Great troubleshooting on your part. Just goes to show that there's no QC being done on all units being shipped out of those Chinese factories.
Well I've got the smoker fired up tonight doing a "cure". Had a hiccup to start things off. When I first plugged it in nothing happened. Had to do some troubleshooting right off the bat. Opened the access panel on the bottom and found a wire that was not pushed into one of the connectors. Tragedy averted, though not without some TBS of my own. Gonna try a brine and a dry "rub" late tonight on some sockeye and coho salmon then dry it for a few hours in the morning. Hopefully I will have some palatable smoked salmon for my kids to eat by tomorrow night.
Let us know how the salmon turns out. Last time I made some I dry brined it for too long and it turned out so salty it actually sickened me after I ate it. I may wet brine next time or skip the brining altogether.