SMOKIN-IT SMOKER

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Just a heads up, the other day I was in the middle of a smoke when I noticed the SI3 was not heating. I pulled the back off and found the connector and a couple inches of the common wire burned up at the heater pigtail. When I pulled on the heater pigtail the wire pulled out of the spade lug on the element.

That spade lug seemed to be a bit large for the wire gauge and I think that the crimp might have been loose creating the heat to melt the wire.

I was in the middle of a smoke for a birthday party and needed to get the smoker back up so I did not get any pics.

Fortunately I have an appliance repair shop a few blocks away, a couple of spade lugs and back in business, there was plenty of wire length to cut out the bad section and reterminate.

I am not posting this to bad mouth SI or start any post war, all I'm saying is that if you have owned one for 3 or 4 years you might want to pull the back panel off and inspect this.

Edit: looked on my bench and I still have the stuff I cut out on there.

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Good advice. A little preventive maintenance goes a long way to keep things up and running. Thanks!
 
Did some checking here and at the Smokin-it site and found only one (1) other reference to a wire issue with the Smokin-it smokers. It was a broken wire. Considering that SI has been around for several years I think it pretty remarkable that there has been only two reported issues involving wire failure. Between the two forums, that is a lot of posts and a lot of smokers. Extremely low failure failure rate.
 
Did some checking here and at the Smokin-it site and found only one (1) other reference to a wire issue with the Smokin-it smokers. It was a broken wire. Considering that SI has been around for several years I think it pretty remarkable that there has been only two reported issues involving wire failure. Between the two forums, that is a lot of posts and a lot of smokers. Extremely low failure failure rate.
​I would agree, I hope it was just an isolated incident, but it would not hurt if somebody had one a few years old to pull the back and have a look on a regular basis. I know I will check mine more often. As a side note, the insulation around the burned wires was charred but was not showing any signs of trying to go any further.
 
 
​I would agree, I hope it was just an isolated incident, but it would not hurt if somebody had one a few years old to pull the back and have a look on a regular basis. I know I will check mine more often. As a side note, the insulation around the burned wires was charred but was not showing any signs of trying to go any further.
I guess as long as it's easy to get to it & check it, it's a good idea.

I used to check my MES every now & then, but after a lot of years it gets to be a PITA, so I just figure if it burns out, I'll just fix it.

As far as reviews on many things on the Web, I don't always go by the reviews on the Company Sites.

Bear
 
 
I guess as long as it's easy to get to it & check it, it's a good idea.

I used to check my MES every now & then, but after a lot of years it gets to be a PITA, so I just figure if it burns out, I'll just fix it.

As far as reviews on many things on the Web, I don't always go by the reviews on the Company Sites.

Bear
​I had to reterminate my MES a couple years ago, that one didn't catch me in the middle of a cook for a BBQ though, which is the only reason I will check it occasionally (like once a year). With the SI, the back is very quick and easy to remove, so it might turn into an annual spring time inspection, for a year or 2 maybe, if no problems, then I probably won't worry about it anymore. 
 
 
​I had to reterminate my MES a couple years ago, that one didn't catch me in the middle of a cook for a BBQ though, which is the only reason I will check it occasionally (like once a year). With the SI, the back is very quick and easy to remove, so it might turn into an annual spring time inspection, for a year or 2 maybe, if no problems, then I probably won't worry about it anymore. 
I understand that.

I'm not very electrically inclined, but I figure if it would be a gradual thing, like the wire would get grey, then black, etc, etc, before it burned out, then it would definitely be worth it to check it out more often, but if it's a deal like I could look at it one day, and it looks fine & normal, and the next day it burns out, then to me it's not worth checking it out. But like I say, I'm not even sure which way this particular thing happens. Hope I'm not the only one who understands what I'm saying---Not easy to explain in writing.

Then again, maybe I'm just getting Old & Lazy.

Bear
 
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I know the wiring used is for high heat applications. Curious if you think it being sandwiched in between two layers of fiberglass thus preventing the shedding of heat could have contributed to the failure.
 
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I know the wiring used is for high heat applications. Curious if you think it being sandwiched in between two layers of fiberglass thus preventing the shedding of heat could have contributed to the failure.
​I don't think that was the problem. All the wiring inside the smoker is high temp wire, What fried on mine is where the power cord (which is not high temp) neutral wire spade lugs to an about 6" long pigtail coming off the element. These wires sit right in the bottom corner of the cabinet, probably the coolest place in the smoker. The failure area and a small area around the burner area are the only discoloration I have seen to the insulation, plus there are 2 layers of insulation between the cabinet and the wires.  For one thing the ring terminal that attached the pigtail to the element was too big for that wire gauge and either not crimped tight or maybe from thermal cycling the crimp loosened, however, the pigtail pulled right out of the crimp. My opinion is the wire was loose in the ring terminal crimp and the arcing created the heat.
 
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