Burn back in hopper, best way to deal with it?

[O C]

Did some pizza tonight at 450, turned temps down and went inside. Went out and I have fire in the hopper. Whats the best way to deal with that? not had this happen any time before...

 

[SmokinEdge]

Did some pizza tonight at 450, turned temps down and went inside. Went out and I have fire in the hopper. Whats the best way to deal with that? not had this happen any time before...

Do you have a fan inside the hopper to push air through the auger?

 

[O C]

Don't have a fan in the hopper. I closed everything up and it seemed to go out fairly quickly. Still pellets in the hopper. Will take a closer look and clean things up later today.
The pizzas turned out great though!

 

[Brokenhandle]

Can't help ya with fire issues but could sure help with those pizzas... look great!

Ryan

 

[sandyut]

Good lookin pie!

After a high heat run on the pellet grill, I think its a safe play to turn it way down like to 200 and even throw the lid open a few and get the whole thing down to a low temp, then do the shut down.

what cooker did this happen with?

 

[O C]

Recteq Deck Boss 590. I turned it down to 250 when I took the pizzas off. I did pizzas once before with no issues. Have also seen suggestion to drop it more slowly from a high temp, i.e. 450 to 400, then 350 then 250. When I took the pizzas off, set point was 450 but temp had dropped to 419, so maybe it had been running in more pellets but dropping it to 250 simply shut the fan off allowing the pellets in the pot more time to smolder into the auger?
In any case, I just cleaned out the hopper and auger, it looks like the fire didn't quite get into the hopper but it sure was smokin'...

 

[Randy1]

OJ's Rider DLX and other newer pellet grills have a shutdown mode. You press the shutdown button then drain the hopper. The controller then turns the temperature up then runs long enough to empty the auger tube of pellets then automatically shuts off.

Downside you have to wait for the auger to refill on the next grilling sessson but helps with other issues.

 

[civilsmoker]

Just as a mater of practice, I always run my RT at 265 for 20 to 30 mins after a long 225 or lower smoke or for a smoke above 375, if above 375 I also open the lid after it’s turned off for 20-30 mins to let it cool and to keep the draft up and not back into the auger…..

 

[cptnding]

Might want to get in touch with Rectec and see what their suggested shut down procedure is. That shouldn't happen at any temp. I've always heard Rectec's customer service is top notch.
I've had a Yoder pellet smoker for a while now and the instructions for it were specific to say always leave the lid closed during shut down to prevent burn back.
Sure hope your Rectec didn't suffer any damage.