No Power... Sort of

[FLBentRider]

I went out to pre-heat the OBS for a couple of Bacon Explosions, to find that the GFI outlet, which is at the other end of the house (don't ask... U^%&^ builders) was popped.

I have recently moved my OBS to a cart.

1. Check extention cord. no pop.
2. unplug tower. plug in OBS. pop.
2b. Remove OBS from cart.
3. Unplug PID. pop.
4. Remove SG, plug in to wall. pop. (*&(^&^

Disassemble SG, find about 3 pucks worth of puck crumbs. all wires seem connected securely.

5. Plug in SG whilst still dissasembled. no pop. power light. life is good.
6. Run SG for 10 minutes, check bisquette advance. All good. Life is good.
7. Re-assemble SG, no screws. test = no pop, power light. Life is good.
8. Put the screws back in SG. burn leg on puck burner. %^& plug in. pop. $HIT

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, over ?

going back out to take it apart again..

Any suggestions ?

[Gizmo]

Hopefully the electricians of the crowd will offer some real advice, but GFIs will trip when they detect an issue with the neutral or ground.  I had a electric charcoal starter that worked fine when plugged into a standard outlet.  Plug into a GFI and POP.

Does the unit work when plugged into a non-GFI outlet?

[Habanero Smoker]

Sometimes a small amount of moisture will get either into the outlet or at one of the power connection points. I use a hair dryer to dry the outlet, and all power connections of the smoker, then reset the GFI. Because the GFI is tripped, I run and extension cord out a window or door so that I can use the hair dryer.

[FLBentRider]

All I have on my patio is GFI outlets. I took the screws out, blew it out again, and put just 2 screws in, the ones closest to the tower.

POP!

I took the screws out. I scrutinized every wire for a worn or short - None.  It looks almost new inside.

I put it back on the tower. no screws.

It is pre-heating now.

??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

[Gizmo]

What happens if you put the two screws in on the other side of the unit to see if the screws are tweaking something that is causing the problem.  I don't have an OBS to know what the insides look like so a little limited here on what I can suggest.

[FLBentRider]

I looked around in there as best I could, I could not see anything that would get tweaked. I had 2 Bacon Explosions to smoke, so I made do.

Later in the week I will put the screws back in and see if I can figure out which one is the problem. Thing is, I never had the thing open before today.

[Mr Walleye]

FLB

I wonder if it could be something like a loose ground. It's the only thing I can think of that could be effected by tightening the case...

Mike

[Bradley (Head Office)]

8. Put the screws back in SG. burn leg on puck burner. %^& plug in. pop. $HIT

Hi FLB

Try this take the unit apart unplug the bisquette burner then reasemble the unit with the screws and try that on your GFI
if this does not trip the GFI you need a new bisquette burner

Brian

[FLBentRider]

I'll double check all the connections and disco the burner and see what happens.

[Mr Walleye]

How are you making out FLB?

Find any solutions?

Mike

[carnie1]

Stuff like that drives ya crazy, I had loose screws on the puck burner itself once, the ones that sandwich it together, also have you tried putting in 1 screw at a time and plugging in to narrow it down? Let us know

[FLBentRider]

I got the Bacon Explosions made, and I have not had time to work on it further.

I am probably going to take another whack at it tonight.

[Roadking]

Hopefully the electricians of the crowd will offer some real advice, but GFIs will trip when they detect an issue with the neutral or ground.  I had a electric charcoal starter that worked fine when plugged into a standard outlet.  Plug into a GFI and POP.

Does the unit work when plugged into a non-GFI outlet?

You can plug a non grounded appliance into a GFIC and the GFIC will operate perfectly. What a GFIC does is measure the current (Amps) going through each hot leg of the circuit (black wire or red and white neutral which is a hot leg not a ground, don't get confused with the green ground which you don't need to operate a GFIC). There is a coil (measuring device around each hot leg) of wire which measures this current, they must be equal in current to each other to operate. If one leg is grounded to the appliance (if the appliance has a gound) or if a person touches the appliance while being grounded the amperage will rise on that leg. Since the other leg is lower and unequal to the grounded leg the GFIC will trip and shut off power. GFIC's are super sensitive to minute changes so the smallest amount of moisture will trip them.

[Mr Walleye]

Good info RoadKing!  ;)

Mike

[FLBentRider]

So having the smoker no longer touching the ground should not have an effect, since it has plastic feet?