sporadic heating behavior

[notquitestr8t]

Started my Smokefire today to smoke some fish. Came up to temp (200), lowered to "smoke boost" for 20 min. When my timer went off, I saw that the temp had dropped and no smoke coming from grill. Eventually got an 03 error that fire was out. Followed the directions for cleanup, unplugged the unit for 45 seconds and started over. After 10 minutes or so, huge clouds of smoke were billowing out of the grill but temp remained low. Finally, after a disconcerting "whump", the fire started and temp continued to rise well beyond the 200 setting to 400+ degrees. Fire was blasting out of the burn pit. I lifted the lid to cool things down, but it never dropped. Performed a shutdown, restarted the whole process. Grill came up to temp, stayed that way for 15 minutes so and then the same thing. Temp dropped, more smoke gathered until it looked like my house was on fire, a sudden whump and temp would not go down. Fan would not stop either. I had to give up and pull the fish. I just reset the temp to 600, which I hope will burn off any jammed pellets and of course no problems at that temp. I welcome any suggestions. I have used this multiple times in the past without issue.

 

[bbqking]

The whumping issue seems concerning. I don’t know what to say other than call Weber. I’ve never heard of the SmokeFire whumping, but I have had that billowing smoke thing happen before. It was very white smoke and kind of just associated it with bad pellets. Good luck.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Send some pictures of the whole thing. That will help for sure.

 

[Goneincognito]

My guess that you had a pellet void that caused a flame out.
The "whump" was most likely the pile of pellets that dropped after the void cleared catching since it got so hot. So unless you think the "whump" was mechanical I wouldn't be concerned about that. Calling Weber would be a waste of time.

The most important thing to do now is work out what caused all this.

What pellets are you using?
Some pellets will just cause issues. Just because they work for one person does not guarantee they will for you.
I have seen this a lot recently, especially with pit boss.

Are they in good condition?
If not, you will have problems.

Do you have the finger guard in?
If so, the chance for bridging can increase and can be made worse depending on your pellet choice.

What's the condition of your burn pot?
If it is not assembled correctly or damaged, it can cause issues with flame outs.

Are you running the latest firmware / software?
There have been reports of problems with flame outs and temps with the latest release.

 

[bbqking]

The purpose of calling Weber would be just to see it is a known issue. While I agree it might be a waste of time, it would be a great experience to see how good their cs is.

 

[notquitestr8t]

My guess that you had a pellet void that caused a flame out.
The "whump" was most likely the pile of pellets that dropped after the void cleared catching since it got so hot. So unless you think the "whump" was mechanical I wouldn't be concerned about that. Calling Weber would be a waste of time.

The most important thing to do now is work out what caused all this.

What pellets are you using?
Some pellets will just cause issues. Just because they work for one person does not guarantee they will for you.
I have seen this a lot recently, especially with pit boss.

Are they in good condition?
If not, you will have problems.

Do you have the finger guard in?
If so, the chance for bridging can increase and can be made worse depending on your pellet choice.

What's the condition of your burn pot?
If it is not assembled correctly or damaged, it can cause issues with flame outs.

Are you running the latest firmware / software?
There have been reports of problems with flame outs and temps with the latest release.

Thank you for the response. The pellets are Kingsford. They have been used successfully before without issue. I'm about half way through the bag. The "whump" is clearly from the smoke finally reaching a high enough temperature to ignite. The pressure change actually caused the lid to pop up and the billowing smoke immediately dissipated once it caught. I don't know what the finger guard is. Is it standard? I haven't done or added anything since I purchased the unit last October. I don't know what my burn pot is supposed to look like after multiple uses so I can't answer that question either. I do have the latest firmware release. I will be using the unit again today for burgers. I'll watch it closely and take some pictures if it fails again. It is disappointing that these units require so much babysitting.

 

[abmet]

The finger guard is the metal wires that go over the pellet chute. Many of us have removed it and for me I’ve not had pellets bridge since. Weber won’t recommend it since it’s safety thing. Just don’t stick your hand in the auger while it’s turning. If you do remove it do one screw at a time as they hold the auger chute in place too. Stuff a rag in the chute in case you drop a screw.

 

[JpsBBQ]

I also feel the Smokefire starts much better if you leave the lid open until you see some smoke billowing from the fire pot. It just seems to start faster and more consistently. It will start either way, but in my experience it’ll be faster if you leave the lid open for a couple minutes initially.

 

[Goneincognito]

Thank you for the response. The pellets are Kingsford. They have been used successfully before without issue. I'm about half way through the bag. The "whump" is clearly from the smoke finally reaching a high enough temperature to ignite. The pressure change actually caused the lid to pop up and the billowing smoke immediately dissipated once it caught. I don't know what the finger guard is. Is it standard? I haven't done or added anything since I purchased the unit last October. I don't know what my burn pot is supposed to look like after multiple uses so I can't answer that question either. I do have the latest firmware release. I will be using the unit again today for burgers. I'll watch it closely and take some pictures if it fails again. It is disappointing that these units require so much babysitting.

No problem.
Remove the finger guard as described above and you should be good to go.
The pellets may play an issue (not sure on their diameter) but more so with the finger guard in.

This is how the burn pot should look.
The grate in the burn pot can rust out over time and you will see that happen between the slots.
The plate on top of the burn pot should sit in such a way that there are not gaps at the front and rear and the slide should look like it does in the pic.

I have the GEN2 EX4 and have removed the finger guard, ramp in the hopper and put a hose clamp on the glow plug.
I use it 3-4 times a week and have done so for the 17 months I have had it.
I use Weber pellets and have never had an issue of any kind. No flame out, glow plug failure, nothing.
The longest I have cooked on it was around 12hrs and all I did was check that there were enough pellets. I didn't stir them or anything.
Now, other people's mileage may vary but this shows that you don't have to babysit it at all if you set yourself up for success from the beginning and realise that the SF is not like any other grill out there.

I thought I was right about the "whump".
Don't don't bother calling Weber as recommended previously.
The person who suggested that can call them if they have nothing better to do and want to see how good CS is.

 

[Goneincognito]

I also feel the Smokefire starts much better if you leave the lid open until you see some smoke billowing from the fire pot. It just seems to start faster and more consistently. It will start either way, but in my experience it’ll be faster if you leave the lid open for a couple minutes initially.

Yup.. That's how you are meant to do it.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Yup.. That's how you are meant to do it.

I think people get confused because it says to keep the lid closed on the monitor. If you read startup procedure it says to leave it open until smoke is present. A bit confusing direction that could easily be changed in an update I’d assume.

 

[Darren]

Have you recently cleaned out the burn pot? ash can build up over time.

I would also look at removing the auger and cleaning that out.

I have found when I was using other brand pellets with a larger diameter, I was getting a lot of pellet dust build up and struggling to cook at higher temps / flameouts.

 

[notquitestr8t]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I did fire it up yesterday and set it to 600 F for burgers. It never went beyond 430 F. I am very anxious to get out and clean,/view the areas mentioned. Sadly, it is 32 degrees with light flurries today ( Urgh, this late in April!). I will run a full check, cleaning as soon as I am able to.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I did fire it up yesterday and set it to 600 F for burgers. It never went beyond 430 F. I am very anxious to get out and clean,/view the areas mentioned. Sadly, it is 32 degrees with light flurries today ( Urgh, this late in April!). I will run a full check, cleaning as soon as I am able to.

Something is wrong if it won’t get above 430. I’d check to make sure your RTD probe is clean too. That is the permanent probe mounted in the back center of the grill that is used to monitor the grill environment and report to the “brain”. If it gets too hunker up it can also cause misreads of data.

 

[bbqking]

It was just a suggestion, to call Weber. Because we have such a wealth of information, the folks here have a lot of experience. And are very helpful. A side note; if by chance, there is an issue with your SmokeFire, I believe it would be prudent to have Weber in the loop. If by chance you need replacement parts. I have had certain parts sent to me free of charge. They have also sent me pellets free of charge. Just my two cents. With the SmokeFire not being a cheap thing, I dont think it would be a “waste of time” as much as I would like to I can’t “call if I want to.” because it’s not an issue I’m having.