Overheated SI2?

[CUTiger80]

I know that I haven't been around for a while, so forgive my busting in to ask a question.  I'm not a habitual social media troll, so I don't think about surfing the message board unless I have a question or an epiphany (so to speak).
On Sunday I decided to double smoke a spiral ham.  Attached is the recipe that I sort-of followed which came from Jeff Phillips at smoking-Meat.com.  It turned out absolutely great (see attached photo) and I don't think I'll ever prepare another ham without double smoking it first.
My question has to do with the final stage where I "set" the glaze.  I decided (since there were other casseroles in the oven) to throw the ole bypass switch and bypass the Auber and use the factory control on top of the SI2.  I cranked it all the way up, applied the glaze and let the ham stay in the smoker for another 30-45 minutes.  According to the Auber temp probe, the box temp got up to around 300 degrees.  It was time to eat, so I pulled the ham out, closed the door, turned the Auber off and turned the control on top of the SI2 to off and walked away. We ate and talked and ate some more and finally when everyone left (about 6 hours after pulling the ham out) I went back out on the back porch to see how much cleaning I was going to have to do to the SI2.  The first thing that I noticed was that the light was on continuously.  I put my hand on the top and it was dang hot.  Just for the heck of it, I turned the Auber back on to see exactly how dang hot it was and it said 525 degrees.  Yep, that is five-two-five.  I checked the control and it was indeed in the "off" position (turned all the way CCW).  I quickly unplugged the SI2 and opened the door and let it cool off.  I looked it over and didn't see any apparent damage.
My question is did I ruin something or did I just get my SI way hotter than it has ever been before?

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[DivotMaker]

Good to see you again, Ravel!

My question is have you figured out why the element was getting full power with the switch to the stock controller side?  I don't have a switched setup, but if I plug a bypassed unit into the wall, the element is full power, constantly.  Sure sounds like that's what you had!

I doubt you hurt your smoker, but certainly could have, had you not gone back to check on it!  I'm in a habit of unplugging mine, as soon as the cook is done.  Better safe than sorry!

[old sarge]

No expert here but I'm thinking the smoker should have been plugged directly into the mains rather than the Auber, if that is what you did when you threw the bypass switch. Just a wild guess on my part.

[CUTiger80]

Tony,
I have not figured out why the unit went to full power when the temp control was turned to "off".  That is my next step.  First I wanted to get some expert opinions on whether I had killed "my baby".  I believe that this is the first time that I have used this function since installing the switch over a year ago.  The Auber works so well that I always use it.  In hindsight, I probably should have gone in and dialed the Auber up to the temp that I wanted, it's just that I have had mixed results when changing the Auber program in mid-cycle. 
It is strange that with exactly the same setup and the temp control knob turned to the highest setting, it worked pretty much as expected.  For 30-45 minutes I was able to keep the box temp around 275-300 degrees.  It is only when I turned the control knob to the "off" position that it apparently went hay-wire. 
I, too usually unplug stuff when I'm done, but I guess I just got in a hurry this time and forgot.
Thanks for your input and I'll try not to stay away for so long again.

[Limey]

Ravel, I'm a bit confused by your post in that you say you "threw the bypass switch to bypass the Auber"
If the bypass switch is correctly wired its purpose is to bypass the stock controller, not the Auber. As you know the stock controller, if it is in the circuit and operating correctly, limits the box temperature to around 250 plus or minus 25 degrees or so. Once you bypass the stock controller and plug the SI directly into the wall socket without the Auber in the circuit then the temperature of the box will increase until something melts, catches fire, or the box gets so hot that it reaches equilibrium temperature i.e. the outside of the box is radiating all the heat that the element can put out. Since the stock controller is bypassed the on/off switch on it is also inoperative. It sounds to me that this might be what happened and, since it was six hours before you found it, it looks like 525 degrees might be the equilibrium temperature. I doubt that you have hurt anything but to be sure you might want to pop the back off and check that none of the insulation around the wires has melted. If so it is easy to replace. Good luck and thanks for an interesting experiment-one that I had been intending to do myself sometime!

[BedouinBob]

Ravel, I agree with Tony. If the unit still works it is probably fine. Just consider it a "self cleaning" move aka what electric ovens do.  The big question in my mind is what got bypassed to allow the element to stay full on. I suspect the bypass wiring.

[DivotMaker]

Ravel, it has to be your switch wiring.  Probably should have tested that, when you still had the back off for installation...