Burn in help

[dsone]

Hi Folks,

I just tried my burn in and did everything the manual said, or at least think I did. I could hear the fan going and pellets slowly dropping after 15 minutes it never got smoking and the temp didn't go up.

Any initial thoughts?

 

[BadAss BBQ]

I've read that sometimes on the initial burn in it'll take two attempts to actually prime the auger. People with this problem powered down then rebooted and it worked second try. I guess the controller sees no heat and goes into shut down.

 

[dbk402]

Try calling Weber support?

 

[dsone]

I've read that sometimes on the initial burn in it'll take two attempts to actually prime the auger. People with this problem powered down then rebooted and it worked second try. I guess the controller sees no heat and goes into shut down.

Thank you, I'm in power down mode now and am going to try one more time to see what happens and if that doesn't work then I'm going to pull the grates, bars off, etc...to see if the glow plug is working.

I had someone put this together for me so didn't see how the sausage was made so flying a bit blind.

 

[dsone]

Try calling Weber support?

Based on hold times from Weber and seeing how helpful people are here I decided to try this first. If the first suggestion doesn't work then Weber it is.

 

[SmokeMeister]

Thank you, I'm in power down mode now and am going to try one more time to see what happens and if that doesn't work then I'm going to pull the grates, bars off, etc...to see if the glow plug is working.

I had someone put this together for me so didn't see how the sausage was made so flying a bit blind.

Yeah, definitely pull off the heat deflector and make sure that the glow plug is installed correctly and turning red. Also, make sure the fire box is not full of pellets now. You can leave a single layer, but much more than that and you risk smothering the fire. Also, you can leave the lid open for a minute or two to verify it is working correctly, but it looks for the temp to start rising to progress through the startup. So if you leave the lid open it won't work correctly.

Note that it may also be a good idea to remove the glow plug assembly and reinstall it. It goes in a little weird, so maybe whoever installed it didn't get it seated properly. You have to remove the back cover for that, but it's really easy to do.

 

[dsone]

I've read that sometimes on the initial burn in it'll take two attempts to actually prime the auger. People with this problem powered down then rebooted and it worked second try. I guess the controller sees no heat and goes into shut down.

Thank you, the second burn in worked and was able to get to 570 before the temp started going south.

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

Thank you, the second burn in worked and was able to get to 570 before the temp started going south.

What is your Ambient temp and wind/humidity conditions and what pellets are you using? I got to 600 and stayed there for over an hour (occasional dip to 570 or so while it replenished pellets. The temperature was about 55 and dropping here in Tallahassee and there was some wind. I was using Pitt Boss Competition pellets.

 

[JmanOhioBBQ]

Thank you, the second burn in worked and was able to get to 570 before the temp started going south.

I wonder if you have a bad auger, I’ve heard of a few people that have had to replace the auger and they could never get to the 600 temp. Weber took care of them but I think you should probably reach out.

 

[dsone]

It's about 40 degrees here in New Jersey with a bit of a breeze but not too bad.

I shut down after the 2nd burn in and cleaned out the bottom of the cooker. I also had to clear some whole pellets that were on the bottom of the cooker as well and once I started it up I was able to get to 600 but I kept having to move the pellets around in the hopper every 20 minutes as I was getting the sink hole.

It seemed to manage the temps pretty well after all this but I had dust or whatever you call it all over the inside and outside of my smoker. I was also noticing small littler embers that were coming out of the drip pan when it was running at a high temp.

I usually chalk these experiences up to user error as I'm not the most mechanically inclined person walking this earth. That said, after reading various reviews I do wonder how much is me and how much is the product.

I do appreciate folks chiming in with their thoughts.