lkrfletcher said in PK100 fail:

So disappointed. My PK100 just stopped working today. It is older. But have never had an issue before this morning. Went right up to temp. Then shut off normally. Went back to temp once more then on shutdown. It would not heat up again. I just cleaned the sensor. So I have no idea. What an embarrassment having to finish my porkbutts in the oven with minimal smoke added. Guess I will shove it to the curb. I’m disappointed. I guess it is asking too much to just have things work the way they are supposed too.

Just a safety reminder. If you uncomfortable or have no experience with a volt/ohm meter or working with electricity then please disregard the below advise.

Before you do anything drastic there are 2 things you should check. Check your heating element for resistance. Make sure your smoker is unplugged before you even start . Disconnect all wires that are on the heater element. Using a volt/ohm meter measure the resistance of the heater element. The resistance of the element should be around 28-32 ohms. If it’s real high then you have an open. If it’s zero then it’s a shorted out. If the heating element checks out fine reconnect the heater element to any wires you removed. Then using the same volt/ohm meter that you used to measure the elements resistance measure the voltage on the heating element. You should see 120 volts when the controller is calling for the system to heat up and 0 volts when the system turns the heat off. If the controller is bad my advice would be to chuck the old controller out and replace it with a PID controller. The PK-100’s controller is digital but all that means is you can dial in a specific temperature. If you want 175 you dial in 175. What a digital controller does not prevent is temp swings. When you set the temp to be 175 the heat will turn off around 175 but since the heater element is still hot you temp climbs 10-15 degrees. The same when the controller calls for heat. The controller will only turn the element back on around 166-170. By the time the element heats up your temp may be 150-155. Eventually the temp swings will close the gap but they will still be there. This also depends on how much mass/food your smoker has in it. A PID controller keeps the temp of your smoker what you set it at. If you want 150 you get 150 with no temp swings. The only time you will have a slight temp swing is when the smoker 1st starts to heat up. You may see a 5-10 degree swing on the up side but once it drops back to your setting it will hold it there forever regardless of how much your smoker has in it.

I agree with John Belvedere on this. These smokers can be repaired or upgraded and would be well worth the time to learn how. Another option is to find someone local who can assist you. If I was closer I would give you some help with it,
If you decide to repair it, customer service would be a good resource to contact to find out your next steps.

Good luck on the elk hunt.

So disappointed. My PK100 just stopped working today. It is older. But have never had an issue before this morning. Went right up to temp. Then shut off normally. Went back to temp once more then on shutdown. It would not heat up again. I just cleaned the sensor. So I have no idea. What an embarrassment having to finish my porkbutts in the oven with minimal smoke added. Guess I will shove it to the curb. I’m disappointed. I guess it is asking too much to just have things work the way they are supposed too.

Just a safety reminder. If you uncomfortable or have no experience with a volt/ohm meter or working with electricity then please disregard the below advise.

Before you do anything drastic there are 2 things you should check. Check your heating element for resistance. Make sure your smoker is unplugged before you even start . Disconnect all wires that are on the heater element. Using a volt/ohm meter measure the resistance of the heater element. The resistance of the element should be around 28-32 ohms. If it’s real high then you have an open. If it’s zero then it’s a shorted out. If the heating element checks out fine reconnect the heater element to any wires you removed. Then using the same volt/ohm meter that you used to measure the elements resistance measure the voltage on the heating element. You should see 120 volts when the controller is calling for the system to heat up and 0 volts when the system turns the heat off. If the controller is bad my advice would be to chuck the old controller out and replace it with a PID controller. The PK-100’s controller is digital but all that means is you can dial in a specific temperature. If you want 175 you dial in 175. What a digital controller does not prevent is temp swings. When you set the temp to be 175 the heat will turn off around 175 but since the heater element is still hot you temp climbs 10-15 degrees. The same when the controller calls for heat. The controller will only turn the element back on around 166-170. By the time the element heats up your temp may be 150-155. Eventually the temp swings will close the gap but they will still be there. This also depends on how much mass/food your smoker has in it. A PID controller keeps the temp of your smoker what you set it at. If you want 150 you get 150 with no temp swings. The only time you will have a slight temp swing is when the smoker 1st starts to heat up. You may see a 5-10 degree swing on the up side but once it drops back to your setting it will hold it there forever regardless of how much your smoker has in it.

So disappointed. My PK100 just stopped working today. It is older. But have never had an issue before this morning. Went right up to temp. Then shut off normally. Went back to temp once more then on shutdown. It would not heat up again. I just cleaned the sensor. So I have no idea. What an embarrassment having to finish my porkbutts in the oven with minimal smoke added. Guess I will shove it to the curb. I’m disappointed. I guess it is asking too much to just have things work the way they are supposed too.