HELP ! Smoker test results

Mr Walleye · September 12, 2007, 08:10:36 PM

Well at least it is narrowed down to something to do with the tower heater or wiring.

Make sure you let us know what you find the problem is once you talk to Bradley. It will probably help someone else out down the road.

Good luck

Mike

GABJR · September 13, 2007, 06:58:26 PM

I called Bradley today & spoke with Brian Nelson. He first said to plug the power cord directly into the cabinet.he back. I told him that had been done with no change. He suggested next to to remove the back of the cabinet & check the fuse (looks like a diode) with an amp meter. Brian said if this checked out ok it would be the heating element was bad. Well the fuse checked out ok, so it must be the element. I will call back in the morning & ask that they send me 2 new elements (one for a back up since I am all away across country from them).
One thing I noticed when I took the back off, was that some of the insulation had gotten extremely hot, was charred & brittle. Has anyone seen this on their smoker ? I took some pictures & will try to post them later.
So much for my smoke session this weekend. I did order a Maverick T73 today. iKitchen.com had a good price for one. Also has anyone made bubba pucks out of schedule 40 pipe ?
Thanks for all the replies :D

Arcs_n_Sparks · September 13, 2007, 07:38:36 PM

Quote from: GABJR on September 13, 2007, 06:58:26 PM
Also has anyone made bubba pucks out of schedule 40 pipe ?

Unless you want PVC overtones in your smoke, you do not want to do this.

Arcs_n_Sparks

Lefty_Smoker · September 14, 2007, 05:25:39 AM

Quote from: Arcs_n_Sparks on September 13, 2007, 07:38:36 PM
Quote from: GABJR on September 13, 2007, 06:58:26 PM
Also has anyone made bubba pucks out of schedule 40 pipe ?

Unless you want PVC overtones in your smoke, you do not want to do this.

Arcs_n_Sparks

I'm pretty sure he meant schedule 40 aluminum pipe, not pvc.

Tiny Tim · September 14, 2007, 06:46:32 AM

Quote from: GABJR on September 13, 2007, 06:58:26 PM
I did order a Maverick T73 today. iKitchen.com had a good price for one.

Be prepared to wait...iKitchen is where I got mine and it took about 2-3 weeks to get here.

Mr Walleye · September 14, 2007, 10:53:00 AM

Quote from: GABJR on September 13, 2007, 06:58:26 PM
One thing I noticed when I took the back off, was that some of the insulation had gotten extremely hot, was charred & brittle. Has anyone seen this on their smoker ?

Hi GABJR

I received your email with the photos. I have attached them below to try & get some other opinions on it. My opinion is I can't imagine this being normal but I can't confirm this without taking the back off my unit. Anybody else have any idea on this?

It would appear to have been hot where ever the wires were, add to that the fact it appears your heating element is burnt out... hmmmm something seems not right. Anybody else?

Here are the photos. GABJR... To put photos into your post all you need to do is upload them to a site such as Photo Bucket (there are other free places available as well) Then put the following line in your post where you want the photo to appear:

(IMG)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/mmike/Fishing%20Photos/IMG_5992.jpg(/IMG)

The only thing that is different is the brackets in the above example have to be the square ones [] in order for it to work. The rest of everything is just the url where the photo is located. I hope this helps.

Anyway here's the photos:

Mike

acords · September 14, 2007, 11:20:46 AM

It appears to me the the "high limit" switch burned out. I'm not sure that is what it is really called. Arcs or Hab probably know more.

GABJR · September 14, 2007, 11:34:55 AM

Thanks for the help getting the photos posted. I have sent these to Bradley & received a read receipt back. This just doesn't look normal to me. Also which is the high limit switch ?:)

Mr Walleye · September 14, 2007, 11:44:35 AM

GABJR

I would follow that email up with a phone call to Brian again to explain what you discovered

Mike

GABJR · September 14, 2007, 12:07:50 PM

I followed up my email to Bradley with a phone call. Brian said he had seen them worst than this & to check the wiring again in a few months. So now I sit and wait on the replacement heating element :'(

Mr Walleye · September 14, 2007, 12:56:20 PM

I don't know what to tell you. I know I wouldn't be happy either if I was in your shoes. I guess the hardest part I would have about the whole ordeal is... Why is it your responsability to check the internal wiring in the smoker in a few months, when you have brought it to their attention now? What happens if the unit burns up? Or even worse... what happens if it takes other property with it? I guess I don't understand why they would voluntariliy accept this liability when they could just replace it and be done with it. Not only would they solve this problem, but they would also solve the problem of having to wait until they receive their next shipment of heating elements. Speaking of which... You mean to tell me the entire company is at a stand still, all production has been halted, because they don't have any heating elements? I highly doubt this is the case! He11... Take one out of a new unit!

Sorry but I would have a problem with this.

Good luck

Arcs_n_Sparks · September 14, 2007, 10:14:55 PM

Well, to this arcy-sparky, this does not look very good. However, hard to tell from the photo what is going on. The thermal breaker in the upper part of the photo looks fine. It is difficult to see how the two black wires connect to the white tube-like structure in the photo. It seems taking it apart has moved things. Also, unclear what is going on with the red wire, which appears to have thermal damage near the end.

Arcs_n_Sparks

GABJR · September 18, 2007, 09:05:28 AM

Surprise ! I just received my replacement heat element. Is there anything I should be aware of when replacing this ? :D

GABJR · September 18, 2007, 07:49:24 PM

I replaced the heating element & still no heat. I plugged the power straight to the cabinet & still no heat.
Tomorrow I am asking for a complete replacement. Based on what I found when I took the back off, I think the wiring is fried. Looking back, I always had a hard time getting up to cooking temperature. The unit is 10 months old. Any Thoughts out there ? ???

iceman · September 19, 2007, 03:26:10 PM

Quote from: GABJR on September 18, 2007, 07:49:24 PM
I replaced the heating element & still no heat. I plugged the power straight to the cabinet & still no heat.
Tomorrow I am asking for a complete replacement. Based on what I found when I took the back off, I think the wiring is fried. Looking back, I always had a hard time getting up to cooking temperature. The unit is 10 months old. Any Thoughts out there ? ???

Best to have Bradley just replace the cabinet with a new on GABJR. I'm not sure how "fried" your wiring was but it doesn't sound right to me. Sorry to hear about the problems. Bradley has always pulled through for me in the past.