Hot plate question

[pacanis]

Does anyone know if there is a difference in the way a hot plate works depending on if it has exposed coils, much like an electric stove, or a "die cast burner plate", which looks like a solid cover where you would place the pot? Does one produce more heat than the other, wattage being the same?

Thanks for your input

[babetoo]

not a clue, sorry

babe

[pacanis]

Well it gets danged hot. I have no idea why it isn't getting my garbage can smoker up to temp or making any smoke out of the chips on it

[Andy M.]

I missed the thread on the smoker. Do you have the chips in a foil packet or on a foil pie plate on the burner?

[gadzooks]

Use a hotplate with an exposed coil. It should get hot enough for the coil to glow red.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I missed the thread on the smoker. Do you have the chips in a foil packet or on a foil pie plate on the burner?

Here's the thread that going me going on this idea Trash can smoker?

If you follow the link I found you can see what I did, only I used a 20 gallon can, so it should get hotter I would think. Unfortunately, the instructions do not say which hot plate to get, so I went with a 1000 watt GE hot plate with a 2 year warranty as opposed to a 750 watt Proctor Silex (exposed coils though) with a 1 year warranty. Visiting Amazon, it seems like the PS hot plate has a habit of burning out shortly after the warranty expires. And 1000w has to be hotter than 750w.... doesn't it?

I'm going to check the temp again, but using my digital thermometer instead of the one I bought to put in the lid, but I still don't think it got anywhere close to the temps needed to smoke.

The chips were laying in a foil meat loaf pan. You could smell them, but they were not producing any negligible smoke. Can chips go bad?

gadzooks, do you think the 750w would be my best choice for this project then?

[Andy M.]

More watts = more heat, all things being equal. Could it need moer time to start making visible smoke? Does the hotplate need to be hot before you add the foil pan?

[Robo410]

a hot plate with an electric coil or an iron burner plate should be fine. A glass top warmer won't get hot enough.

[pacanis]

It's got the metal burner plate Robert.
I don't know if it needs to heat up first or not, Andy. I wouldn't think so, but who knows.....
I called "GE Walmart", the 800# on the instructions. He suggested I take it back and try another one. That he would think the temp would get hotter than 155. However, he also said that he didn't think hot plates got hot enough to boil water.... that surprised me. I thought you could cook with the things, not just reheat.

I'm going to fire it up again and put my digital right on the plate, just to see how hot it's getting at the source.
Or, maybe hot plates were allowed to produce more heat in '03, which is what the website was dated that showed this DIY smoker.

[GrantsKat]

This link shows how to make a smoker without the hot plate, I dont know if thats something you wanna try.....

Trash Can Smoker