Bisquette Advance

[77383step]

I was using my new BOS for the second time yesterday, and I loaded up with about five bisquettes, and left for about 1 1/2 hours. When I got home all of the bisquettes were gone, so I dropped in three more, and left again, came back, and all gone. After cleaning up this morning, my water bowl is full of unburned bisquettes. This unit is not supposed to automatically advance is it? Do I need to send this back? doesn't seem to work correctly.
Thanks for the help,
Chris

[NePaSmoKer]

I was using my new BOS for the second time yesterday, and I loaded up with about five bisquettes, and left for about 1 1/2 hours. When I got home all of the bisquettes were gone, so I dropped in three more, and left again, came back, and all gone. After cleaning up this morning, my water bowl is full of unburned bisquettes. This unit is not supposed to automatically advance is it? Do I need to send this back? doesn't seem to work correctly.
Thanks for the help,
Chris

Yes the BS is an auto advance smoker. It will drop the burnt pucks into the water pan.

nepas

[77383step]

none of them were burnt. they were just soggy wood chips. The first time I used it, I had to advance each one.

[NePaSmoKer]

none of them were burnt. they were just soggy wood chips. The first time I used it, I had to advance each one.

Make sure all the plugs are firmly seated, sometimes when new they dont get pushed in good. This can cause the heater tray not to get hot. You should feel the end of the slider get very hot. (this is the part of the ramp just before falling into the bowl)

nepas

[Gizmo]

Welcome step.

I would think if the unit is advancing the puck, it has power.  If it has power, it should heat the burner plate.  I would call Bradley for warrenty service.  They will take care of you promptly.

[beefmann]

step,

sounds like 1 of 2 problems

1) inside the smoke generator the connection to the heating element of the  smoke  generator came loose and  needs to be  connected again. Simple  fix .. remoove the  screws on the bottom edge of the  smoke  generator ( not the ones in the  middle )wiggle the two pieces apart and  check the  connections

2) bad heating element in the  smoke  generator... contact Bradley  smokers

[Mr Walleye]

First off... Welcome to the forum.

I think the first thing you should do is turn the generator on (with out pucks) and make sure the manual advance works properly and also make sure the automatic advance works. When you first turn it on watch down the puck tube and push the advance button. You should see the pusher plate retract, then move back. A common problem is the manual advance button sticking in causing the pucks to be continually pushed through and not burning. Once you confirm the manual advance is working properly just sit and wait 20 minutes and make sure it advances a puck automatically.

While you have it running make sure the burner plate is warming up. Be careful because it will burn your fingers.

If any of these items are not working properly I would call Bradley on Monday because the unit is probably still under warranty. They do really have good customer service.

Also here is a link to the FAQ section which may be of some help to you as well.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=748#post748

Mike

[Ed1978]

I'm also having problem with the smoke generator and it's on my 2nd one! The feeder on my 1st smoke generator was not pushing the bisquettes properly, somehow they always get stucked. I called Bradley warranty and they sent me a new one (probably a refurbished one from the looks of it). I tested it without using any bisquette right after I got it and it seems that the feeder was pushing properly. After 3 weeks or so, I finally used it for the first time. Turns out that once again the bisquette always get stuck. First and second bisquettes advances with no problem but the third always get stuck. It looks like when there're 2 or more bisquettes already on the burner, the feeder is having trouble pushing the bisquette. I'm gonna call Bradley again to ask them send me a second replacement. I hope they don't give me any hard time about it. This is really pissing me off  >:(

[Mr Walleye]

Sorry to here about that Ed.

I doubt the unit you received was a refurbished because they never ask for anything to be returned to them. Stick with it, I'm sure you won't have a problem with their customer service.

Keep us posted how you make out.

Mike

[Ed1978]

It looks refurbished because part of the rail (the chrome colored part) was brown like it had been used before but was repolished.

Anyway, I called Bradley and they asked me if the feeder tube was installed and if it was straight up and down or tilted. I said yes and yes. He said that the problem that I was describing sounded like the feeder tube wasn't pushed all the way down or it wasn't straight. I told him that hang on while I checked the smoker and that's when I dropped my cellphone and the call was disconnected ( good thing the phone wasn't broken  >:( ) Anyway, I pushed the feeder tube to make sure it was all the way down. It seems like it was but who knows. I tested with some bisquettes by pressing the advance buttons for each bisquette. It seems to work with no problem now. Maybe somehow the feeder tube wasn't pushed all the way down when I was having the problem? Anyway, the real test would be next weekend when I'm gonna smoke some leg of lamb. We'll see how it is.. I hope there won't be anymore issues...

Sorry to here about that Ed.

I doubt the unit you received was a refurbished because they never ask for anything to be returned to them. Stick with it, I'm sure you won't have a problem with their customer service.

Keep us posted how you make out.

Mike

[Mr Walleye]

Ed

I have heard of the feeder tube issue before. Hopefully that clears it up for you.
If not call Bradley back.

Only this time hang onto your phone!  :D  :D  ;D

Good luck

Mike

[Curious Aardvark]

7783 - sounds to me like the autofeed advance button is getting stuck. Thus instead of waiting 20 minutes for each bisquette to advance it's just feeding them one after the other.
Either that or you go no heat on the burner plate :-)

I had the reverse problem when my bradley was about a month out of warranty. The feed button just stopped working.
So we swapped it out with a simple flip up and down on/off switch that works much better (see below note about the usefullsness of mates who are electricians).
Although I do still get problems with the feeder mechanism not working (my smoke generator is now permanently only held on with 2 screws) so I take the cover off and poke the feed arm with a big screwdriver till it starts and then have no problem for the remainder of the smoke.

My mate who's an industrial electrician reckons it's the microswitch that's dodgy.

Personally for what these things cost in the uk I just think the build quality of the feeder system is bloody awful.
Still, why it continues to respond to the big screwdriver I'll keep using it.   
And a decent quality microswitch is being 'sourced' (proper industrial quality ;-)

[Son of a Sailor]

Hi All - I have a question along the same line. Just tried out my new OBS this past weekend with a brisket. It came out great I'm happy to say! However, noticed that the last few bisquettes didn't get advanced onto the burner plate and therefore didn't burn.  It appears that once the last bisquette in the feed tube gets adavanced there is nothing for the advance plate to push through so the last two bisquettes just sit there. Is this normal?

[westexasmoker]

Yep thats normal, you can buy some bubba pucks that will advance your last two!

C

[Mr Walleye]

Hi All - I have a question along the same line. Just tried out my new OBS this past weekend with a brisket. It came out great I'm happy to say! However, noticed that the last few bisquettes didn't get advanced onto the burner plate and therefore didn't burn.  It appears that once the last bisquette in the feed tube gets adavanced there is nothing for the advance plate to push through so the last two bisquettes just sit there. Is this normal?

Welcome to the forum SoaS!

You are correct, this is normal. Most people here use what are refered to as Bubba Pucks. Here is a description of them. http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=764&postcount=7

Basically what they are is aluminum spacers, the same size as a wood bisquette. You load the tube with the wood bisquette you want, then put 3 Bubba Pucks on top of the stack. Now, when the generator advances the last Bubba Puck, the last wood bisquette will be pushed off into the water bowl.

Mike