Last night I fired up the smoker for a fourth of July smoked butt. Rub was applied and cherry/hickory combo in the smoke box. I checked on the butt this morning and all was on schedule for dinner today.

The weather is hot but beautiful today w/o wind or a cloud in the sky. While showering I noticed that the lights flicked off for 10 seconds but my generator did not kick in. I didn't think too much about this until I checked my smoker later and saw the display reading off! I switched it back on and my butt was at 172 and the temp at 168. If I hadn't checked on the Amerique we would have had a real disaster. Normally I never check temps until close to my anticipated done time.

Today I only have one butt but I usually don't smoke less than 4 for a crowd. Today's events has me concerned and planning on how to prevent this possibility in the future. I will probably start plugging my Amerique into an APC UPS unit.
This would prevent a quick glitch in the power from killing the program and carry the smoker over until the generator automatically transfers.

Has anyone else had a similar episode? What do you think of my UPS idea?

You might check the FEC comp forum as to how most of us use a marine style battery for 18-24 hr comps.

Might even be cheaper than a UPS unit.

They essentially have the same controls on the cooker.

Dave,

I believe the Amerique has a 700 watt element in it for heating and then some current is needed for the electornics. So lets say 800 watts for grins. According to the APC website a 1500 model UPS will run your smoker at 800 watts (assuming the element was on) for about 6 minutes. The cost for their unit is about $250.

Seems expensive and I doubt the UPS would handle any rain or bad weather so it would have to be protected from the elements while you are smoking and we all know that you cannot control the weather for some of these 18 hr smokes.

Maybe just check the smoker if the lights go out and reset it if needed.

Pretty sure the AQ has a 1000 watt element.

Then think even bigger UPS like 2000 KVA.

The sticker on my AQ shows 700 watts. Have they upgraded the element to 1000W? If so, that would help with cold winter smokes when the temp struggles to reach 235.

I only need a few minutes of backup power to allow my generator to kick in. I'm concerned about a 20 second outage at night that would turn off the smoker and ruin all of the meat.

Sams club has units for around $170 and www.refurbups.com also has discounted units. Not cheap but peace of mind is valuable....

I think the elements were upgraded to 1000 watts.

It seems like it was about a year or so ago.

It's 1000 watts. Check here and scroll to the bottom of the page. It's in the specifications box.

I will call Cookshack next week. I had posted before about being unable to get the smoker temp above 196 degrees when it was 30 degrees outside. Hopefully I can upgrade my unit to the new element. Does anyone have any info on this?

quote:

Originally posted by DaveN:
The sticker on my AQ shows 700 watts. Have they upgraded the element to 1000W? If so, that would help with cold winter smokes when the temp struggles to reach 235.

The outside temps shouldn't affect it at ALL, unless you open the door. The AQ has 800/1000 degree insulation, so that keeps the cold out.

If it's not getting to temp, just call CS up and discuss it with them.

Will do SmokinOkie. I never open the door until the Q is through....