Drum Smoker- Electronics help needed please!

[daveomak]

Either the element is broken or it's a 220 V element and they packaged it wrong......   

Dave

 

[lwarrenkc]

Frank,

I have used that type of element before in a smoker.  It was designed as an element to be used in a convection tunnel where a fan blows air through the fins.  They will work as just a convection type heating element but not as efficient.  The wattage on your is only 900w which is no where near enough to heat the type of smoker (unInsulated) that you have.  For example I have a custom stainless insulated cabinet that was used as a cooking hot box in a commericial kitchen.  It's only 42"tall 18"W and 26" deep.  It has a 4000w heating element in it and draws just under 30 amps @ 240 vAC.  It also uses a PID type of control.  The PID controller you have is a very advanced type of unit.  It is not simply an On/Off relay type of control.  It has a variable output on it so that the heating element is never "Full On or All Off" instead it varies the current to the heater like a dimmer.  That way you can use a much bigger element without causing overshoot of your temp setpoint, that is also why you measure a very low voltage coming out of it.  It was designed for the Bradley Smoker as an upgrade to their simple on/off temp control.  Bradley's I think only have around a 1000 - 1100w @ 120vAC  heating element which is why it is only rated for 1200w @ 120vAC.  Not sure what a good solution for you would be to make that barrel smoker electric but I do know the electric company will like you a lot if you choose to put a big enough element in it to get it hot enough.  You could choose just to make it electric for cold smoking fish or cheese and use a retro fit pellet burner for BBQ smoking.

Either way, Have Fun!

Lee

lwarrenkc