Soon to be new owner/smoker

Karla,

I don't have a house for my cookshack (SM040). But I do advise getting the cookshack cover for it. I put mine on a rolling shelving unit so that I don't have to get on my knees to work with it. You will find the added height to be very nice.

The power cord on mine is about 6' long. I use a heavy duty extension cord and have never had any problems with it. I do not have a surge protector on my outdoor outlet. Not sure if a surge protector would handle the load of your cookshack, however I could be wrong on that.

Good luck with your SM025, you are going to love it. And welcome to the forum!

Jer

If you have a covered patio area you will be fine; I keep my AmQ on a screened patio and rarely use the cover and have no issues. The cord is about 6' long. Most outdoor outlets do have a GFI, which some folks have reported problem with but I have never had as issue with mine. You would also be okay with an appropriately sized heavy duty extension cord that would handle the max power surge requirements.

Get an outdoor, grounded (3 pronged), 14 gauge extension cord (that's the gauge on the unit) of the length you need, and you'll be fine. Always use mine with a 6' extension with no issues.

Cover's a good idea if your smoker isn't protected.

I don't have a cover for my smokette, I just wheel it in and out of the garage. I use the short heavy duty microwave extension cord. The plug that I use is just a normal plug, no GFI for me.

No matter what you end up doing, you might want to make sure that you DON'T leave it plugged in when not in use...trust me on this part.

I live in a city.
I have a very small backyard and no garage.

I have the standard ck cover and a heavy duty ext cord.
The smoker stays outside year round with the cover on it and the ext cord is stored in the smoker when not in use. I do not have it on a table.

My way is not the best way but it works. Good heavy ext cord and a cover is a must have if you can't store it in a garage.

El

You might want to consider the issue of smoke and your neighbors. The CS smokers don't put out near the smoke that a barrel/charcoal smoker does so it shouldn't be a problem. The smoke is pretty much contained in the unit.

I once lived in an Aptmt and had a charcoal smoker that I would fire up on my patio. Got complaints from the neighbors and I didn't blame them. Had to move it further from the patio.

Hopefully your problem will be answering all the questions of "what's cooking?" and "when's dinner?".

Ok order is placed, but its on back order. Hope to ship next week. What is a good sugestion for my first smoke.

Soon to be smoken.

A nice sized pork butt. Very forgiving cook plus helps you to season the smoker. Get a nice sized one and let it smoke over night for the next day's meal. Just follow Smokin's Pork Butt 101 and you can't go wrong. Remember cook to temp/feel not time. Jer