the GFCI doesn't trip the circuit, you may have a bad jumper cord.

[Double T]

I cleaned the heating element terminals.  It looks like that fixed it and I will be smoking again this weekend.  Thanks again for your help.

[Habanero Smoker]

Great!