Electric Smoker Popping GFCI

[bbottger]

I'm having a problem with a 40" electric Masterbuilt (20070211) where it pops my 15 amp GFCI when the heating element comes on, even though the plaque on the back says it rates at 10 amps. The GFCI runs all exterior plugs and garage, but it never trips except for the smoker. I changed the GFCI to 20 amps but it still pops. So I run a drop cord to an outlet in the laundry room and it works fine. This is the second house now I've had this problem, so am fairly sure its the smoker and not the house wiring.

I opened the access panel on the back and the connections to the element are a little rusty but not so bad that it should affect conduction. I have no indication of any other issues, ie control panel etc and the smoker works fine when connected thru the laundry room.

Any one have any ideas or suggestions to try? Many thanks in advance.

 

[phathead69]

I have an outside pavilion wired to a gfi at the house. Same thing with cheap brinkman. Electrical guys at work say gfi's are touchy at best. If I use the garage gfi it doesn't trip with same smoker, go figure. One thing dont use extension cords due to increasing amp draw.

 

[bbottger]

I did find quite a few posts that I hadn't seen yet. Many say the trips are caused by the heating element. I just ordered a new one so will see if that solves it.

 

[mike243]

Refridges and a lot of other items cant be run on a gfi due to moisture, do away with the gfi which is a modern day invention and run a reasonable amp breaker and you will never have problems until you really have problems, that's my .02 and $6 more will get ya a Starbucks coffee lol

 

[bregent]

I changed the GFCI to 20 amps but it still pops.

A GFCI is not an overload protector. It protects you from leakage current - not from an appliance drawing too much current. It could be due to worn insulation or some other reason. If the smoker is popping the GFCI, then there's a potentially lethal wiring problem with it that should be addressed. Running it from an unprotected outlet inside is not a good solution.

 

[avfordguy]

Mine did the same, heating element shorted to ground, remove all power and use a
DVOM each heating continuity terminal to ground, I bet its shorted

 

[mike243]

What did we do before the gfi were invented? why are a lot of items not recommended to be used with them? it was invented in 1961 the year I was born, i'm sure a few folks may have been saved or stopped from being shocked, are they good ? yes they have a place they are needed, I have been to too many garages that the state deemed they needed a gfi and folks hook a fridge or freezer up to them, a while later I come out and give a estimate for every part in the unit or get it off the gfi like the maker states in the owners Manuel common sense some times is hard to understand lol

 

[bbottger]

Thanks for the great responses. Mike243 and Bregent are probably correct...I ordered a replacement heating element and will go from there.

I might just risk removing the GFCI until the day I go to sell the house and then put it back in. :)

That will also save me worrying about the garage freezer cutting off and ruining lots and lots of $$ worth of food!!

 

[Fueling Around]

Electric smokers are better kept on GFCI unless you plan to un-plug each time you check on your product. I only have a Big Chief, but it passes the GFCI test. Electric smokers are often exposed to the environment and rattled around when moved from storage to open area.
Good call starting with the element. I hope it fixes your issue.

What did we do before the gfi were invented? why are a lot of items not recommended to be used with them? it was invented in 1961 the year I was born, i'm sure a few folks may have been saved or stopped from being shocked, are they good ? yes they have a place they are needed, I have been to too many garages that the state deemed they needed a gfi and folks hook a fridge or freezer up to them, a while later I come out and give a estimate for every part in the unit or get it off the gfi like the maker states in the owners Manuel common sense some times is hard to understand lol

I don't want very safe appliances as refrigerators and freezers plugged into ground fault (GFCI) or arc fault (AFCI) protected outlets.
The next code change putting arc fault protection ... well, everywhere it shouldn't be part of the circuit protection plan is really going to spark things up?
Arc Fault developed in Europe and how many countries there mandate the installation. Non as I recall.

 

[barryvabeach]

Mine had a similar problem, I thought it was the controller, so i wired a PID , still popped the GFCI, so I replaced the element, problem solved. Hope it works for you.

 

[Kenny70433]

I'm having a problem with a 40" electric Masterbuilt (20070211) where it pops my 15 amp GFCI when the heating element comes on, even though the plaque on the back says it rates at 10 amps. The GFCI runs all exterior plugs and garage, but it never trips except for the smoker. I changed the GFCI to 20 amps but it still pops. So I run a drop cord to an outlet in the laundry room and it works fine. This is the second house now I've had this problem, so am fairly sure its the smoker and not the house wiring.

I opened the access panel on the back and the connections to the element are a little rusty but not so bad that it should affect conduction. I have no indication of any other issues, ie control panel etc and the smoker works fine when connected thru the laundry room.

Any one have any ideas or suggestions to try? Many thanks in advance.

I have the Model 20070311. It's also popping the GFCI breaker. After reading many posts about this problem, it was clear that the unit was shorting out somewhere. I opened all the wiring panels and everything looked good. Finally, looking at the element, I realized that it was touching the support rod that holds up the wood chip box. I pushed the element up to get it off the metal rod. I plugged it in, turned it on, and had no GFCI popping problems, at least initially. After about 15 minutes, the GFCI did eventually pop when the element heated up and dropped to where it was once again touching the metal rod. It doesn't seem to be a very good design. I put a piece of stone under the element to prop it up and problem solved.

 

[dr k]

I have the Model 20070311. It's also popping the GFCI breaker. After reading many posts about this problem, it was clear that the unit was shorting out somewhere. I opened all the wiring panels and everything looked good. Finally, looking at the element, I realized that it was touching the support rod that holds up the wood chip box. I pushed the element up to get it off the metal rod. I plugged it in, turned it on, and had no GFCI popping problems, at least initially. After about 15 minutes, the GFCI did eventually pop when the element heated up and dropped to where it was once again touching the metal rod. It doesn't seem to be a very good design. I put a piece of stone under the element to prop it up and problem solved.

My Gen 1 40 20070311 has the ground bolt and wire on the aluminum mounting plate at the legs of the element and has touched the rails. no problem. Maybe your ground wire, bolt or element plate has grease not having a good contact to ground and the ceramic or whatever insulation around the resistance wire in the center of the element has failed and is shorting to the outer metal jacket. Then it should go to the mounting plate and ground bolt/wire. There's lots of elements that have metal feet supports on the outer metal jacket that rests on the metal bottom of an oven/smoker and is a closed circut, no short Your element seems to be shorting and taking another path of less resistence to ground. Or someother anamoly like a hole in the elenent needing direct contact to metal. Unplug the smoker and the two leads to the element. With an ohm meter on its highest setting touch one probe to an element leg male spade and the other to any of the three plug prongs and see if you get continuity. If you do then the element is shorting. You should have continuity from the ground prong on the power cord to the back of the smoker but not the neutral or hot prongs to the smoker. Something is up with the element if it trips when touching the rail.

 

[bill1]

bbotger--Almost certainly a new heating element will fix this issue. Heating elements have a ribbon filament inside a grounded tube that's filled with a ceramic/clay type of insulator. As the element cycles on and off, it heats up and cools down inducing mechanical stresses in that insulator. Which leads to small cracks and resistive, slightly graphitic pathways to ground. It's a negligible amount, but 5milliamperes is enough to trip a GFCI.

As others have said, a temporary fix is to find where the metal external casing of the element is touching the grounded case of your smoker and float it with insulators. (And make sure the top of it isn't touching pans and racks that touch the case.) Then the leakage currrent has no where to go and your GFCI won't trip. I suppose you could touch it, and then YOU would be the path to ground, but if only ~5mA is going to ground through metal, even less will go to ground through your ~1000ohm body.

Of course the insulator cracking problem can get worse, and if the ribbon filament actually breaks, so there's no longer a low-resistance current path back to the power company on the neutral, then this can be quite a shock hazard so you really should order another element, as you have. In the meantime, an element is far more of a BURN hazard than a shock hazard. However, it's good practice to always consider an electric element both electrically and thermally "hot", until proven otherwise.

 

[belltornde]

I used Cuisinart COS-330 Electric Smoker. This is very best smoker. I bought this from internet after many research. I read out many pros and cons. Then I bought this..