Andy Young Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Hi. I live on the west coast of Argyll in Scotland and have been Smoking fish and meat for about 10 years. I used to have a Bradley smoker that worked really well. Unfortunately things started to go wrong with it over time and is now out of action. I have now treated myself to a Royal Catering RCRO-1300 smoker and don't know whether I've made a bad decision. It seemed to work really well the first time but kept ripping out when I used it the second time round. I opened the door and the wood dust was on fire. It then tripped again and the element does not work. I have contacted the supplier (EXPONDO) on numerous occasions but they just have a generic response to come back to me soon with technical advice. I cannot even get them to tell me what the product code is for the element so I can get it in the UK! I was wondering if anyone else has had an experience like this? The wood tray sits directly onto of the heating element and actually started glowing. Could this be a thermostat problem as well as the element? Any help or advice would be gratefully received Cheers Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Young Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 I have added picture of the wood on fire in the smoker. you cant tell from the picture but the fire box sits directly on the element and was glowing. The other picture is the heating element removed but don't know where to find one. Could it have been a dodgy thermostat which didn't regulate the element or do they always glow red hot when getting up to heat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripple Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Hi Andy, I do not know anything about your smoker but I would say glowing red is definitely wrong. It looks like you have either had a thermocouple failure or a closed circuit failure in your control circuit. What was the thermocouple reading when the heater was glowing red? Can you not go directly to the manufacturer for parts? I would also look at over temperature control, I am building a hot smoker at the moment and I am using a second temperature controller and thermocouple that will shut of the power if an over temperature event occurs. For a simple over temperature control you could use something like this, they are rated at 10A , insert the thermocouple near to your control thermocouple and just set the temperature at a few degrees over your control temperature. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Adding a separate thermostat control safeguard is a good idea. They are not expensive and there are several off-the-shelf. I do not know the type that @Ripple has in his photo but the ones I tend to use are from @Inkbird. The ITC-308 works well and is ~£30. For their WiFi enabled version is ~£45 Regarding the ring, yes it can glow as it heats and gets the cabinet up to temperature however this should not be for long until the internal thermostat control kicks in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Young Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 Hi Ripple and Wade. Thankyou so much for some good advice. I didn't even know these things existed so you learn something new every day. The feedback from the manufacturer has been exceptionally rubbish with no advice at all. I asked them for a part number of the element and they said it was a "food Smoker element"!!!! Im hoping they are going to send a new one but we will see? Ill definitely invest in a ITC purely for safety Still unsure why the power kept tripping but im hoping it was due to the faulty element. Im a salmon farm manager in Argyll so I can get my hands on Salmon quite readily. I also have pigs and chickens. I butcher my own pigs and make sausages and bacon so the smoker is vital! Thanks again and am sure ill be asking for more advice on different topics soon. Cheers Andy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Wow - You can certainly guarantee that it is fresh then . The closest I can get to that is buying direct from Billingsgate Market in London. Some of the supermarkets around here have sold whole salmon that looked quite fresh in the past however they are quite small and recently they have been looking a little "old". Are you mostly hot smoking your salmon or are you producing traditional cold smoked too. I sell a reasonable amount of traditional smoked salmon but my personal favourite is the lightly smoked salmon steaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Young Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Yes I am very fortunate both with my job and where I live. Salmon sales are bit of a nightmare at moment due to Covid and Brexit so a lot of produce is taking a long time to get to the market. Freshest salmon you can buy is actually direct from the Super Markets as these get there's first and have huge amount of quality checks. Should also be relatively cheap at present so stock up now. I have done traditional cold smoking in past but really prefer hot smoked. Have actually gone for a bit of an in-between on last batches so the salmon stays a lot moister. I find the smoking part is the easiest, getting the cure right can make or break. I wondered if you have smoked any shellfish? I also Dive up here so get a lot of scallops and mussels are everywhere. Just haven't tried them yet. Ive eaten smoked mussels and they are delicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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