PSA - Temperature Issues

[sntwilliams]

Hi folks,

Just a quick one as it may help some of you out. I've been having temperature issues with my smokefire for the last few weeks, either struggling to reach a set temperature, not holding a temperature or both. This is with the welded auger chute fitted.

I decided to give my unit a really deep clean today and also remove the motor to see if I could see anything wrong.

Voila! - The photo doesn't actually show the full picture as there was more underneath as well and It required a flathead screwdriver to remove it all. I'm absolutely certain that it was impeding pellet flow and causing stress on the motor, it was occasionally groaning at me!

I'm hoping that this has been caused by all of the cooks done before firmware 4042 and this doesn't happen again with the "improved" shutdown procedure.

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Dassman5]

Hi folks,

Just a quick one as it may help some of you out. I've been having temperature issues with my smokefire for the last few weeks, either struggling to reach a set temperature, not holding a temperature or both. This is with the welded auger chute fitted.

I decided to give my unit a really deep clean today and also remove the motor to see if I could see anything wrong.

Voila! - The photo doesn't actually show the full picture as there was more underneath as well and It required a flathead screwdriver to remove it all. I'm absolutely certain that it was impeding pellet flow and causing stress on the motor, it was occasionally groaning at me!

View attachment 2655

I'm hoping that this has been caused by all of the cooks done before firmware 4042 and this doesn't happen again with the "improved" shutdown procedure.

Cheers,

Simon

Yep, that is a periodic maintenance issue, especially if one does not sift their pellets to remove dust prior to loading in the hopper.

I had not checked my ex4 auger for over 4 months, but when I decided to replace my auger assembly with the welded one-piece unit, I not only noticed a tremendous amount of dust build-up as well as a wear ring on the auger backplate.

 

[sntwilliams]

Yep, that is a periodic maintenance issue, especially if one does not sift their pellets to remove dust prior to loading in the hopper.

I had not checked my ex4 auger for over 4 months, but when I decided to replace my auger assembly with the welded one-piece unit, I not only noticed a tremendous amount of dust build-up as well as a wear ring on the auger backplate.

I'd be inclined to say that I'll periodically remove the motor and clean it as it only took 10ish minutes to do, rather than having to sift the pellets all of the time. I'm just concerned about the motor burning out if it's left to build up.

It's all a bit of a faff...

 

[TexB]

I had some temp swings, and then I switched back to Weber pellets and it seems fine. In my case, who knows if it was the pellets or the wind and weather for the day. Did your temp issues get resolved with removing the dust buildup?

 

[sntwilliams]

I had some temp swings, and then I switched back to Weber pellets and it seems fine. In my case, who knows if it was the pellets or the wind and weather for the day. Did your temp issues get resolved with removing the dust buildup?

With the limited testing I managed to do after clearing it all out, I did notice a difference in how fast the grill got up to temperature and how well it maintained the set temperature.

I'm waiting on CS to provide me some clarification on whether firmware 4042 is specifically designed to stop it from happening again. I get the impression that it is but would like to know for certain.

" Update 04042 improves the shutdown cycle by waiting until the grill has cooled down before reversing the auger. This is a proactive update that will enhance grilling performance over time. "

 

[AHoneyman]

The 4042 update caused some of us lots of problems until the later junOS and app updates were released. Make sure that you have everything updated, not just the firmware. The descriptions are BS.

 

[sntwilliams]

The 4042 update caused some of us lots of problems until the later junOS and app updates were released. Make sure that you have everything updated, not just the firmware. The descriptions are BS.

Oh really, what sorted of problems out of interest? All the version numbers on my smokefire are matching the weber website.

 

[TexB]

With the limited testing I managed to do after clearing it all out, I did notice a difference in how fast the grill got up to temperature and how well it maintained the set temperature...

This is awesome info. Mine has slowed down a bit and started fluctuating some.. and I haven't cleaned the dust from the auger tube since I replaced the black welded chute design. Thanks for the tip

 

[AHoneyman]

This is awesome info. Mine has slowed down a bit and started fluctuating some.. and I haven't cleaned the dust from the auger tube since I replaced the black welded chute design. Thanks for the tip

Since you took all of the screws out and ran it, I would completely disassemble, clean, and check all screws and bolts to make sure that they are tight. With the auger in free flight, things may have happened.

 

[AHoneyman]

Oh really, what sorted of problems out of interest? All the version numbers on my smokefire are matching the weber website.

Several of us turned out to be beta testers (4042 magically appeared about two weeks before the normal release). Those individuals had all kinds of problems. Search for a thread I started with 4042 in the title. I flamed Weber CS in several posts.

 

[sntwilliams]

Several of us turned out to be beta testers (4042 magically appeared about two weeks before the normal release). Those individuals had all kinds of problems. Search for a thread I started with 4042 in the title. I flamed Weber CS in several posts.

Thanks, I'll take a look!

 

[sntwilliams]

A further update now that I've done some cooks. I am pleased to say that my EX6 is back on form after being cleared out of crushed pellets. Both the urgency and consistency are back and it cooks food like a dream.

Will be taking the motor/auger back out again in a few weeks to see if I can see any build-up.

 

[TexasBBQ]

Hi folks,

Just a quick one as it may help some of you out. I've been having temperature issues with my smokefire for the last few weeks, either struggling to reach a set temperature, not holding a temperature or both. This is with the welded auger chute fitted.

I decided to give my unit a really deep clean today and also remove the motor to see if I could see anything wrong.

Voila! - The photo doesn't actually show the full picture as there was more underneath as well and It required a flathead screwdriver to remove it all. I'm absolutely certain that it was impeding pellet flow and causing stress on the motor, it was occasionally groaning at me!

View attachment 2655

I'm hoping that this has been caused by all of the cooks done before firmware 4042 and this doesn't happen again with the "improved" shutdown procedure.

Cheers,

Simon

Do you live in a humid environment? With the dust packed in there like that seems like moisture would need to be involved.

 

[sntwilliams]

Do you live in a humid environment? With the dust packed in there like that seems like moisture would need to be involved.

I live in the UK, it's not humid, but it's certainly wet!

I'm pretty sure moisture has some part in it, combined with the auger reversing on shutdown.

I put my old two-piece auger chute and auger in a vice, then put just enough pellets into it so I could see what was going on and started to turn the auger slowly by hand until they were coming out the other end. I then started slowly turning it in reverse and I could see the pinch point and feel the resistance.