# My nearly new Dadant smoker broke!



## odfrank

I agree that screw is offensive, too long, no matching carbon covering it and no nut on the end. But after five years I am reluctant suggesting a warranty claim, maybe your homeowners insurance will cover it. Once you get paid, a trip to the hardware store for a shorter bolt and nut is called for. Cover the new nut with some tree sap and burn it with your torch.


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## beemandan

Great suggestions! I considered putting a couple of nuts on the end but the screw fit so snugly I decided it was overkill. I will attend to getting the color match soon.


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## jim lyon

I keep an old bee smoker salvage yard on the premises. I will try to find one that's a pretty close color match and overnight it down there to you. Sorry Dan, but that over sized screw is a flagrant bee yard "faux pas". :no:


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## beemandan

jim lyon said:


> Sorry Dan, but that over sized screw is a flagrant bee yard "faux pas". :no:


I know! So far I've been able to keep it concealed but sooner or later.....I'm embarrassed just thinking about it.


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## whiskers

To the anal mechanic the faux pas is the fact that you are using a thread as a bearing. Since it has little surface area for its size it will wear more quickly than a cylindrical pin so after you open and close the lid ten or twenty thousand times the fit will get sloppy. Look in the drawer marked tension pins at the hardware, the solution is there.
Bill

I bet Dadant would send you a new hinge pin if you asked too.


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## odfrank

My thirty plus year old Dadant copper smoker also can not stand up to the abuse we give it. They don't make them to be dropped a few times a week for decades. First 20 years of pine needle creosote corroded the bottom seam and all the dropping knocked it off. I was able to re-solder it twice but my clever helper eventually went with the Yuban coffee can bottom. Now the creosote corroded off the lid hinge grommets. It burns better than my newer smokers so we keep fixing it. Looks like a new bellows might be required if we leave it out in the rain too much. It has outlasted three trucks since I got it.


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## kitkat

beemandan said:


> The hinge pin in my Dadant smoker fell out. Of course..it was in high grass and never to be found. What's worse the smoker is nearly new (only 5 years) and hardly broken in. They just don't make stuff like they used to. I wonder if they will fix it under warranty?
> The screw I used to patch it up is just so unsightly.


 Just use a rusty nail and bend it. If it' still to long. bent it a little more !!


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## beemandan

whiskers said:


> so after you open and close the lid ten or twenty thousand times the fit will get sloppy.


This is one of my concerns as well. To make matters even worse, I really like the fit of the screw. It is snug so when I open the smoker the top stops wherever I quit pushing instead of flopping around. Maybe once the screw gets 'lubricated' with creosote it'll go an extra ten or twenty thousand cycles.


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## beemandan

kitkat said:


> Just use a rusty nail and bend it. If it' still to long. bent it a little more !!


Why didn't I think of that?


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## beemandan

odfrank said:


> My thirty plus year old Dadant copper smoker also can not stand up to the abuse we give it.


Where are the Chinese when we really need 'em?


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## jim lyon

Hmmmm. Lined up a few good candidates but I've never been very good with colors. What do you think?


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## Kamon A. Reynolds

odfrank said:


> I agree that screw is offensive, too long, no matching carbon covering it and no nut on the end. But after five years I am reluctant suggesting a warranty claim, maybe your homeowners insurance will cover it. Once you get paid, a trip to the hardware store for a shorter bolt and nut is called for. Cover the new nut with some tree sap and burn it with your torch.


Yes!


I had the same thing happen to my Dadant smoke that was 2 years old. I took stainless steel wire looped it thru heated it red hot and pounded down the sharp ends. "Beekeeper rigging" I use my smoker all the time and it works fantastic. Even if they sent you a new one it will likely fall out also.


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## odfrank

This picture shows the same copper smoker in post 7 back in the early 1980's. Also shown is another excellent value from the '70s, my Kelley nose truck we still use daily. How many TONS of honey has it moved? How many things you bought 40 years ago still serve you regularly today? My wife from the '70s bailed before the '80s!


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## aunt betty

I have my smoker, a kelly smoke cloud I think. Got it in 1978. The guy told me to save peach cans for when it rusted out. I did and it's only on it's first peach can.  Bellows and top is original.


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