Heating element advice

[GSDC]

Has anyone had problems with their heating elements?  I got my #1 this past Christmas and absolutely LOVE it.  Without a doubt, its the best Christmas present I've ever received.  I've bragged about the unit to anyone who will listen to me and have sent many people to the website.  However, I've had trouble getting the unit to the temperature from the very beginning, but being new to smoking, I didn't know if this was normal or not.  Ultimately, through the advice of DivotMaker, I contacted Steve at Smokin-It in mid-March and he promptly sent me a new heating element.  I replaced it easily and noticed the difference immediately.  For all my smokes, the unit got to temp within about an hour.  However, when I attempted to make a batch of wings for the family yesterday, the unit never made it past 181-degrees after 3 hours of cooking with the unit set on max/250 (the door was never opened, weather was not a factor).  It seems that this element is going bad too.  That's 2 bad elements in 4 months of ownership.  Is this common?  Is there something that I could be doing to cause it?  What typically causes an element to go bad?  Could there be a short somewhere in my unit causing it?

I've emailed Steve and have no worries that he'll help me out.  However, I just hate to have him keep sending me new heating elements every 2 months if something more fundamental is causing the problem.  I figured with all the "Q-experience" on this forum, someone must have had a similar experience and could offer some advice as to what could be causing it and what I can do to prevent it.  Any input is appreciated. 

 

[DiggingDogFarm]

How many wings did you have in the smoker?
Anything else...water pan...etc.?
Was the LED turning on and off?

 

[GSDC]

I had about 4 pounds of wings in the smoker as well as a small pan of water.  Every time I checked the LED, it was on.  I had the temp set at 250/max.  I believe the thermostat was working ok, because if I turned the setting down past 180 for a sec to check it, the LED would go off.  When I turned it back up to 250, it'd come back on.  Not sure what is going on.

 

[DivotMaker]

I guess it's possible that your replacement element has gone bad, too, I've just never seen this personally.  Are you certain your wire connections to the element are nice and tight?  Current loss from a loose connection to one side could cause improper heating.  Like before, I recommend calling Steve.  It could also be the controller, but he'll know better. 

 

[DiggingDogFarm]

The only times that I've had a problem were when I had a heavy load in the smoker or when something was placed on the second rack that funneled heat to the temperature sensor causing it to turn the element on and off (when the actual internal smoker temperature was nowhere near the set point.)

 

[DivotMaker]

Good point, Martin.  GS - did you have any kind of drip pan under the meat, or just the normal foiling of the bottom and smoke box?  Drip pans between the smoke box and meat can definitely lead to under-heating.  Just curious...

 

[GSDC]

Tony, I foiled the top of the wood box and the bottom of the unit (with a hole punched for drainage).  I had the drip pan under the unit, as is the design.  No other drip pan was used.  I've had notice that a replacement heating element has already been shipped, so I appreciate the awesomely fast customer service on this issue (this company is awesome).  But, like I said before, I don't want to have Steve send me a new heat element every 2 months if something else could be the fundamental issue.  As to the certainty if my wire connections to the element are tight...I haven't gone back and checked them but they were tight when I hooked up the new element.  I'm quite obsessive-compulsive, so I know that I checked the connections (probably 4 or 5 times before I put the back plate on).

On a side note, I'm thankful that I had these wings last night and discovered that the element was bad.  My son is having his first Holy Communion tomorrow night and we are having a family party of 20+ people afterwards.  Of course, BBQ was the desired meal, so I've had a 9.5 pound butt brining and marinating for the event. Fortunately, I caught the flawed burner ahead of time and happen to have a neighbor who owns a #2 unit that let me borrow it.  I'm prepared to put this butt on the #2 at 1:30am and plan a 14 hour cook to get to IT of 205 before resting.  Had I not tried to cook the wings last night, I never would have gotten the butt to temp on the bad burner and the dinner would have beeen ruined.  So, I'm thankful for the misadventure! And, I'm hungry for tomorrow night (I brined this baby in Tony's brine recipe for about 12 hours, then slathered with mustard and the homemade rub (from this forum) for another 16 hours)!  I'm cooking at 225 with 6 ounces of hickory, a small pan of apple juice on one side and a can of water on the other side of the burner. 

 

[DivotMaker]

Good to hear you are making lemonade out of lemons!   What are the odds of having a neighbor with a #2 come to the rescue??  Wow!  Let us know how the butt comes out, and good to hear Steve is watching, and already shipped a replacement!!!  How cool is that?!

 

[GSDC]

Yeah, its fortunate to have a "backup" unit right down the road.  In fact, it was he who introduced me to these smokers when he had a neighborhood barbeque party last year.  When he showed it to me, I knew I had to have one of these!  Yes, Steve is right on the spot, shipping another element so quickly.  I hope this one doesn't go bad.  I'm not sure what to do if it goes bad again....something must be wrong, as it would highly improbable that I'd get 3 bad elements.

 

[GSDC]

Tony, the butt turned out GREAT....great bark, flavor and extremely juicy.  I believe that this is the first butt I've cooked with a properly working element.  It was by far the best one I've done....and the best pulled pork I've ever eaten.  We had 20 people over and they all agreed.  The thing was devoured quickly, which is nice.....but not so good if you were looking forward to left overs!    I hope this new element fixes my #1 for good this time.

 

[DivotMaker]

Good to hear the butt was a hit!  A properly-working unit is a fine thing!  Surely, this one will take care of your issue!