My Bradley's acting strange

[rbentle2]

Fired up the smoker this morning to do some ribs. Preheated fine and the first 45mins or so of smoking went smoothly too. Noticed the temp creeping up on the remote thermometer, so I went to turn down the heat. The power light on the main box was off. Adjust the slider up/down, still nothing. Smoker box is working as normal. Turn everything off/on, still nothing. Fuse is good in the smoker unit.

Went into the house and turned on the oven, figuring I'll have to cook the ribs inside. Go back out to retrieve the ribs, the light's back on on the main box and temp's going back up.

Is this a sign of problems with my smoker? This is only the third time I've used it and I've only had it for two weeks.

[Mr Walleye]

The unit does have a high limit switch on it. Is it possible it got high enough to trigger it? As I understand it, when the temp is high enough to trigger it, it shuts down the tower heater until it cools down. I've heard different reports on how low the temp has to drop before it cuts back in, but I've heard as low as 150 degrees.

Mike

[rbentle2]

Possible, but don't think that was it. I preheated to 270 and put the ribs in. With the cold shock of the ribs and opening the door, it dropped to 180ish. It was around 223 when I went to check on it and turn down a tad. When it shut off, it dropped into the 160's, partially due to me opening the door to check what was going on. So far it seems like it's working fine now. Holding a pretty steady temp of 215-200.

[Dashdriver]

I just picked up the original bradley about 3 weeks ago. Have done some pretty sweet stuff already!
When I bought it, I tried to bring the temp up just being curious how high it would go. It did exactly what yours did. Shut down. Light would not work. As the unit cooled off she came right back to normal. So I figured it had reached its temp limit.

The highest temp I could get it up to was about 270 F. Say's on the box max temp is 320 F. Is that normal?

Sometimes it almost seems difficult to get it up to 220? Once I have her there, She'll stay..

Dave

[LilSmoker]

It seems that the Bradleys have their own undividual characteristics, some BS's will cut out at any temp if the rheostat slider is pushed all the way to the right (max), if the slider is moved back just a touch, the heat kicks in again and temps rise. Some do this, some don't, mine doesn't i slide the temp to max and it just gets hotter.

Some have more accurate temp gauges than others, the temp gauge can be out quite a bit in some cases.

I think the safety cut out also kicks in at different temps?, i've read in the past that some have had their cabinet temps at over 300f  :o

I've had mine to 270f for preheating without any issues, but i think i'll do a little test and see what temp it'll get up to before cutting out

If your BS keeps cutting out, it's best to speak to Bradley  ;)

LilSmoker

[manxman]

I did some experiments with my SS OBS a couple of years ago when I first got my unit, tied it in with conditioning it when I first got it.

Pushed the slider all the way to the right and sat back and waited to see what happened!  :D

The temperature rose to quite quickly and steadily to 160C / 320F and it behaved just as it said it would on the box!

After attaining this temp it stayed there for about 5 mins before the light cut out and the temperature started to drop. Over the next 15 - 20 minutes or so it dropped to 120C / 250F before the light came back on and the temperature started to climb again, taking another 15- 20 minutes to reach 160C / 320F again.

Over the next few hours this was repeated several times, each complete cycle from the light cutting out and the temp starting to drop until the peak temp being reached again taking around 40 minutes.

(no, I didn't just sit and watch the unit for 5 hours...... not that sad!!  :-[ I was gardening at the time and drinking wine!  ;) ;D)

I spoke to the UK importer and they said the unit was behaving just as it was suppossed to and the safety temp controller cut in at the correct temperature and the sort of drop in temp I noticed was also what would be expected give or take a few degrees.

If anyone is seeing this sort of behaviour in their units at a maximum temperature much below 160C / 320 F I would suggest that the unit is faulty somehow.

• Faulty thermometer.... temp is actually getting to 160C / 320 F.

• Safety cut out is cutting out at a lower temp than it should be.

Bear in mind that this test was done on an empty unit with no food in it, to me the best way of testing for a fault.

In practice, when cooking you would not usually be taking the unit to it's max temp of 160C / 320 F but at least testing it to this point and seeing how it behaves shows it does what Bradley says it is suppossed to do.

I now have a bit of Duck Tape on my slider unit to remind me never to push the slider all the way to the right!

Hope this helps.
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[Dashdriver]

That helps alot!

I will try it again empty (which it was the first time I tried) but, I will try it with the slider not fully at max and see what it does.

ManXman, you probably did watch it for 5 hours! I think I did.. ;D

One thing I do no, I put an oven thermometer into it and discovered that the Units temp gauge is exactly correct! Nice to know kind of thing...

If it only goes up to 270 F Max again, would you take it back for another? Canadian Tire is usually pretty good that way. Or would you upgrade to a digital smoker? Digital to me just sounds like more problems in the future!

Last question; what is the max temp you would actually use to smoke something? So far I have never seen anything above 220 F ?

I'll be waitin


Dashdriver :-\

[Mr Walleye]

Dashdriver

200 to 230 degrees is probably where it will spend by far the most time at.

Canadian Tire is usually good to do any returns at. At least here in Moose Jaw, SK, I have never had any problems returning anything. I have a DBS but I have added a PID so really, that kinda eliminates most of the advantage of the DBS. If I were doing it again.... I would probably stay with the OBS and possibly add a PID or Digital BBQ Guru at some point in the future if so desired.

Where abouts in Canada are you located?

Mike

[Dashdriver]

Hey Mike! I am in the Muskoka's... Bracebridge , Ont.

Just a few days away from ThanksGiving and the temp outside is calling for 26 C. All weekend "Sweet"

Not sure what I'll be smokin this weekend yet, But you can bet something will be on there!

You are in Moose Jaw? I have travelled around a lot - Pretty flat land there. Some nice cold temp's in the winter too! Spent lots of time in Winnipeg.

Can you actually get your smoker to rise above minus -40 degree C in the winter?

:D  Dave

[manxman]

200 to 230 degrees is probably where it will spend by far the most time at.

Yes, I agree. People may heat it up higher during the preheat process but in the main this is the sort of range used when cooking.

However if the unit won't heat up to 320F maximum or thereabouts to me indicates the unit is faulty in some way if 270F is the best you can achieve with an empty cabinet. Perhaps a phone call to Bradley to get their opinion in the first instance may be in order.

Could be just the slider unit needs replacing but better to get it sorted whilst it is still under warranty.  ;)

[Carter]

Hi Dashdriver,

I'll be in Bracebridge this weekend for Thanksgiving with my wife's family.

If the weather is as good as they're calling for, it will be really nice.

You may have some uninvited guests though if I catch wind of what you've got smoking.

Carter

[Dashdriver]

Right on Carter! Aways cold one's in the fridge! During Thanksgiving there are TWICE as many lol.

Are you going to be somewhere on the Lake?

Manxman..... you are probably right.. I think I will give them a call and find out. I'm going to try it again tomorrow and see what I get out of it. If 270 F is the max, I may just take it back to Canadian Tire and grab another off the shelf!

MY LUCK.......... it would only make it up to 220 F !!!

How long should it take to get up to 320?

Dave

[Dashdriver]

Carter -- Where are you driving To Bracebridge from??

[Carter]

We'll actually be right in town.  My wife's Uncle and Aunt retired up there and they live on the main drag on the way into town.  Bracebridge is nice at Thanksgiving.  The weather is still decent, the leaves are turning and the cottage country traffic isn't quite as busy.  We'll be there Saturday for the day and then we're off to my family's place over on Balsam Lake. 

Carter

[Dashdriver]

Very nice.. The leaves are getting very colourful now.. You should hit it about perfect! Good time for a little drive around..

We are just out the 117 hwy towards Baysville - Nice place to live till there is 4 feet of snow... then ... when the snow melts the black flies come. Fall is the best!

Dave