All correct Tom! I’ve had 4 pellet grills and never had a burn back. I always start with a clean burn pot. GMG, Grilla Grills, Traeger and Pitts and Spitts….never any issues with these as long as you start clean.
Great overview. Just had an Auger feeder small fire that melted the bushing on the Asmoke 300. Going to do minor repairs but will definitely start looking for a new tabletop portable pellet grill with better fire prevention. Sometimes it’s not about saving a buck it’s about safety!
Great tips Tom! I like you vacuum out the hopper before the next cook. Actually I vacuum out the whole grill. Must an ole man thing…haha! My Memphis has the slide feed so it really minimizes the auger catching. Quality pellets, cleaning after every cook. …great information! Thanks for sharing Tom!
👋Thanks Tom I was having trouble understanding the pit boss blowing the smoke through the agger. I had add a handful of pellets so I had a lot of ash in the burn pot good thing I checked it. Thanks Tom.🙏👍👍🤜💥🤛
Great tips Tom. On shutdown after a higher heat cook, I always allow the temp to drop to 225 degrees and then initiate the shutdown sequence on my Grilla Grills Silverback.
yup, found not really necessary to clean the burn pot each time, it gets a certain amount of ash buildup and then the rest gets blown out each time you start it up
Great video topic Tom! I had an auger fire with my 7002C2E (my first and only). 100% operator error. I had dropped the temp to 225 preparing for shutdown. My wingman asked if he could shut it off, I said yes. I failed to tell him to just switch the control knob to shutdown sequence. About 15 minutes later I still saw smoke coming from the stack. Shortly after, smoke started coming from the hopper. I knew right away what happened. We dumped the hopper, got as much of the pellets out as we could see. To my surprise nothing in the hopper was even remotely warm. We turned the controller back on and held the feed button down until there were next to no pellets dropping out of the auger. I will say that during this auger purge the auger got red hot. After about 10-15 minutes we turned everything off and all smoke, flame and heat stopped. All in all, my fault for not telling my wingman how to turn it off. 1) So as Tom suggests, clean out the fire pot after every cook. Smoke Daddy has a nifty liner that fits in a standard fire pot that simply lifts out the ash and unburnt pellets. It looks like a good option to clear any pellets that still might be burning right after the shutdown. 2) I can't say this is a fact, but I've heard that the charcoal pellets can burn longer in the fire pot after the shutdown sequence, so a mix of these with regular pellets might be advisable.
Great advise Tom. I have the SmokeFire so auger fires are not really a concern but I still make sure the burn pot is clean and the bottom of the inside is ash and grease free. It limits any down time due to not enough air flow in the burn pot and keeps gives any new grease a clear and easy path to go to the grease channels. Five minutes of maintenance can prevent an hour or more of down time.
Great advice, Tom, I keep mine clean and I’ve never had that issue! You mentioned Weber Smoke Fire, have you had one of those pellet grills….I’ve heard good and bad things but still like the looks of the Weber!!! Thanks!
Great helpful video. For some reason, I am hearing a lot about hopper fires recently. I have never had one, but I do vacuum out my burn pot on my Davy Crockett after every use. One thing that concerns me on that pellet grill is the drip hole is very narrow and could easily clog up not allowing grease to drain into the grease bucket. I recently bought the ZGrills Cruiser after your positive review for my weekend home and started following ZGrills. They seem to be having a lot of hopper fires. A gentleman with ZGrills Australia has a very good video on how to use a pellet grill. He recommends not going straight to the shutdown mode when running hot, buy rather lower it to the minimum setting to let the fire in the burn pot calm down before putting it in the shutdown mode. Anyway, there are a lot of grill owners who do not have a clue at how dangerous they can be from lack of cleaning; especially gas grills, but including pellet grills. I have to add that I have never worried about a fire on my Weber charcoal grills, but had a huge one on my Weber Genesis 1000 with greasy burgers that was scary especially attached to a full propane bottle.
Thank you for the content, I have kept my smoker from catching on fire by reducing oxygen from getting into the pellet hopper, by using heat resistant tape on the vents and the seams around the hopper. If there's no oxygen in the hopper, there is no way to catch it on fire and also keeping the dust from the pellets down and cleaning it before smoking. Also, the important thing is if you have a fire in your hopper or auger is to unplug it this turns off the fan and then I cover all the vents to make sure there's no oxygen getting to the smoker at all! If you have a smoker that allows you to engage the auger to remove the pellets that are on fire do so before turning it off but turn the heat down so the fan is not on high. It's important to do this quickly so it doesn't spread throughout your hopper but by removing the oxygen and the heat this should slow down the burn, but everybody smokers is different.
Good video I just had this happen already with the lowes portable pit boss its the only one that I’ve had this issue with . I Will have switch to a hardwood quality pellet . Thanks for the good advice . I have two full size treagers the original and the 780 pro and have never had any issues with those. Because the hopper is bigger .
I have one of these too. Brand new out of the box it had a burn back into the auger and smoke out of the hopper. I sifted pellets cleaned it out and only use hardwood pellets. Thought it was a fluke. Second time I used it at a tailgate and it did the same thing. Honestly think it has a design flaw like described in the video the auger is way to close to the fire
I had an issue for the first time with my Austin XL pit boss, it keeps dropping temp after a couple of uses, I thought it was a thermometer issue, so I watched and watched come to find out the fire box not only needed to be cleaned out (which I clean my grill often) but the fire pot has rusted out several large holes and as I watched it, the augur was drawing in fire, causing the entire pellet box to smoke, and I could visibly see the flames dragging to the large rusted holes instead of up into the cooking chamber. Ordering a new fire pot this week. I love my pit boss, but I’m about ready to upgrade to a gravity fed charcoal or a true offset stick burner for bbq.
Hey Tom! Great Info here for anyone with one of these Sawdust burners. I think we've all been there and had some sort of a backdraft fire into the auger and hopper. Not good and a scary situation. Always have a Fire Extinguisher on hand. 🔥😁👍 Metal On! \🔥/
I start clean every time with my Pitboss combo and tabletop Pitboss and still experience auger fires with the combo grill but not the smaller table top. I’m thinking of having a weld done to block the flames from backing up into the auger.
This is the 2nd or 3rd time i have had an auger fire and it is a traeger rengade. It works great on low temps not generating a lot of ash but this was smoking for 4 hrs and then turned it on high to cook scalloped potatoes. Ultimately it is a design flaw. I will try some of the tips you have recommended but unless i can modify the burn pot to be deeper im going to be in the same situation
It's also a good practice to run your pellet grill from a dedicated power source. In hot weather sometimes people will run a fan from the same outlet, this can cause a faulty start-up procedure. During start-up the igniter can draw up to 700 to 800 watts of electricity.
My Pit Boss table top went on fire the first time I cooked a Ribeye. The fat never came out the spout. It settled in the troughs on the plates, and sat inside the trough that connects to the out spout. Anyone else have this problem?
The gap between auger and firepot is of concern to me as I compare various designs. The largest gap that I have observed comes with the Kando Gear pellet grills. But they are pricey.
My pit boss started smoking through pellets hopper last use full on smoke through the auger wat I read is if u run ur Pell grill hot before u turn off run on low temp like 220-250 burn all pellets out then turn off and that fixed my issue Every time I run my two grills I learn somthing new These machines are not for average consumer I’m alway touching mine
Had first auger fire last night while cooking a chicken, I have a camp chef that allowed me to dump the hopper contents into a bucket and open that bottom of the fire pot. Was able to put it in Feed mode and push the fire out into a waiting water pan below, Cleaning the Auger and Auger Tube this morning. Was surprised at the amount of soot and creosote built up over the years in the tube. Not something I would have thought of because the natural direction of everything in the smoker flows the other direction. Take time to clean this every now and then.
Great video Tom. This is literally why I don't have a pellet grill. My grill area is more confined than yours and I don't have a handy place to keep a shop vac near the grills. I have a small one that I could bring out after every cook but that seems like more work than just using a charcoal grill.
By pit boss brunswick burns up into the auger during shutdown. The fist time it happened, It went back to the hopper. It holds 98 pounds of pellets and it has half full. 😐
Great video! Does anyone know which Models of Zgrills and smoke fire or just which pellet grills in general have the auger feeder PROTECTED from the firepot? These redesigns are something I’m interested in for sure. Looking to upgrade my ZG 550B2 which has the normal feeder to firepot and I am deathly scared of a backburn all the time :(
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ on your video you mentioned and showed Zgrill and Smokefire.. do you know what ZG model it was? i can't find it.. based on my own research after watching this video i see memphis grill and smokefire as having protection. You mention Yoder so that's another.. I'm trying to find out what ZG model has it that you showed please if you remember
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ Thank you!! I actually looked at all their models.. just not the 600. Funny how their top-end models don't have this design feature and the 600 does.. no wonder I didn't see it. I have the 500 and am looking to upgrade to something that has designed auger feed protection. Thank you!!
On my smoke, daddy. I did have a hopper fire, but I learned when you are raising. The Temperature The auger speed increases as well, which the ash will rise up to the auger. And then get blow back into the hopper, which caused a hopper fire. I did some minor adjustments now. It's perfect. Great smoker for ribs and wings and so many other things. I probably smoke thirty racks of At a time.
This is all strange to me, about cleaning out burn pots....with a shop vac? I own a Camp Chef DLX24, at the end of the smoker there is a knob attached to a rod you pull, the bottom of the burn pot slides away, and the ashes fall into the removable cup underneath. Easy. My neighbor is always boasting about his Traeger but I was surprised it doesn't have this convenient feature. I assume all pellet grills have the shutdown feature where all pellets in the pot are burned to ash, so when fresh pellets are fed in at the next startup you don't overfill and start an auger fire.
Thanks for Watching Edgar, appreciate the feedback, had a Camp Chef Woodwind years ago, with the same feature it is convenient when it works, the heat from the fire sometime warps it causing it to be difficult to slide in and out. Heard that they redesigned that feature. Hopefully it work better now. Also I found that the fan did blow a fair amount of ash out of the fire pot meaning it still needed to vacuumed out.
Good morning. Maybe 30 cooks in, no problem with warping with burn pot slide, crossing my fingers. You are right about the fan and having to vacuum ash often, not sure that the ash causes a major problem but I do it.
Thanks for Watching Paul! The manufacturer should state that on the bag or their website. In the past some pellet manufacturers used poplar and then an oil to flavor their pellets
The design of the firebox and the auger exit not having a shield preventing direct flame impingement on the pellets in the tube is the problem, plus the firebox should be designed where the pellets run down a slide so the pellets fall further away from the auger ,
You even show some great designs where the auger tube is shielded with metal so there is no direct flame impingement plus the pellets fall away further from the exit towards the igniter, EVERY pellet grill fire box should be designed like that.
Bought a portable pellet grill , first time using it after the initial seasoning and had a burn back , you only explain on cleaning it and then went onto the other grills , you didnt explain ways to not get a burn back
Thanks for watching Steve keeping the burn pot clean is one of the ways. I would also recommend when finished cooking to turn the temp down to 200 for while so when you shut down the burn pot isn’t burning really hot
It's dumb that only one maker has made it easy to clean out the burn pot which is the camp chef. I'd like to see a fire pot that is actually a removable bump under the whole pit.
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ I haven't. I need much more size than the bullseye offers unfortunately. I hope they continue to improve their other larger grills since they're getting a bit outdated now.
Prime button is your friend when you see the hopper smoking
Thanks for Watching! Good tip!
All correct Tom! I’ve had 4 pellet grills and never had a burn back. I always start with a clean burn pot. GMG, Grilla Grills, Traeger and Pitts and Spitts….never any issues with these as long as you start clean.
Thanks for Watching! Appreciate the feedback
Very well explain, totally agree, that is the most important when it come to pellet grills / smokers, but when you are LAZY, that's what happens...
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the feedback
You covered this well Tom. I had no idea these hazards existed. Thank you for the info.
Thanks for Watching! Appreciate the feedback
Agree 100%. When I hear about burn back I immediately think its user neglect or error.
Thanks for Watching! Appreciate the feedback
Good video Tom. Solid advice.
Thanks for Watching Eric!
Great overview. Just had an Auger feeder small fire that melted the bushing on the Asmoke 300. Going to do minor repairs but will definitely start looking for a new tabletop portable pellet grill with better fire prevention. Sometimes it’s not about saving a buck it’s about safety!
Thanks for Watching! Agreed!
Great tips Tom! I like you vacuum out the hopper before the next cook. Actually I vacuum out the whole grill. Must an ole man thing…haha! My Memphis has the slide feed so it really minimizes the auger catching. Quality pellets, cleaning after every cook. …great information! Thanks for sharing Tom!
Thanks Jay!
I had an auger fire on my Traeger. New to smokers and it was user error due to lack of maintenance. Scary situation. Thank you for this video.
Thanks for Watching! Hope all is well
👋Thanks Tom I was having trouble understanding the pit boss blowing the smoke through the agger. I had add a handful of pellets so I had a lot of ash in the burn pot good thing I checked it. Thanks Tom.🙏👍👍🤜💥🤛
Thanks for Watching!
Good Video/Info. I also keep the burn pot cleaned out. Nobody ever really told me to do it, it just makes sense to keep the ash cleaned out.
Thanks for watching! Good call!
Great tips Tom. On shutdown after a higher heat cook, I always allow the temp to drop to 225 degrees and then initiate the shutdown sequence on my Grilla Grills Silverback.
Thanks for watching! Good to know, Thank you for sharing!
yup, found not really necessary to clean the burn pot each time, it gets a certain amount of ash buildup and then the rest gets blown out each time you start it up
Thanks for Watching Dave! Appreciate the feedback
Great video topic Tom!
I had an auger fire with my 7002C2E (my first and only). 100% operator error. I had dropped the temp to 225 preparing for shutdown. My wingman asked if he could shut it off, I said yes. I failed to tell him to just switch the control knob to shutdown sequence.
About 15 minutes later I still saw smoke coming from the stack. Shortly after, smoke started coming from the hopper. I knew right away what happened.
We dumped the hopper, got as much of the pellets out as we could see. To my surprise nothing in the hopper was even remotely warm. We turned the controller back on and held the feed button down until there were next to no pellets dropping out of the auger.
I will say that during this auger purge the auger got red hot. After about 10-15 minutes we turned everything off and all smoke, flame and heat stopped.
All in all, my fault for not telling my wingman how to turn it off.
1) So as Tom suggests, clean out the fire pot after every cook. Smoke Daddy has a nifty liner that fits in a standard fire pot that simply lifts out the ash and unburnt pellets. It looks like a good option to clear any pellets that still might be burning right after the shutdown.
2) I can't say this is a fact, but I've heard that the charcoal pellets can burn longer in the fire pot after the shutdown sequence, so a mix of these with regular pellets might be advisable.
Thanks for Watching Ted! Appreciate the feedback and real life experience..
Pit Boss advises not to unplug, so that the fan can do it's job
Thanks for Watching! Agreed, however there are that time when it’s just making the fire worse, in that case I’d unplug
Great job on the video Tom.
Thanks for Watching!
Great advise Tom. I have the SmokeFire so auger fires are not really a concern but I still make sure the burn pot is clean and the bottom of the inside is ash and grease free. It limits any down time due to not enough air flow in the burn pot and keeps gives any new grease a clear and easy path to go to the grease channels. Five minutes of maintenance can prevent an hour or more of down time.
Thanks for Watching Troy! Appreciate the feedback
Smokefire 2nd gen? The one in the video that has a protected feed to prevent backfires ??
Great advice, Tom, I keep mine clean and I’ve never had that issue! You mentioned Weber Smoke Fire, have you had one of those pellet grills….I’ve heard good and bad things but still like the looks of the Weber!!! Thanks!
Thanks for Watching Robert! Not yet!
Great helpful video.
For some reason, I am hearing a lot about hopper fires recently. I have never had one, but I do vacuum out my burn pot on my Davy Crockett after every use. One thing that concerns me on that pellet grill is the drip hole is very narrow and could easily clog up not allowing grease to drain into the grease bucket. I recently bought the ZGrills Cruiser after your positive review for my weekend home and started following ZGrills. They seem to be having a lot of hopper fires. A gentleman with ZGrills Australia has a very good video on how to use a pellet grill. He recommends not going straight to the shutdown mode when running hot, buy rather lower it to the minimum setting to let the fire in the burn pot calm down before putting it in the shutdown mode.
Anyway, there are a lot of grill owners who do not have a clue at how dangerous they can be from lack of cleaning; especially gas grills, but including pellet grills.
I have to add that I have never worried about a fire on my Weber charcoal grills, but had a huge one on my Weber Genesis 1000 with greasy burgers that was scary especially attached to a full propane bottle.
Thanks for Watching Rick! Appreciate the feedback and support
Well I had a fire the first time I used it, so it couldn't have been cleaner than that!
@@denisrusso8131pls elaborate. Im about to do the burn off on mine and im brand new to this.
Thank you for the content, I have kept my smoker from catching on fire by reducing oxygen from getting into the pellet hopper, by using heat resistant tape on the vents and the seams around the hopper. If there's no oxygen in the hopper, there is no way to catch it on fire and also keeping the dust from the pellets down and cleaning it before smoking.
Also, the important thing is if you have a fire in your hopper or auger is to unplug it this turns off the fan and then I cover all the vents to make sure there's no oxygen getting to the smoker at all! If you have a smoker that allows you to engage the auger to remove the pellets that are on fire do so before turning it off but turn the heat down so the fan is not on high. It's important to do this quickly so it doesn't spread throughout your hopper but by removing the oxygen and the heat this should slow down the burn, but everybody smokers is different.
Thanks for Watching Kelly! Good advice! Thanks
These grills should run better and not catch on fire.
Good video I just had this happen already with the lowes portable pit boss its the only one that I’ve had this issue with . I Will have switch to a hardwood quality pellet . Thanks for the good advice . I have two full size treagers the original and the 780 pro and have never had any issues with those. Because the hopper is bigger .
Thanks for Watching Chris! Appreciate the feedback
I have one of these too. Brand new out of the box it had a burn back into the auger and smoke out of the hopper. I sifted pellets cleaned it out and only use hardwood pellets. Thought it was a fluke. Second time I used it at a tailgate and it did the same thing. Honestly think it has a design flaw like described in the video the auger is way to close to the fire
Thanks for Watching Phillip! Sorry to hear that
I had an issue for the first time with my Austin XL pit boss, it keeps dropping temp after a couple of uses, I thought it was a thermometer issue, so I watched and watched come to find out the fire box not only needed to be cleaned out (which I clean my grill often) but the fire pot has rusted out several large holes and as I watched it, the augur was drawing in fire, causing the entire pellet box to smoke, and I could visibly see the flames dragging to the large rusted holes instead of up into the cooking chamber. Ordering a new fire pot this week. I love my pit boss, but I’m about ready to upgrade to a gravity fed charcoal or a true offset stick burner for bbq.
Thanks for watching! Good choice
Hey Tom! Great Info here for anyone with one of these Sawdust burners. I think we've all been there and had some sort of a backdraft fire into the auger
and hopper. Not good and a scary situation. Always have a Fire Extinguisher on hand. 🔥😁👍 Metal On! \🔥/
Thanks for Watching! Agreed! Heavy Metal!!!
I start clean every time with my Pitboss combo and tabletop Pitboss and still experience auger fires with the combo grill but not the smaller table top. I’m thinking of having a weld done to block the flames from backing up into the auger.
Thanks for Watching! Interesting….
maintenance? mine was on its third cook.
This is the 2nd or 3rd time i have had an auger fire and it is a traeger rengade. It works great on low temps not generating a lot of ash but this was smoking for 4 hrs and then turned it on high to cook scalloped potatoes. Ultimately it is a design flaw. I will try some of the tips you have recommended but unless i can modify the burn pot to be deeper im going to be in the same situation
Thanks for Watching! Good luck!
It's also a good practice to run your pellet grill from a dedicated power source. In hot weather sometimes people will run a fan from the same outlet, this can cause a faulty start-up procedure. During start-up the igniter can draw up to 700 to 800 watts of electricity.
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the feedback
My Pit Boss table top went on fire the first time I cooked a Ribeye. The fat never came out the spout. It settled in the troughs on the plates, and sat inside the trough that connects to the out spout. Anyone else have this problem?
I follow every precaution you listed and it happened to me due to a really bad designed Pit Boss Vertical. Caught a 60 hopper and burned for 1.5 days.
Thanks for Watching! Wow, a day and a half?
If you block your chimney or exhaust, you are guaranteed to have a fire burn back up your auger tube to the hopper.
Thanks for Watching Daniel! Agreed
People may close 3/4 the exhaust vents / stacks in hope of achieving a smokier flavor.
Thanks for watching Daniel!
Also watch out for a sawdust buildup in the hopper. This too can contribute to a back burn.
Thanks for Watching Dennis! You are correct! Honored to have the Smoke Daddy Himself commenting…Thank you!
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ I always enjoy watching your informative reviews and comments. Keep them coming
Thanks Dennis!
The gap between auger and firepot is of concern to me as I compare various designs. The largest gap that I have observed comes with the Kando Gear pellet grills. But they are pricey.
Thanks for watching Will! Good to know
My pit boss started smoking through pellets hopper last use full on smoke through the auger wat I read is if u run ur Pell grill hot before u turn off run on low temp like 220-250 burn all pellets out then turn off and that fixed my issue
Every time I run my two grills I learn somthing new
These machines are not for average consumer I’m alway touching mine
Thanks for Watching! Appreciate the feedback
Had first auger fire last night while cooking a chicken, I have a camp chef that allowed me to dump the hopper contents into a bucket and open that bottom of the fire pot. Was able to put it in Feed mode and push the fire out into a waiting water pan below,
Cleaning the Auger and Auger Tube this morning. Was surprised at the amount of soot and creosote built up over the years in the tube. Not something I would have thought of because the natural direction of everything in the smoker flows the other direction. Take time to clean this every now and then.
Thanks for Watching Doc! Good advice
Great video Tom. This is literally why I don't have a pellet grill. My grill area is more confined than yours and I don't have a handy place to keep a shop vac near the grills. I have a small one that I could bring out after every cook but that seems like more work than just using a charcoal grill.
Thanks for Watching!
By pit boss brunswick burns up into the auger during shutdown. The fist time it happened, It went back to the hopper. It holds 98 pounds of pellets and it has half full. 😐
Thanks for Watching! 98 pounds? Wow!
Camp Chef has a lever you pull to empty the burn pot
Thanks for watching David! Correct, as does the Recteq bullseye deluxe
Great video! Does anyone know which Models of Zgrills and smoke fire or just which pellet grills in general have the auger feeder PROTECTED from the firepot? These redesigns are something I’m interested in for sure. Looking to upgrade my ZG 550B2 which has the normal feeder to firepot and I am deathly scared of a backburn all the time :(
Thanks for watching, I Yoder has something you’re looking for.
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ on your video you mentioned and showed Zgrill and Smokefire.. do you know what ZG model it was? i can't find it.. based on my own research after watching this video i see memphis grill and smokefire as having protection. You mention Yoder so that's another.. I'm trying to find out what ZG model has it that you showed please if you remember
600 series from zgrills
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ Thank you!! I actually looked at all their models.. just not the 600. Funny how their top-end models don't have this design feature and the 600 does.. no wonder I didn't see it. I have the 500 and am looking to upgrade to something that has designed auger feed protection. Thank you!!
On my smoke, daddy.
I did have a hopper fire, but I learned when you are raising. The Temperature The auger speed increases as well, which the ash will rise up to the auger. And then get blow back into the hopper, which caused a hopper fire. I did some minor adjustments now. It's perfect. Great smoker for ribs and wings and so many other things. I probably smoke thirty racks of At a time.
Thanks for watching John! Appreciate the feedback
I like to open the lid from I shut it down to have it draw up.
Thanks for Watching Paul! Great idea! Thanks for sharing
This is all strange to me, about cleaning out burn pots....with a shop vac? I own a Camp Chef DLX24, at the end of the smoker there is a knob attached to a rod you pull, the bottom of the burn pot slides away, and the ashes fall into the removable cup underneath. Easy. My neighbor is always boasting about his Traeger but I was surprised it doesn't have this convenient feature. I assume all pellet grills have the shutdown feature where all pellets in the pot are burned to ash, so when fresh pellets are fed in at the next startup you don't overfill and start an auger fire.
Thanks for Watching Edgar, appreciate the feedback, had a Camp Chef Woodwind years ago, with the same feature it is convenient when it works, the heat from the fire sometime warps it causing it to be difficult to slide in and out. Heard that they redesigned that feature. Hopefully it work better now. Also I found that the fan did blow a fair amount of ash out of the fire pot meaning it still needed to vacuumed out.
Good morning. Maybe 30 cooks in, no problem with warping with burn pot slide, crossing my fingers. You are right about the fan and having to vacuum ash often, not sure that the ash causes a major problem but I do it.
Which pellets are hardwood and which are not? I like lumberjack and Bear Mountain.
Thanks for Watching Paul! The manufacturer should state that on the bag or their website. In the past some pellet manufacturers used poplar and then an oil to flavor their pellets
You should be safe with either one of those high-quality brands.
mine was smoking through the hopper I ordered a new burn pot because it's getting big holes. Could that have caused my smoke?
Thanks for Watching! The holes in the side of the burn pot blow air in to keep the fire burning
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ ok. because I have extra holes now (rust-through)
Never had a fire with my recteq RT-700
Thanks for watching Jeff!
The design of the firebox and the auger exit not having a shield preventing direct flame impingement on the pellets in the tube is the problem, plus the firebox should be designed where the pellets run down a slide so the pellets fall further away from the auger ,
You even show some great designs where the auger tube is shielded with metal so there is no direct flame impingement plus the pellets fall away further from the exit towards the igniter, EVERY pellet grill fire box should be designed like that.
Thanks for Watching Norman! I agree
Sive the pellets before use to remove excess pellet dust.
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the feedback
Great Idea!! My feeling is that the dust is one of the biggest contributors to auger burn back!! (Right behind lack of firepot maintenance!!)
never had a problem, I clean 3 times a year and I smoke a lot. Maybe I am lazy.
Thanks for Watching! Wow! Only 3 times a year and you smoke allot! That’s impressive!
one year old first smoker and I have been playing Russian Roulette with all the wrong decisions.......🤔😱
Thanks for watching
Bought a portable pellet grill , first time using it after the initial seasoning and had a burn back , you only explain on cleaning it and then went onto the other grills , you didnt explain ways to not get a burn back
Thanks for watching Steve keeping the burn pot clean is one of the ways. I would also recommend when finished cooking to turn the temp down to 200 for while so when you shut down the burn pot isn’t burning really hot
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ I'll just fabricate a new burn pot that isn't close to the auger
Weber with a vortex period........
Thanks for Watching!
It's dumb that only one maker has made it easy to clean out the burn pot which is the camp chef. I'd like to see a fire pot that is actually a removable bump under the whole pit.
Thanks for Watching! Have you seen the new Recteq Bullseye deluxe?
@@TomHorsmanAmateurBBQ I haven't. I need much more size than the bullseye offers unfortunately. I hope they continue to improve their other larger grills since they're getting a bit outdated now.
Size???? ua-cam.com/video/nR6EtGH_NDI/v-deo.html
If you had saved the money from all those grills you may have been able to put a kid through college
Thanks for Watching