camp chef woodwind constant flame outs

[dethpuck]

I have a camp chef woodwind. Actually my second. My first flamed out and then caught fire. camp chef sent me a whole new grill. I am using traeger pellets, and I get wild temp swings 50 plus even up to 80 degrees. Camp chef sent me a new probe, and still seems like its fluctuating a lot. I put another email into them. I've had it for a year, and almost every long cook flames out. Temp swings start normal, then it gets out of whack, and flames out usually about 3-4 hours into the cook. The only good thing is the fire pot clean out allows for a quick restart once you dump all of the un burnt pellets.

I usually watch the grill like a hawk, so i can catch it when it flames out, and keep going.

hoping that camp chef can solve the problem.

I had a traeger for a few years before the camp chef, worked fine for a few years, then got tied of problems with it not starting etc.

Thinking of going back to traeger for the new 575 pro with the D2 drive.

Love pellet grills when they work.

 

[mike243]

I think I would plug a new control in it,there are several top rated ones out there and most are plug and play,

 

[chef jimmyj]

I'm not sure what a flame out is. Does it not recognize the temp drop and feed more pellets, so the fire burns out?...JJ

 

[dethpuck]

I think I would plug a new control in it,there are several top rated ones out there and most are plug and play,

That’s what I am thinking I need to do. Should I try to get camp chef to replace it or get a different controller? Any recommendations on after market parts

 

[dethpuck]

I'm not sure what a flame out is. Does it not recognize the temp drop and feed more pellets, so the fire burns out?...JJ

Exactly the fire burns out and then the grill overcompensates. It’s how my first caught fire. Camp chef said it was a pellet bridge. I vac now before every cook.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I would think wonky controller over the temp sensor...JJ

 

[dethpuck]

Yep hoping they will send out a new controller when I give them a call Monday

 

[dethpuck]

had another flame out today 5 hours into ribs. . I would definitely not recommend this grill.

 

[dubob]

I also have a Woodwind - SG w/ Sear Box - and have not had a single flame out on mine. I do have an ash problem build up in the barrel and discovered a warped ash clean out plate (slides over to drop the ash into the collection cup under the barrel). The warped plate was letting the flame/gases escape on the hopper side of the auger tube bottom and pulling the ash out of the burn pot into the barrel. Got the replacement last Friday (along with a new burn pot) and will replace both today. The customer service folks at CC have been great to work with figuring out what the problem might be. I'm still recommending the Woodwind myself, but fully understand why you won't. Sorry for your having to deal with a very bad situation.

 

[bregent]

had another flame out today 5 hours into ribs. . I would definitely not recommend this grill.

I don't know how common this is, but you're certainly not alone. I had the same issue with my DLX. Temperature swings that got increasingly large as the cook progressed, ultimately ending in a flameout. Tried everything that CC suggested including replacing the controller, probe and pellets they sent to me. Their customer service was great, but in the end they could not resolve the issue and I wound up sending it back. I know of a few other folks with the same problem. The only thing I can think of is that it's an airflow problem. Question - did you install a door gasket on yours?

 

[dethpuck]

I don't know how common this is, but you're certainly not alone. I had the same issue with my DLX. Temperature swings that got increasingly large as the cook progressed, ultimately ending in a flameout. Tried everything that CC suggested including replacing the controller, probe and pellets they sent to me. Their customer service was great, but in the end they could not resolve the issue and I wound up sending it back. I know of a few other folks with the same problem. The only thing I can think of is that it's an airflow problem. Question - did you install a door gasket on yours?

No gasket install for me. Called CC and they are sending a new controller and a burn cup. Service employee was great. Hope this fixes it. The wife is not too keen on getting another grill.

 

[dubob]

I just replaced the burn pot on my Woodwind yesterday. The instructions were straight forward and seemed simple enough - wrong. You will need to remove the heating element from the old burn pot. To do this, you need to loosen the one screw that holds it in place. The problem was that the original burn pot had the screw on the bottom of the tube the heating element rod fits into. The 2 wires feeding into the heating element were snaked through the auger tube housing and hopper case in such a way that they prevented the old burn pot from being removed far enough to allow it to be rotated 180 degrees so that I could get a screw driver to it. I had to completely empty the hopper and then completely remove the hopper so I could remove the bottom plate on the hopper and then disconnect the heating element wire connector so I could snake the wires far enough into the auger tube to remove the old burn pot far enough to turn it and loosen the screw.

Now, when I tried to put the new burn pot into the auger tube, I could not get the heating element rod to go far enough into the burn pot tube so that it extended a little bit out of the burn pot tube and into the burn pot to contact the pellets. There was just enough soot build up on the element rod that I couldn't apply enough pressure to insert it far enough to extend out the other end. I had to completely remove the heating element and wires from the auger tube so I could get enough grip on the rod to force it through the new burn pot tube far enough. The screw on the new burn pot heating element tube is on the side of the tube which makes it easier to get to, but would have been better if it were on top IMHO.

As I was about to snake the heating element wires back through the auger tube, one of the wires came loose from the crimp holding it to the heating element which is covered with a heat resistant sleeve of some sort. I removed that outer sleeve and re-inserted the loose wire back into the crimp as best I could and pinched it hard to secure it and pushed the outer sleeve back over the crimp. Then I was able to snake the wire back to the connector and attach it, install the new burn pot, re-install the hopper, fill the hopper, put all the removed grills and diffuser plates back into the unit, and fire test it. WHEW! Done; and it actually worked - thank goodness.

I hope your replacement process goes a lot easier than mine.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I just replaced the burn pot on my Woodwind yesterday. The instructions were straight forward and seemed simple enough - wrong. You will need to remove the heating element from the old burn pot. To do this, you need to loosen the one screw that holds it in place. The problem was that the original burn pot had the screw on the bottom of the tube the heating element rod fits into. The 2 wires feeding into the heating element were snaked through the auger tube housing and hopper case in such a way that they prevented the old burn pot from being removed far enough to allow it to be rotated 180 degrees so that I could get a screw driver to it. I had to completely empty the hopper and then completely remove the hopper so I could remove the bottom plate on the hopper and then disconnect the heating element wire connector so I could snake the wires far enough into the auger tube to remove the old burn pot far enough to turn it and loosen the screw.

Now, when I tried to put the new burn pot into the auger tube, I could not get the heating element rod to go far enough into the burn pot tube so that it extended a little bit out of the burn pot tube and into the burn pot to contact the pellets. There was just enough soot build up on the element rod that I couldn't apply enough pressure to insert it far enough to extend out the other end. I had to completely remove the heating element and wires from the auger tube so I could get enough grip on the rod to force it through the new burn pot tube far enough. The screw on the new burn pot heating element tube is on the side of the tube which makes it easier to get to, but would have been better if it were on top IMHO.

As I was about to snake the heating element wires back through the auger tube, one of the wires came loose from the crimp holding it to the heating element which is covered with a heat resistant sleeve of some sort. I removed that outer sleeve and re-inserted the loose wire back into the crimp as best I could and pinched it hard to secure it and pushed the outer sleeve back over the crimp. Then I was able to snake the wire back to the connector and attach it, install the new burn pot, re-install the hopper, fill the hopper, put all the removed grills and diffuser plates back into the unit, and fire test it. WHEW! Done; and it actually worked - thank goodness.

I hope your replacement process goes a lot easier than mine.

You may have said previously and if I missed it, I apologize.

But why was it necessary to replace your burn pot?

 

[dethpuck]

I just replaced the burn pot on my Woodwind yesterday. The instructions were straight forward and seemed simple enough - wrong. You will need to remove the heating element from the old burn pot. To do this, you need to loosen the one screw that holds it in place. The problem was that the original burn pot had the screw on the bottom of the tube the heating element rod fits into. The 2 wires feeding into the heating element were snaked through the auger tube housing and hopper case in such a way that they prevented the old burn pot from being removed far enough to allow it to be rotated 180 degrees so that I could get a screw driver to it. I had to completely empty the hopper and then completely remove the hopper so I could remove the bottom plate on the hopper and then disconnect the heating element wire connector so I could snake the wires far enough into the auger tube to remove the old burn pot far enough to turn it and loosen the screw.

Now, when I tried to put the new burn pot into the auger tube, I could not get the heating element rod to go far enough into the burn pot tube so that it extended a little bit out of the burn pot tube and into the burn pot to contact the pellets. There was just enough soot build up on the element rod that I couldn't apply enough pressure to insert it far enough to extend out the other end. I had to completely remove the heating element and wires from the auger tube so I could get enough grip on the rod to force it through the new burn pot tube far enough. The screw on the new burn pot heating element tube is on the side of the tube which makes it easier to get to, but would have been better if it were on top IMHO.

As I was about to snake the heating element wires back through the auger tube, one of the wires came loose from the crimp holding it to the heating element which is covered with a heat resistant sleeve of some sort. I removed that outer sleeve and re-inserted the loose wire back into the crimp as best I could and pinched it hard to secure it and pushed the outer sleeve back over the crimp. Then I was able to snake the wire back to the connector and attach it, install the new burn pot, re-install the hopper, fill the hopper, put all the removed grills and diffuser plates back into the unit, and fire test it. WHEW! Done; and it actually worked - thank goodness.

I hope your replacement process goes a lot easier than mine.

Yikes. I’m not great with tools. I hope I don’t break mine fixing it.

 

[dethpuck]

You may have said previously and if I missed it, I apologize.

But why was it necessary to replace your burn pot?

Camp chef support said there could be an air leak. Since I’m getting both parts I may just replace the controller first run it and do the burn cup if there are issues still.

 

[dubob]

You may have said previously and if I missed it, I apologize.

But why was it necessary to replace your burn pot?

I sent them a picture of the gap between the burn pot and the edge of the auger tube and asked them if they thought the gap was excessive. They didn't say yes or no but did say they would send me a replacement. So I installed it.

You will also notice in the picture above some black bumps on the flat surface just to the right of the round burn pot. That was caused by the ash dump plate being warped and allowing hot gas and ash to be drawn out of the burn pot and leaving all my ash in the cooker barrel instead of in the burn pot. They also sent me a replacement ash dump plate. I'm hoping that the excessive ash problem will be eliminated from replacing both of these parts. There was little, if any, ash in the dump cup when emptying after each cook. About 99.5% of the ash was in the barrel. Not supposed to be that way on a Camp Chef pellet grill according to their advertising.

 

[bregent]

About 99.5% of the ash was in the barrel. Not supposed to be that way on a Camp Chef pellet grill according to their advertising.

Most of the ash gets blown out of the cup into the barrel on every pellet cooker I've ever seen. My CampChef only had a few teaspoons of ash in the cup after each cook, which made the ash dump kinda useless.

 

[dubob]

Most of the ash gets blown out of the cup into the barrel on every pellet cooker I've ever seen. My CampChef only had a few teaspoons of ash in the cup after each cook, which made the ash dump kinda useless.

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking the same thing. It looks good on paper, but in the real world it doesn't work like that. I'm disappointed that it doesn't work like they say, but I'm happy with the cooks so far.

 

[dethpuck]

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking the same thing. It looks good on paper, but in the real world it doesn't work like that. I'm disappointed that it doesn't work like they say, but I'm happy with the cooks so far. [/QUOTE

My ash clean out has mostly been used to confirm that I had a flame out and to restart the grill without taking it apart. Hope my issues sort themselves out soon. Seems like every pellet grill has its quirks.

 

[dethpuck]

well got my replacement parts from camp chef. They sent two controllers and one burn cup. I looked at both controllers, and they each had two prob temps slots. One of them had orange lettering for the direct flame model. My current one only has one probe slot and looking it over it said DLX on it. Sounds like ones that were giving problems from some other posts.


hooked up what looked like the newest with the orange letters, nothing happened. hooked up the second and it worked. put the grill at 350 and let it flame up it temped up to 356, and then started its cycle. I let it run for a bit, and it started at 356 and then went from 339-361. looks good to me.

The other day i after i changed the thermometer, the grilll shot up to 400 and was all over the place.

Fingers crossed that I might be good now. Doing some beef ribs this weekend