So the past two weeks I have been on the forums non stop and have been very excited to get into smoking. So I pulled the trigger on a camp chef smoke vault 24. Looked like most things where positive about it. I have a camp chef 3 burner stove and use for grilling, frying and canning and really like it which made me stick with the camp chef brand.
Well it arrived today, so I put it together. The bottom grease pan was slightly bent on both ends, the door does not close correctly with out lifting up quite hard and the burner is not centered very well. Eye balling it, it looks about 1 - 1 1/2" to the right and the flame just about hits the base on the right when on high. So anyways, I fired it up and tried to get it to 225. I used a maverick 733 or what ever it is and after 2 hours I gave up. I gave it 15 mins to get to temp and then tried slowly adjusting every 15 mins. It seems very finicky.
So now I'm debating on if this is how they all are or if I just got a really bad/fluke of one. Is this just the normal for smokers at this price range? The smoker seems nice and sturdy but are any of them made of something a little more solid?
Right now Im thinking Im just gonna take it back for a refund.
Any input or suggests would be great.
Id really like to get into smoking meat but Ive always like to pay for quality and something that doesn't have these issues. Looks like I might of jumped the gun and might have to spend some more $$$
Thanks
Andy
Well it arrived today, so I put it together. The bottom grease pan was slightly bent on both ends, the door does not close correctly with out lifting up quite hard and the burner is not centered very well. Eye balling it, it looks about 1 - 1 1/2" to the right and the flame just about hits the base on the right when on high. So anyways, I fired it up and tried to get it to 225. I used a maverick 733 or what ever it is and after 2 hours I gave up. I gave it 15 mins to get to temp and then tried slowly adjusting every 15 mins. It seems very finicky.
So now I'm debating on if this is how they all are or if I just got a really bad/fluke of one. Is this just the normal for smokers at this price range? The smoker seems nice and sturdy but are any of them made of something a little more solid?
Right now Im thinking Im just gonna take it back for a refund.
Any input or suggests would be great.
Id really like to get into smoking meat but Ive always like to pay for quality and something that doesn't have these issues. Looks like I might of jumped the gun and might have to spend some more $$$
Thanks
Andy