Electric smoker issues

[teejk]

Just a guess...is your GFCI rated for 15amps? Any heat generating appliance draws a lot of juice and 15a might be a little light.

 

[JPRambo]

Over loading the circuit will not trip the reset on the GFCI outlet. It will trip the breaker.
I agree with the cobwebs and maybe moisture in the (outdoors) outlet being used.

 

[teejk]

Over loading the circuit will not trip the reset on the GFCI outlet. It will trip the breaker.
I agree with the cobwebs and maybe moisture in the (outdoors) outlet being used.

In theory you are correct. They are only supposed to detect a ground fault. In practice, I dunno. I think they are just plain fussy and will shut down anytime anything doesn't seem right. I never had any issues with a GFCI in a previous garage until I plugged in an electric charcoal starter. In our new house we were required to install a ton of GFCI's. We did our own wiring and other than a few outside outlets used for Christmas lights and other non-load things, they are all on 20a circuits. I'm guessing I could plug an electric heater into one of those 15a circuits and the outlet will trip.

 

[BobRip]

Many, many years ago, we had a GFI breaker in the master panel that controlled the two outdoor outlets AND the one in the bathroom that I used for my electric razor (not a cordless razor). And that breaker kept kicking off while I was shaving. So I stopped by an electrical supply house to buy a new GFI breaker. The guy asked why I would need one; said they seldom went bad. So he suggested checking the outlets. When I removed the cover from the outside outlets, there were cobwebs in there. I blew them out with my air compressor and no more problem.

Good point. Moisture can also get in the outside outlet. Dry it using a hair dryer and make sure the gasket is intact.

 

[Bengineer]

Condolences. It is just plain wrong for a man's smoker to fail on him, particularly on the 4th!

You've probably thought of these, but a couple thoughts on debugging:

1) can you run, say a skilsaw / shopvac / a good kickass 10-15A load off the gfci outlets? Yes? then the smoker might be the issue.
2) can you run the smoker off an unprotected outlet from in the house? ... and not kill yourself? ) Ok, so it doesn't short to ground *too* bad.
3) maybe clean out the smoker, particularly around the swx / wiring, hook it up to a unprotected outlet and let it "cook" for a while to dry it out thoroughly. It doesn't take much moisture in the wiring / swx / ... to trip a gfci. Been stored outside in the rain for a while? cord might have gotten water in it.
4) hook the smoker up to a gfci you know is good - will run something that pulls a good 10-15A or so.

 

[jyoutz]

I had to buy a new controller for my Masterbuilt smoker.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Over loading the circuit will not trip the reset on the GFCI outlet. It will trip the breaker.
I agree with the cobwebs and maybe moisture in the (outdoors) outlet being used.

That's what the book says, but that's not what happens. I was raised by an electrician. I dont own one around here. You can wire them so they don't trip. No breakers or receptacles GFI around here. I don't trip regular breakers either. They tried putting them things on egg gatherers machines in poultry houses. I took them all out and put regular plugs and no more problems.

 

[CobyRupert]

Years ago I asked my father-in-law a about GFCI's. He made a living as an electrician. He said GFCI's were a great idea but he would never trust his life to one. They can and do fail.

That’s like saying you’d never trust your life to a seatbelt because they can and do fail ….so you don’t wear one.

The reason the OP’s ground fault circuit interrupter is interrupting is because …..(drum roll)…. there’s a ground fault!

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Hey there!

I am Mark Daniel, a smoking expert.

For the past several years, I've had a Masterbuilt electric smoker.
"Unsecured" is a word that can be used to describe something that isn't secured. These smokers will necessitate a small amount of electricity.

They're essentially mini-ovens. Electric difficulties might also be caused by a cord that is too long for the smoker.

If you can get the bugs out of them, they're a great smoker on a gas grill.

At the top of every post is blue bar, which says when teh post was made. Before you resurrected it, the last post was in JULY OF 2014. Please don’t resurrect old threads.

And to answer the Op’s question. The fault was in the smoker. He tripped two seperate GFI devices on two sperate circuits. So, the most probable problem is the smoker.

GFIs work by wrapping the line and nuetral around a metal core. If there is more current on the line side than the neutral side, a filed is generated in the metal core, and trips the device. A high current draw wont trip them, just an imbalance in the flow of the line and nuetral.

The theory is that if there is more current in the line wire, than in the nuetral wire, the only place the higher current is going is out of the loop via the ground.

 

[copytmpmzl]

I pulled out my Masterbuilt electric smoker to smoke some ribs for the 4th. I recently moved to a new house and have had no previous issues with the smoker. I plugged it into a plug in the garage. The ground fault reset button immediately cut things off. Tried a couple more times, same result. Moved the smoker to the patio to try a different plug. Same result, reset button won't let the smoker do its thing. After several tries, I just put the smoker up and cook the ribs on the grill. They were delicious so not a bad ending to the saga.

Now I don't know what to do regarding the Masterbuilt. Does this sound like a problem with the smoker or a problem with the ground fault plugs? I don't think they should be that sensitive. What would you suggest as a possible remedy? All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

I got this smoker for Christmas last year and after some research I was able to get pretty darn good at getting some good smoke flavor. But, it seems that I am yet another victim of the control panel and element problems that seem so prevalent with these smokers. I have installed a new controller and element, fired it up and everything seemed OK. Went to start it up the other night and it went crazy and then shut down. According to Masterbuilt I need the body assembly, which they have agreed to send to me. I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer trust this thing and am looking at purchasing a new electric smoker.

After all of the digital problems I am very tempted to go with an analog controller. Those of you that have these please feel free to share your experience with them. Is it easy to get a temperature set? How about the smoke flavor? I have an old Brinkmann smoker with no temperature control and it seems the only way to control the temp is with the amount of water in the pan. It does OK but the meat will sometimes have a steamed flavor that I don't care for too much. Any opinions and/or advice is appreciated.