HELP! Problems with auger and now glow plug ex4

[AKOTTAWA]

Hi all,

Purchased an ex4 around start of April and have only used successfully about 3 times for short med temp cooks. I believe I have a second gen..how do I know if I have a two piece or single piece auger? I haven't tried to start it in about 3 weeks as I've been so busy to try to deal with this and get it running.

I had/have issues with the pellets stop flowing up the auger consistently and need to be agitated in the hopper..I've tried a few brands now incl weber. I feel like I need to have the app open at all times to monitor the temp and go stir up the pellets in the hopper..... Only keep ab9ut 2-3 lbs in there at a time.


Now the unit will not heat up at all... I think the glow plug is done perhaps? I run it to start up at 300f. The fan starts blowing and the pellets are flowing but they just pile up in the burn pit and the glow plug is cold to the touch. No error messages on the screen come up...the pellets just pile up on eachother.


I plan to call customer service today but thought I'd check here as well to get thoughts.

Thanks

 

[AHoneyman]

A couple pounds of pellets is not really enough to get them to flow. You can tell if the pellet chute has been updated simply by looking at it. The new one piece chute is painted black. You should get error messages with a nonfunctional glow plug. Also, small diameter pellets work much better than others. These include Weber, Lumber Jack, and Cabelas.

 

[AKOTTAWA]

Thanks for the quick info

"A couple pounds of pellets is not really enough to get them to flow"
I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward, I had it filled up about half way (maybe 10+ lbs) and full for the first few attempts... I have had to empty the hopper about 20 times now so I've just been caution until I get this worked out.


I guess I have older style since the chute needs to be screwed on and is seperate... I did not realize that was the update.. I had thought the actual auger had been changed around.... Good to know. Never seemed to have issues with pellets missing the fire chamber and finding them to the sides. Just none would be feeding up the auger and it would just continue spinning.

I will keep the small pellets under advisement... Need to get this thing to start up first.

 

[AHoneyman]

What I find interesting is your statement "that you find pellets to the sides." I am not sure that it is assembled correctly. Many stores have not assembled the chute/fire pot correctly. A picture might help.

You can start the unit with a small propane torch. Just get something burning in the pot and let her go. The glow plug does nothing other than start the fire.

 

[abmet]

Also I’d remove the finger guard. Don’t take out all three at the same time as they hold the auger chute too. Stuff a rag in the chute in case you drop a screw to prevent it from dropping into the auger.
do you have another glow plug, I thought the gen 2 came with extra. Make sure it’s fully seated as that seems to be consensus on why they fail. Also like AHoneyman said double check the assembly especially if store assembled it. If you don’t have the single piece black chute contact Weber, since it solved a lot of people’s temp issues.

 

[AKOTTAWA]

What I find interesting is your statement "that you find pellets to the sides." I am not sure that it is assembled correctly. Many stores have not assembled the chute/fire pot correctly. A picture might help.

You can start the unit with a small propane torch. Just get something burning in the pot and let her go. The glow plug does nothing other than start the fire.

Sorry I had not made that very clear with that run-on sentence... I have never found any pellets to the side at all.. I had read somewhere this could be a problem with GEN 1 if not assembled correctly.

 

[AKOTTAWA]

Also I’d remove the finger guard. Don’t take out all three at the same time as they hold the auger chute too. Stuff a rag in the chute in case you drop a screw to prevent it from dropping into the auger.
do you have another glow plug, I thought the gen 2 came with extra. Make sure it’s fully seated as that seems to be consensus on why they fail. Also like AHoneyman said double check the assembly especially if store assembled it. If you don’t have the single piece black chute contact Weber, since it solved a lot of people’s temp issues.

I think it comes up as a gen 2 with the model # and serial number, though definitely had to screw the chute onto the square metal housing surrounding where the pellets fall into the fire pit.

Maybe it's only gen 1 though.. on weber.com afternoon register for warranty it comes up as model 22510001

 

[Goneincognito]

That's a Gen1 auger assembly from the look of it.
Someone else recently from Canada got a Gen2 that had this part installed also from memory.
Can you post a picture of how the fire pot has been put together?

 

[AKOTTAWA]

View attachment 3979


That's a Gen1 auger assembly from the look of it.
Someone else recently from Canada got a Gen2 that had this part installed also from memory.
Can you post a picture of how the fire pot has been put together?

Hope some of these help

 

[AHoneyman]

What we really need to see is the pellet drop chute in place.

 

[Goneincognito]

Try to close this gap. While the main issues are the glow plug and 2 piece auger assembly, this can cause problems also.
Try putting a hose clamp on the glow plug to make the connection solid too.

 

[Goneincognito]

What we really need to see is the pellet drop chute in place.

Its a 2 piece, you can see it in the pic I marked up.

 

[bbqking]

My 2cents is once I got the replacement auger…gen 2, I haven’t had a single issue. I received the pellet ramp attachment, which was stainless steel. It wasn’t black. I actually took that ramp attachment out as it really didn’t make a difference to me. I also keep my hopper almost full all the time. Stirring pellets I do automatically, even if it doesn’t need it. I did take the wire pellet thing out. I also put a small hose clamp on the glow plug. Another thing is Weber puts out updates to the software. I think it’s kind of random on who gets the updates and when, so I check for updates before I just start up and cook. I use an iPhone so can’t speak for android.

 

[AKOTTAWA]

What we really need to see is the pellet drop chute in place.

I am actually missing the other screw so here it is installed with the one that I have

 

[Bruno]

Black welded auger
No finger guard
Fill the thing with pellets.
I’ve dumped pellets twice since I got mine. Don’t see the need to do 20.