Bradley not getting hot

[swampthing]

I have one of the bottom line bradley smokers with the slide temp. dial. I used it for the 4th time the other day and it didnt get hot. The bisquits burned but the element didnt work. I tried all the connections with no luck. Any ideas. I won this unit and didnt get a bill of sale with it.

[pnbrock]

Bradley stands behind products give them a call

[todbartell]

My 6rack digital's element crapped out the 2nd time I used it. Bradley had one on my doorstep within 3 days, at no charge. Give them a phone call they're out of Vancouver

[twanger]

Smoke Generator crapped out 4th use, like Bartel said, had a new 1 in a week.
Twanger

[MOOSE MILK]

Get BRADLEY some viagra.

[BiG Boar]

How cold was it outside? They don't heat up well in near zero temperatures. Poorly insulated.

[Piperdown]

element is probably screwed had to replace mine

[dragonslayer]

I have a Centro digital,also just crap,it is either too hot or to cold. Best one I ever owned is still the Big Chief, not to much of a problem , but manual, It actually finally fell apart after a many years that's why I bought the Centro thinking I am going to a better smoker.What a mistake, I just loved my Chief and miss it to this day, sorry didnt mean to steal your thread.

[Marc]

Having similar issues with mine, ended up messing up a 10 lb peperoni batch! Was tinkering with it yesterday, unpluged the wires and put them back in and it was giving off heat again. Might flash it up for a few hours and see if it will come up to temp.

I google it and I guess they had issues in the past with bad elements but I thought it would have been sorted by now.

[Marc]

Well what ever it was it looks like it sorted itself, put it on for an hour and it climbed up to 255F.

[swampthing]

I will tinker with my element. How do you get at it? I havent even looked at mine yet.

[Caveman]

Bob, if you google Bradley Smoker troubleshooting, one other thing common, is a dead spot in the slide temp control. Back it off from "full on", see if that does anything

[tuchodi]

There is a sensor cable that went on mine and that's all it was

[Piperdown]

anyone who sells them can get the parts

[Phoneguy]

I had a similar trouble with mine. Turned out that the power cord from the smoke generator to the heater element needed to be plugged in harder. That is a digital model though.

[Sofa King]

I just picked one of these units up a couple days ago.
the $500 unit, it was $100 off on sale.
first use though, it won't even get hot.
6 hours and it never got hotter than 120 degrees.
food was still basically raw, although very smokey.
looked up online, and they apparently have many element issues, one guy had 5 sent top him before one finally worked.
something else I read, was that they use a too-weak element, only 500 watt, compared to others brands that use 1500 watt units.
another guy mentioned that he ripped his apart and found the wiring to be way too light, so he upgraded to heavier wire.
they are made in korea or somewhere now, so don't know if the newer models are cheaper-built and not as good as older ones.

anyone have any suggestions?
I know they seem to have great customer service, but I don't want to be using something that keeps failing.
I've also heard that the chip-puck feeder can fail fairly quickly.
another thing I experienced, and read about this seemingly common problem, was that the chip-pucks weren't burning completely.

I really love the unit, except for the fact that it doesn't work right from day 1.
It's concept seems like the best out there, that's why I chose it.
trying to decide if it's worth the hassle to stick with it, or just switch to a different brand.

[Wentrot]

Mine is cursed. Just last night the element on my digital wouldn't work yet again. Luckily after a while of 110-120 the wiggling of wires and kicking of the box paid off and she kicked on. My advice would be to stock up on burners if you have the digital. My buddys standard type bradley has had zero issues

[Sofa King]

I'm returning it.
Canadian tire said no problem.
it's just not worth the risk, even if it gets fixed, to have it happen again while I have some meat or fish in that I've painstakingly prepared.
piss on Bradley, I've already talked several people out of buying them.
I think I'm going for the masterbuilt.

[Sofa King]

done.
got it returned, piece of cake, no questions asked.
and I didn't even have the box, recycling was the day after I got it home and the box went.
still no problem at all.

I still even hummed and hawed a bit, wondering if I should give the company a second chance and have it repaired.
but then I remembered the other problems they have.
one being that they don't burn the chip-pucks completely.
here's all the ones that went through my Bradley.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10590451_629134363873480_3680059228191579552_n.jpg ?oh=e6b2f11683373655a0fdf5fce679824d&oe=545E21A6

one out of thirteen actually burned.
and they cost way more than normal chips as well.
best decision I ever made was getting rid of it.
i''m sure they are great, if you are lucky enough to get one that never has any issues, one and done was all I was giving them.

[adriaticum]

My suggestion is to get a Big Chief.
I like them simple devices. Just like me.

[keoke]

done.
got it returned, piece of cake, no questions asked.
and I didn't even have the box, recycling was the day after I got it home and the box went.
still no problem at all.

I still even hummed and hawed a bit, wondering if I should give the company a second chance and have it repaired.
but then I remembered the other problems they have.
one being that they don't burn the chip-pucks completely.
here's all the ones that went through my Bradley.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10590451_629134363873480_3680059228191579552_n.jpg ?oh=e6b2f11683373655a0fdf5fce679824d&oe=545E21A6

one out of thirteen actually burned.
and they cost way more than normal chips as well.
best decision I ever made was getting rid of it.
i''m sure they are great, if you are lucky enough to get one that never has any issues, one and done was all I was giving them.

Did you have 200ft of extension cord to run it? My bradley works awesome but doesn't like to be on an extension cord.

[Sofa King]

plugged directly into the outlet.
I was actually surprised to see everyone on here raving about them.
after having a bad experience with this brand spanking new one, I went online and found endless accounts of problems with them.
some have mentioned that they are becoming cheap being made in korea or somewhere.
maybe it's the newer ones that are shittier??
I don't know, but this bad experience was enough for me to not want to bother with it any more.

[todbartell]

I got one a few years ago, 6 rack digital. Element died 2nd use, they sent one up to me no charge and it's been working great since. If you burn a puck too long it probably changes the smoke flavor maybe? One puck is supposed to last 20 mins

[keoke]

If you burn the pucks to ash you get that bitter acidic taste to the meat.

[Sofa King]

what are you saying?
that the pucks aren't supposed to completely burn?
so then that makes them about five times more expensive.
and you can't control how much they burn, the unit does that.

[M.Dean]

If you burn the pucks to ash you get that bitter acidic taste to the meat. I've smoked literately hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat and fish in my different smokers my whole life, and the only way I found I got a bitter, acidic taste was if I used way to much smoke and not enough heat? I also found you have be real carefully using some woods like hickory. If you smoke the fish or jerky and add to much hickory, the finished product has a metallic, acidy flavor and tastes like crap. Also, I haven't bought the Pucks" for my Bradley in years, way to costly if your smoking 2 hundred pounds of Jerky every month! I get apple or cherry wood, remove the bark, which also will give the meat a acidy type taste, then I cut the branches about a inch or so thick, about the size of the very costly pucks, and I find that in most batches I only use 2 of these home make "Pucks"!

[Sofa King]

I've smoked literately hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat and fish in my different smokers my whole life, and the only way I found I got a bitter, acidic taste was if I used way to much smoke and not enough heat? I also found you have be real carefully using some woods like hickory. If you smoke the fish or jerky and add to much hickory, the finished product has a metallic, acidy flavor and tastes like crap. Also, I haven't bought the Pucks" for my Bradley in years, way to costly if your smoking 2 hundred pounds of Jerky every month! I get apple or cherry wood, remove the bark, which also will give the meat a acidy type taste, then I cut the branches about a inch or so thick, about the size of the very costly pucks, and I find that in most batches I only use 2 of these home make "Pucks"!

good tips on the smoke.

[Daybreak]

I had a similar trouble with mine. Turned out that the power cord from the smoke generator to the heater element needed to be plugged in harder. That is a digital model though.

Thanks Phone guy. I plugged mine in for the first time today and could only get 88' F out of it. It's + 4 outside. Checked the plug as you suggested and Bingo! Its up to 150" F in 5 minutes!

Really appreciate all the good input on this site. I aged my moose ribs for 3 days with a home made dry rub and a bit of olive oil. Then in the smoker for 2 hrs of hickory and another 2 hours of slow cooking.