SmokeFire Power Failure

[Old Man Grills]

Hi there,
Newbie here from the UK. Received my EX6 a week ago and have an issue.

Did my 2nd cook Saturday (Whole leg of lamb), about an hour into the cook we had a 2-3 second power flicker which was enough to cause the clocks/Alexa/TV to reboot but the lights literally went off and came back on.

This was enough to put the EX6 into shutdown mode. This is a 10-15 minute process so I took the call to transfer dinner to the oven indoors as we had guests.

Given that there is a 20-25 minute process to shut down and then reheat the grill this seems like a major design flaw.

Has anybody else had similar problems because I feel like sending the whole lot back and changing it for an Egg!

Many thanks

 

[JpsBBQ]

It uses electricity. The other brands do the same. The shutdown mode is a significant improvement over the original way the pellet grill shut off. There used to be burn back fires and numerous auger jam issues way back in the day before the industry came out with the shut down mode.

the Egg is a great and very versatile cooker. It would make a great partner to your Weber SF.

 

[Old Man Grills]

Thanks for your reply.
weber uk have been in touch this morning. Impressed with the customer service.
no way to override the shut down process as it’s a “safety feature”.

guess I’ll have to hope it was a one-off

 

[tigermikie]

The shutdown process is a safety feature of the SF. Considering what it takes to get an Egg up and running and then maintained through a cook, I’ll take the SF.
What happened to you is unfortunate. If the loss of power is something that happens often then you may need to rethink a pellet smoker.
good luck.

 

[Bruno]

The shutdown process is a safety feature of the SF. Considering what it takes to get an Egg up and running and then maintained through a cook, I’ll take the SF.
What happened to you is unfortunate. If the loss of power is something that happens often then you may need to rethink a pellet smoker.
good luck.

Agreed, if you have power issues it will haunt you!

 

[DutchieCooks]

Or run your grill on a generator lol

 

[dudemcnally]

Thanks for your reply.
weber uk have been in touch this morning. Impressed with the customer service.
no way to override the shut down process as it’s a “safety feature”.

guess I’ll have to hope it was a one-off

I had a power brownout which shut down the SF once. I don't think its fair in any way to blame weber for that type of failure.

My SF runs on a computer UPS now. Just a cheap $50 UPS will carry your WSF through any short power fluctuation, cheap insurance for your cooks

 

[Bruno]

I had a power brownout which shut down the SF once. I don't think its fair in any way to blame weber for that type of failure.

My SF runs on a computer UPS now. Just a cheap $50 UPS will carry your WSF through any short power fluctuation, cheap insurance for your cooks

Great call!!

 

[tigermikie]

Didn’t think of that. brilliant!

 

[abmet]

Ugh I had a chance to get a ups from my father-in-law when he retired. It was too big to fit where I’d want it for my networking equipment so I passed. Would have been fine for using with SmokeFire but was before I purchased it.

 

[dudemcnally]

Ugh I had a chance to get a ups from my father-in-law when he retired. It was too big to fit where I’d want it for my networking equipment so I passed. Would have been fine for using with SmokeFire but was before I purchased it.

The concern I had before I tried it was that the startup process using the glowplug would be a fairly substantial electrical load. The first UPS I used was a fairly beefy Eaton 1500, it handled the load without complaint, and reports 6 hours of runtime during normal use if the power failed lol.

Currently I have it on an APC 650 (I'm pretty sure that's the model, I'll dbl check when I get home) I assumed it would complain during startup, but apparently even the glowplug igniting really isn't that much of a load, it does it without complaint. The APC doesn't have a LCD screen so I can't say how long it would run in an power outage, but I'd guestimate that if it was just powering the fan and electronics (no glowplug) the UPS would easily power the SF for 20+ minutes. I don't have an accurate number for in-use power draw during the different phases of cooking

 

[dudemcnally]

The concern I had before I tried it was that the startup process using the glowplug would be a fairly substantial electrical load. The first UPS I used was a fairly beefy Eaton 1500, it handled the load without complaint, and reports 6 hours of runtime during normal use if the power failed lol.

Currently I have it on an APC 650 (I'm pretty sure that's the model, I'll dbl check when I get home) I assumed it would complain during startup, but apparently even the glowplug igniting really isn't that much of a load, it does it without complaint. The APC doesn't have a LCD screen so I can't say how long it would run in an power outage, but I'd guestimate that if it was just powering the fan and electronics (no glowplug) the UPS would easily power the SF for 20+ minutes. I don't have an accurate number for in-use power draw during the different phases of cooking

For anyone interested...

I verified when I got home. I am using an APC 750, I can't guarantee it will work on anything less powerful, but my gut says it would probably work on anything higher than a 500. I will bring some home from work to see how low I can go. The main goal isn't to cook for hours and hours during a blackout, the goal would just be to carry you through the minor brownouts/power blips that happen everywhere from time to time.

 

[Old Man Grills]

Thanks for all the replies. Appreciate the help.
about to embark on a brisket cook to make sure it’s not the Weber. will no doubt find time to google a UPS during that time.