Aronis
New member
Hi,
We received 4 bags of the Weber brand pellets when we first got the grill and used those without an issue. Since then I have used four bags from Lowes, brand is PitBoss, and recently had an issue with the fire going out now with the fourth bag. I did not look at the Weber pellets that closely but after having an issue I noted that the Pit Boss pellets are of very varied in length. Which made me wonder if the Weber brand pellets are more uniform in size? Does this matter?
Anyway, I had a 'flame out' during my last smoke due to what I now think was a 'log jam' above the start of the auger. I pushed down on the pellets and could hear them falling. I had not put 2 and 2 together yet, but when it did not restart I thought maybe the glow plug as bad? So I cleaned out the burner tray and replaced the Glow Plug thinking that was the problem. (It takes 10 seconds from Inside. I do not know why Weber wants you to remove the assembly from the back of the unit to do that?) It started right up no issue, and that smoke finished fine, a 90 minute TriTip smoke. (yes a 90 minute smoke is worth the time and we love TriTip, probably because its a quick smoke LOL). That was a month ago.
I thought maybe the bin and auger were just full of too much pellet dust and that is why it hang up in the shute. So yesterday in anticipation of smoking today, I cleaned the unit and emptied the hopper and vacuumed out all the pellet dust (thinking that might be a feed issue) and degreased the inside and the grills fairly thoroughly. Even washed the outside, almost like an OCD cleaner.
Today I started it up for a Pork Shoulder at 6:30 am, and had a fire failure TWICE over what ended up being a 11 hour smoke that is being finished in the oven as I type this rant. (read between the lines, I don't like spending a day smoking anything.....but I digress) The first time it failed was about 7 hours into the smoke, I pushed on the pellets in the near full hopper and heard them drop into the auger ah log jam, but it would not restart. I think It was off for about 10 minutes or so since the temp only dropped from 220 to 150 degrees before I noticed it. (why does the app alarm for this?) I cleaned out the burner tray again after the eternal 15 minute shut down, restarted it and noted the glow plug 'glowing' and so the fire restarted and we resumed. Three hours later it happened again despite that the hopper being at least 1/2 full, and again by pushing on the pellets I heard them dropping and now knew the auger was empty because of the log jam. By this point I surmised that you have to shut it down to get the glow plug to start again, so I shut down again and it restarted restart. But at this point the Pork was in the oven. Still is.
1. I think when the pellets are not feeding, the auger gets empty, the pellets burn off and the glow plug gets too hot and the control unit shuts it out until you restart? No warning message or error message? Anyone confirm this 'feature?'
2. Does pellet brand make a difference in hopper feeding function?
3. Should I remove the wire screen at the bottom of the hopper?
4. Anyone experience a similar failure?
Thank you,
Mike
We received 4 bags of the Weber brand pellets when we first got the grill and used those without an issue. Since then I have used four bags from Lowes, brand is PitBoss, and recently had an issue with the fire going out now with the fourth bag. I did not look at the Weber pellets that closely but after having an issue I noted that the Pit Boss pellets are of very varied in length. Which made me wonder if the Weber brand pellets are more uniform in size? Does this matter?
Anyway, I had a 'flame out' during my last smoke due to what I now think was a 'log jam' above the start of the auger. I pushed down on the pellets and could hear them falling. I had not put 2 and 2 together yet, but when it did not restart I thought maybe the glow plug as bad? So I cleaned out the burner tray and replaced the Glow Plug thinking that was the problem. (It takes 10 seconds from Inside. I do not know why Weber wants you to remove the assembly from the back of the unit to do that?) It started right up no issue, and that smoke finished fine, a 90 minute TriTip smoke. (yes a 90 minute smoke is worth the time and we love TriTip, probably because its a quick smoke LOL). That was a month ago.
I thought maybe the bin and auger were just full of too much pellet dust and that is why it hang up in the shute. So yesterday in anticipation of smoking today, I cleaned the unit and emptied the hopper and vacuumed out all the pellet dust (thinking that might be a feed issue) and degreased the inside and the grills fairly thoroughly. Even washed the outside, almost like an OCD cleaner.
Today I started it up for a Pork Shoulder at 6:30 am, and had a fire failure TWICE over what ended up being a 11 hour smoke that is being finished in the oven as I type this rant. (read between the lines, I don't like spending a day smoking anything.....but I digress) The first time it failed was about 7 hours into the smoke, I pushed on the pellets in the near full hopper and heard them drop into the auger ah log jam, but it would not restart. I think It was off for about 10 minutes or so since the temp only dropped from 220 to 150 degrees before I noticed it. (why does the app alarm for this?) I cleaned out the burner tray again after the eternal 15 minute shut down, restarted it and noted the glow plug 'glowing' and so the fire restarted and we resumed. Three hours later it happened again despite that the hopper being at least 1/2 full, and again by pushing on the pellets I heard them dropping and now knew the auger was empty because of the log jam. By this point I surmised that you have to shut it down to get the glow plug to start again, so I shut down again and it restarted restart. But at this point the Pork was in the oven. Still is.
1. I think when the pellets are not feeding, the auger gets empty, the pellets burn off and the glow plug gets too hot and the control unit shuts it out until you restart? No warning message or error message? Anyone confirm this 'feature?'
2. Does pellet brand make a difference in hopper feeding function?
3. Should I remove the wire screen at the bottom of the hopper?
4. Anyone experience a similar failure?
Thank you,
Mike
