Back Burn Poll...

[chef jimmyj]

Im researching Pellet Grills and am wondering if Clogged Augers and/or Back Burn is anything to be concerned about?...JJ

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

I haven’t had anything yet, but if I could do it again I would have bought the OK Joe Bronco over my GMG. Two different techniques, but technology and smoking don’t mix.

 

[Chasdev]

Perhaps keeping my pellets in air tight containers and making sure all pellets are gone from the auger after cooking has kept my CampChef 24 from having issues, but in any case, no problems so far.

 

[2Mac]

My back burn was my own fault. I got lazy and didn’t vacuum out the dust and let it build up. Good luck in your search.

 

[ravenclan]

I have a PitBoss 700FB and have never had either of these issue's but I do try and keep the dust cleaned out especially after a long cook.

 

[smokerjim]

I have a pitboss 1000t2, didn't have any problems yet I do vacuum out after a few cooks.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I have the Pitboss 1150 and haven't had those problems. I can pop my fire pot out easily though.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Interesting post JJ asking of important info.

Warren

 

[noboundaries]

technology and smoking don’t mix.

Wise words...also fight'n words.

Ashley is my ringside seat date!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Any pellet machine that augers the pellets directly into the fire pot has a chance of back burn. That’s part of why I bought the Yoder, pellets are augered above the pot and gravity fall into the pot.
That said, I ran my GMG hard for 6 or so years before acquiring the Yoder and towards the end of that run I had back burn. Lots of black pellets in the hopper. After investigating I found that there is a fan covered by a screen in the pellet box that is designed to maintain positive air pressure in the box pushing along the auger to stop back burn. Well after 6 or 7 years and untold tons of pellets had clogged the screen and was blocking the air from the fan. I tore it apart and replaced the screen and has run perfect since. I don’t use it often but when I have a wedding or event to cook for I fire it up for long cooks and no burn back now at all.

 

[Apparition]

No issues with the MAK 2 Star so far.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Thank you everyone for your contribution. It looks like 1 in 5 Pellet grill owners have experienced Auger Clogging or Back Burn.
It would seem removing the Dust and Fines from Pellets, along with periodic Auger Cleaning can reduce this occurance to become insignificant.
Back Burn seems to be Luck Of the Draw as to how often the Fan that pressurizes the Auger Tube fails. Is there any other cause of Back Burn? Is it always a recoverable situation?..JJ

 

[chopsaw]

I went with the Weber pellet grill because of the drop auger .
I did have one problem with it , and if I didn't completely cause it I helped it happen for sure .
I had the burn pot overflow on mine . Kind of a long story , but it involves a dummy , bottom of the bag dust , cold meat and increasing the heat all at the same time .

This is the only pellet grill I've been around , but I'm thinking at least some of the issues with them are self inflicted .

That being said I was surprised how good the food is . Great clean smoke flavor and tender .

 

[SmokinEdge]

I went with the Weber pellet grill because of the drop auger .
I did have one problem with it , and if I didn't completely cause it I helped it happen for sure .
I had the burn pot overflow on mine . Kind of a long story , but it involves a dummy , bottom of the bag dust , cold meat and increasing the heat all at the same time .

This is the only pellet grill I've been around , but I'm thinking at least some of the issues with them are self inflicted .

That being said I was surprised how good the food is . Great clean smoke flavor and tender .

My Yoder started overflowing the fire pot a couple years ago. It happened always when I was smoking under 200* it drove me nuts trying to figure out why. Turned out that the control board on these machines needs to be reset after every cook by unplugging the machine. I started doing that and the machine has ran flawlessly since.

 

[Winterrider]

RT 590, no issues thus far
I do vacuum out after every 3rd cook. Have never emptied hopper or cleaned auger, probably not a dump idea occasionally.

 

[chopsaw]

smoking under 200*

Yeah , I'm still in the learning phase . I did a couple things wrong . One was the cook before I started it in smoke boost . No trouble that time , but you're supposed to get it heated up , then start the smoke boost setting .

The time it overflowed , I had it set to 250 . As soon as I got the alert that it was to temp I went out and put a cold mass of meat right next to the thermocouple , and also turned the heat setting to 300 . I also dumped the last of a bag of pellets that had a bunch of dust in it , in a low volume hopper .
The smoker , sensing a really low temp started dropping pellets . Dust was snuffing out the fire .
To make things even worse , I had it at the top of my driveway just inside the garage . To further add to it , I didn't have enough cord to move it away fro the house . So I had to unplug it . So the list of my mistakes was long . I'm not usually that stupid ,
but I really like this smoker / grill . Most people bought into the bad reviews of the Gen 1 , but there is a good idea here . I have several cooks / smokes on it and have all gone smooth with fantastic results .

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yeah , I'm still in the learning phase . I did a couple things wrong . One was the cook before I started it in smoke boost . No trouble that time , but you're supposed to get it heated up , then start the smoke boost setting .

The time it overflowed , I had it set to 250 . As soon as I got the alert that it was to temp I went out and put a cold mass of meat right next to the thermocouple , and also turned the heat setting to 300 . I also dumped the last of a bag of pellets that had a bunch of dust in it , in a low volume hopper .
The smoker , sensing a really low temp started dropping pellets . Dust was snuffing out the fire .
To make things even worse , I had it at the top of my driveway just inside the garage . To further add to it , I didn't have enough cord to move it away fro the house . So I had to unplug it . So the list of my mistakes was long . I'm not usually that stupid ,
but I really like this smoker / grill . Most people bought into the bad reviews of the Gen 1 , but there is a good idea here . I have several cooks / smokes on it and have all gone smooth with fantastic results .

Wish I could have seen all that in High Def.
Yeah the learning curve is shorter with the pellet machines, they really are useful. I still use the kettle and offset, but the pellets are convenient.

 

[mike243]

Neither problem here and its been 3.5 years so far, used it yesterday for some country style ribs . going to name her Timex I think

 

[garyinmd]

I have had my Treager for4-5 years, only had one burnback and it went out one time. I learned the hard way not to shut it down and start it back up, should have payed attention to the instructions. Dont know why but it went out again yesterday while runnung setpoint at 275, the meat was about done so just finished in the oven.

 

[chopsaw]

Wish I could have seen all that in High Def.

Like I said above , my fault .

Yeah the learning curve is shorter with the pellet machines,

I'm talking about operation . Knowing how it cooks tells it's own story after a couple uses . Makes some really great food . I have brisket on now .
I'm almost bored .