So I bought this Char-broil electric smoker from home depot... it is
only outfitted w/thermometer that says "warm-ideal-hot"... so i picked
up a replacement thermometer (for a gas or charcol grill), drilled
another hole in the top & mounted it in. Problem is, even on high I
couldn't get the temp past 200 degrees or even "warm"... Any
suggestions here? Am I doing something wrong, or is it just a junky
heating element? I was considering converting it to a gas smoker - Any
thoughts from anyone with the same problem?

wrote in message
oups.com...
So I bought this Char-broil electric smoker from home depot... it is
only outfitted w/thermometer that says "warm-ideal-hot"... so i picked
up a replacement thermometer (for a gas or charcol grill), drilled
another hole in the top & mounted it in. Problem is, even on high I
couldn't get the temp past 200 degrees or even "warm"... Any
suggestions here? Am I doing something wrong, or is it just a junky
heating element? I was considering converting it to a gas smoker - Any
thoughts from anyone with the same problem?




I bought the same smoker yesterday. Mine will get to 300F on high at an
outside temp.
of 50F. At this point that ridiculous thermometer??? is only on warm. On low
it will go to
150F. This is using an oven thermometer sitting on the grates. The temp. is
OK, though as expected, the upper grate is 25F or so lower than the lower
grate.
Beyond that it is really a hunk of junk. The grates fall easily off their
brackets. The lid doesn't fit properly. The body isn't round, so nothing
fits.
It's going back to Home Depot tomorrow.

Thanks for the input... glad to hear it's not just me. I'm taking mine
back also!


Kent wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
So I bought this Char-broil electric smoker from home depot... it is
only outfitted w/thermometer that says "warm-ideal-hot"... so i picked
up a replacement thermometer (for a gas or charcol grill), drilled
another hole in the top & mounted it in. Problem is, even on high I
couldn't get the temp past 200 degrees or even "warm"... Any
suggestions here? Am I doing something wrong, or is it just a junky
heating element? I was considering converting it to a gas smoker - Any
thoughts from anyone with the same problem?




I bought the same smoker yesterday. Mine will get to 300F on high at an
outside temp.
of 50F. At this point that ridiculous thermometer??? is only on warm. On low
it will go to
150F. This is using an oven thermometer sitting on the grates. The temp. is
OK, though as expected, the upper
grate is 25F or so lower than the lower
grate.
Beyond that it is really a hunk of junk. The grates fall easily off their
brackets. The lid doesn't fit properly. The body isn't round, so nothing
fits.
It's going back to Home Depot tomorrow.