Fed up with stuck auger/startup issues

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bdawg

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
★ Lifetime Premier ★
Dec 30, 2011
303
145
Riverview, FL
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).
 
Get you one of the 5 gallon bucket vacuums they have at places like Home Depot. They don‘t cost much at all, and you can suck the pellets right out, and you have a place to store the pellets.

Congrats on the new Rec Teq. They make a good product.
 
Last edited:
The condition of your pellets has a lot to do with feeding or not.
They should be stored in air tight containers and if possible in a climate controlled environment.
If your next pellet rig also experiences problems with pellet pushing, try some new crispy pellets.
 
Thanks.
I use Lumberhack pellets, so i know they are decent.
The dedicated shop vac is a good idea.

I ordered the new 700, so it should be here soon. I'm really looking forward to using it.
 
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