I've had a Pitboss for a few years. It has gotten stuck on me about 5 times over the last year. The first time, it was because I
left the pellets in the hopper/auger and the humidity/wet weather here in WA made them stick.
In order to combat that, I completely empty the hopper and let the auger burn out everything before shutting it down, and always emptying the burn pot of ash on every cook.
This has worked up until the last 2 smokes. This last time, I was about to make some jerky and was bringing the temp down to smoking temp (180 from startup 350)
when it got stuck and wouldn't push any pellets any more. Another bad thing it also has a habit of not lighting (like the other thread here). I would keep the heat deflector and grates
completely off until I see pellets dropping into the burn pot, and then I'd add a small handful and light it with a propane torch, then race to put the thing back together
without burning my hands or coughing to death.
I'm done.
Looking at the RecTeq 700. My buddy has a 680 and loves his. He's never had any of the problems I've had and he leaves the pellets in his always.
The ONLY thing I know I will miss for sure is going to be the ability to empty the hopper (so I can use different pellets).
left the pellets in the hopper/auger and the humidity/wet weather here in WA made them stick.
In order to combat that, I completely empty the hopper and let the auger burn out everything before shutting it down, and always emptying the burn pot of ash on every cook.
This has worked up until the last 2 smokes. This last time, I was about to make some jerky and was bringing the temp down to smoking temp (180 from startup 350)
when it got stuck and wouldn't push any pellets any more. Another bad thing it also has a habit of not lighting (like the other thread here). I would keep the heat deflector and grates
completely off until I see pellets dropping into the burn pot, and then I'd add a small handful and light it with a propane torch, then race to put the thing back together
without burning my hands or coughing to death.
I'm done.
Looking at the RecTeq 700. My buddy has a 680 and loves his. He's never had any of the problems I've had and he leaves the pellets in his always.
The ONLY thing I know I will miss for sure is going to be the ability to empty the hopper (so I can use different pellets).
