When I first got my Smokette,I set it up with foil, plugged it into the wall outlet, put some ribs in it , set the temp and went upstairs to watch TV, and surf a little. I was waiting for the wonderful aroma of hickory smoke, ribs and a good rub to start perking up my appetite.
About an hour later, I went down to check out the cooking. No smoke coming out, no heat to touch on the CS' walls. No wonderful aroma. The unit was plugged in to it's usual outlet. What the h*** was going on.
And, here is the lesson. My outdoor outlets at home are all on a ground-breaker circuit. The ground-breaker had tripped (My better half sometimes waters them!). Resetting it did the trick. I did not even know where the reset button was until this happened.
Now, I always listen and feel for the click when I turn the temp control on my unit ( I unplug it and turn the switch off after each use), and go around to my back door and check the reset button on the outlet there that has the circuit breaker to see if it needs to be reset.