Extension Cord ?

I would say it depends. Depends on how long a run it is to your electrical box from the receptacle outside, depends on how long the extension cord is, depends on the gauge and type of wire in the cord, depends on whether or not you expect the smoker to hit 250* and stay there.

I would not use a cord lighter than 12 gauge or longer than 6 feet.

Just my opinion.

This always seems to raise alot of questions, however mine is on a heavy 8' cord. It works perfectly. My question is, can we plug some kind of meter and get a reading? Then we would know.

A real down and dirty way is feel the cord. If the temp of the cord is not warm at all when you are running the oven I believe it is ok. As far as a meter you would need to read amps before the cord and after the cord, that would be hard for most people at home. Volts are easy to read but I do not think they will tell you what you want to know. A small wire can carry volts but it can not carry amps.

quote:

A small wire can carry volts but it can not carry amps.

... But, it can and does carry enough juice to knock you across the room!

I plan on using an appliance extension cord (good heavy quality)and probably no longer than 6-8 feet. The shortest length they sell near this range. That should get me to where I want to place the smoker. I think this should be okay. I may hook it up and do a test run and just check my smoker's internal temp with my polder. Should I crank the temp up to 250?

A point to keep in mind is that wire acts like a water valve. If you use too small a gage wire it's like cutting the water faucet/valve down. You still get volts flowing.. but when you plug a big resistor (heating coil) into the circuit, it wants a certain amount of voltage (water) to make it work properly. If the wire is not heavy enough in gage, the heat is distributed in not only the heating coil.. but also in the wire feeding it. This is wasted energy and starves the heating coil.

Another way to look at this is water in a hose. The longer the hose, the lower the pressure at the end.. why? The inside surface of the hose provides resistance.. therefore, the larger the diameter of the hose, the less the resistance and more working pressure when the valve is opened at the end.

As mentioned above, rather than go too small, find a 12 gage extension cord. You can make your own if you don't want a 25 footer.

A 8 foot 12 gauge industrial strength cord will work just fine. I have a st1500 with 1400 watts of elements. I have used with this cord for over a year know, at least a 100 times no troubles!

One of those fat black 'stension cords made for rv's/campers would work great. Cabela's might have 1, or your local camper sales lot.

quote:

Originally posted by GLH:
One of those fat black 'stension cords made for rv's/campers would work great. Cabela's might have 1, or your local camper sales lot.

Actually, that's really going overboard.. big time. Plus, you'd have to purchase adapters to go from the RV plug design to three prong conventional plugs.

While a 14 gage short cord would work fine.. a 12 gage would be great. RV cords are designed for 30A.. and we ain't pulling anywhere near that with the small CS's

I'm with BigAl, the down and dirty way. Run the smoker and feel the end that plugs into the outlet. If it's warm/hot get a heavier cord. That's how I know when I connected too many strings of Xmas ligths together. If you're still not sure if it's too warm don't use the extension cord, run the smoker and feel it. It should feel the same. Good luck and don't burn the house down.

quote:

Originally posted by Smokenque:

quote:

Originally posted by GLH:
One of those fat black 'stension cords made for rv's/campers would work great. Cabela's might have 1, or your local camper sales lot.

Actually, that's really going overboard.. big time. Plus, you'd have to purchase adapters to go from the RV plug design to three prong conventional plugs.

While a 14 gage short cord would work fine.. a 12 gage would be great. RV cords are designed for 30A.. and we ain't pulling anywhere near that with the small CS's

Sorry dude. My camper uses the 3 prong conventional plug. 30 amp. At all the campsites we go to, (going again this coming weekend) the electrical boxes have both styles. I have an adapter just in case though.

Contrary to a lot of stuff you read here, and I might add some brought on by CS customer service. A reasonable length of a heavy (cord 14 gauge or heavier) should not cause any problem with a Smokette. Like 50 feet should not be a problem. The specs on a Smokette says it is 500 watts, 10 amps. The heater in the smokette is either on or off, and that is governed by the thermostat and its placement within the Smokette, another line completely and has absolutely nothing to do with any extension cord. When the heater is on it draws, very approximately, about as much power as your computer and monitor. Much less than your 72" wide screen TV.

However, your house wiring is a different story. If you are running the Smokette off an outlet in the back 40, that is strung with 14 wire you should not run an extension cord at all and move the smoker closer to the house panel. Modern electrical codes only require number 12 wire in bath rooms, kitchens, laundry, and similar areas. To save a few bucks in the construction, every thing else is wired with number 14. Solid wire will not carry marginally as much current (amperage) as twisted wire (extension cords). So if your electrical service comes in on one end of the house and the outlet you want to run it off is an add on to a plug in your living room a hundred feet away, no extension cord should be used at all.

For years I have done hardwood floors that use a lot of power especially on 120 volt currents. There are way too many houses that we have found that just won't run that equipment properly off the house wiring and we end up running off extension cords run from the kitchen, bath etc. With that equipment I will not run anything on less than a number 12 cord greater than 50 feet.

So to put this in some sort of perspective, just because you can plug in your smokette into the outlet, doesn't mean you should.

I hope that helps.

quote:

Originally posted by GLH:
Sorry dude. My camper uses the 3 prong conventional plug. 30 amp. At all the campsites we go to, (going again this coming weekend) the electrical boxes have both styles. I have an adapter just in case though.

GLH.. didn't mean to offend. Generally, campgrounds are wired in two or three ways..
50A, 30A and 15/20A. Forgetting the 50A, 30A recepticals are those weird pronged plugs on a heavy duty cord. Any cord with a conventional plug used at a typical campground is plugged into a 15/20A circuit.

RendezvousQ is correct.. My only reason for suggesting #12 is precisely what I believe you are saying.. you don't know what the circuits are made up of in any partiular house.. therefore, erring on the side of larger wire will help reduce the resistance between he house circuit breaker and the end load.. allowing more amps to flow to the heating coil.

Oh no, I am not offended. I just know my Jayco and the campgrounds I frequent. They all have both 30 and 50 amp electrical boxes. My camper has the conventional 3 prong plug just like on the Smokette that will plug into the 30 amp boxes. I also have the adapter for the 50 amp boxes. Some campsites have both boxes available.

Now back to the real subject......

I reckon just use whatever cord length and gauge you want to use or not, but do not complain if your smoker does not perform up to par.

I have seen this extension cord issue arise many times over here on the forum. I have never had a problem using a quality extension cord and I have used them many times.

I did want to share a story with you about using a cheap cord. I actually had a cheap extension cord strung out across my boat's seat cusions down into the cabin area. Well, I drew too much current through the cord and ended up melting through the cord and ruining about $300 worth of seat cushions.

Moral of the story, stick with quality extension cords, regardless of the application.

Tony.. cheap, expensive. If they are UL rated it makes no difference. The laws of physics still apply. If you draw too much current for the wire rating, the wire will overheat. You want the heat to go to the heating unit in the smoker.. not heating up the wire itself.

Extension cords are cheap.. go with either #14 or better yet, #12. #16 is getting too marginal, IMO, if you want to keep the energy where the sun don't shine.. inside the smoker box.

quote:

Originally posted by Smokenque:
Tony.. cheap, expensive. If they are UL rated it makes no difference. The laws of physics still apply. If you draw too much current for the wire rating, the wire will overheat. You want the heat to go to the heating unit in the smoker.. not heating up the wire itself.

Extension cords are cheap.. go with either #14 or better yet, #12. #16 is getting too marginal, IMO, if you want to keep the energy where the sun don't shine.. inside the smoker box.

Smokenque, I an electronics technician with an extensive background in electrical distribution. I know that stranded wire is more efficient because electrons run on the outside of a conductor. I also know that insulation is also an issue. That was part of my problem on the boat along with a very powerful spotlight. Many cheaper quality extension cords are a result of poor insulation as well as insufficient conductor size.
I also know that different materials conduct with different properties such as a Nichrome heating elements.

Check out this website for properties on Nichrome and then think about it's application to our heating elements. Then figure out how that affects our current draw. ..............Then forget it all and I will delete this post.

http://www.wiretron.com/nicrdat.html

Tony, here is my only point. I won't make any assumptions about the end users situation. I don't know what sized circuit the readers are using. I can't assume a 30A circuits (wire size). Lots of code runs contain #16 wire and who knows how far the plug is from the origination. If #16 wire has a drop of about 4v per 100' run and we add an extension cord.. we could be recommending something that would hinder the most heat at the termination (heating the cord rather than the element). I'd rather assume the worst case and recommend a larger diameter. Speaking of assumptions, I can't assume all questions are about a Smokette that only has a 500w heater. Might be a 1200 w. model 50.

you got a point there.

quote:

Originally posted by Smokenque:
Tony, here is my only point. I won't make any assumptions about the end users situation. I don't know what sized circuit the readers are using. I can't assume a 30A circuits (wire size). Lots of code runs contain #16 wire and who knows how far the plug is from the origination. If #16 wire has a drop of about 4v per 100' run and we add an extension cord.. we could be recommending something that would hinder the most heat at the termination (heating the cord rather than the element). I'd rather assume the worst case and recommend a larger diameter. Speaking of assumptions, I can't assume all questions are about a Smokette that only has a 500w heater. Might be a 1200 w. model 50.

Right. Pretty much what I was getting at.

A way to make these good grade of cords is to make them yourself. They will be cheeper and stronger. Go to an electic supply house and ask for #12 "S O" wire. Thats what they will call it. This wire is black with a very heavy duty rubber coating. Code allows its use in industrial applications. They will cut the lenth you need. You will buy the ends and put them on yourself. If you ask for a deep 4x4 metal work box, two 20amp house wall recepticals, seal tight box connector, and a metal cover. You will be able to have 4 places to plug in on one cord. It should pass code, just make sure you use the ground wire. 20amp house recepticals are much better than the 15 amp versions.

Yep. Looks like sound advice. I am gonna make me one tonight while I am at work and have everything here. I only need about a 6' one. Thanks.