[Steve Viegas]

Well, just a heads up, my idea did not work. I was able to create smoke with no problem, but when it came to fitting the hotplate under my smoker, that was a no go.

I thought that another problem might be creating enough heat if the hot plate cycled, so I decided to see if I could fit my hot plate and a cast iron skillet under the smoker and use the mass of the cast iron skillet to aid in the heating process.

With this set-up, I was still able to create smoke, but I was never able to get the rack temperature above 112 degrees (even with using boiling water in the water pan.

Well, this started at 6:30 in the morning. By 8:00, I had the smoker going with charcoal was was resigned to a day of sitting watching my smoker.

6.5 lb boston butt (pork shoulder), 8 hours on the smoker (mopping every hour after meat his 100 degrees), plateaued at 150 degrees, brought into the house and finished (4 more hours) bringing the internal temp to 200 degrees. Let rest for one hour and had delicious pulled pork.

Thanks for all of the advice, next step, Christmas and a new electric smoker.