Auber Tripping GFCI

[Shasta bob]

Help my smoker was running and smoking  two pork shoulders and 4 hours in to my cooking my the Gfci tripped any ideas why?   Bradley smoker original with 1200 element and Auber pid.

[cathouse willy]

Those breakers will trip for two reasons, a circuit current overload (trying to use too big a load) or it senses current flow in the ground lead (an electrical fault in the circuit). disconnect all other devices that run from that breaker and plug the smoker back in, if it pops again the fault is in the smoker.In this case I'd look closely at your element mod wiring. Hope this helps.
CHW

[Habanero Smoker]

A GFCI tripping can sometimes be difficult to pin down. Hopefully it is due to an overload, and CHW listed how to troubleshoot that. If it is a ground lead, that is mainly caused by moisture or a bare or loose wire coming into contact with something it is not suppose to.

In addition to the good information form CHW, I recently learned that they do wear out. I recently had to replace one. I've seen life spans listed to replace every 10 - 15 years, to replacement 15 - 25 years. The one I had to replace was 17 years old. I have another GFCI that is about 18 years old and still working fine. Signs that the GFCI is weaning out, is that it trips frequently without any other reason, or the reset button will not stay set.

[Shasta bob]

thanks, i will investigate more. BTW the GFCI didn't trip thru the rest of the smoke.

[Habanero Smoker]

It seems it most likely was an overload, as CHW pointed out. Maybe something on that circuit that runs intermittently, like a air conditioner or refridgerator drew extra current than ususal when it turned on.