Fire in Camp Chef auger

[MechE31]

I've been a lurker here for a while, but this is my first post.

I've had a Camp Chef SmokePro SE for about 3 months and put about 80 lbs of pellets through it over many cooks without much issue (aside from 1 flame out on a windy day).

Today, I finished a cook at 350, set it to shut down and walked away. About 5 minutes later, I noticed a lot of smoke coming through pellet hopper. After some investigating, I determined that the fire had traveled into the auger. I initially tried to feed the pellets, but the fan was stoking the fire.

I turned it off, the smoke stopped pretty quickly and I let it sit. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I took the grates and deflector. I fed pellets and confirmed there were burnt pellets in the auger. It started back up fine and appeared to function normally.

Any ideas on what happened/how to prevent it? Is there a concern of permanent damage?

 

[daveomak]

The fire had died down in the pellet burn pot, while the pellets kept feeding.. finally burned up the pile to the auger tube... I've had that in my pellet stove using krappy pellets... Just happened 3 days ago..... The supply of good pellets was out and I had to buy the cheap krap.... Clean all the tars and unburned stuff from the pellet tube... make sure it's slick clean so you don't get any "hang ups"... Maybe even store your pellets where it is warm and dry... Empty the pellet hopper so you don't have damp pellets waiting to cook your food.... A few % points of moisture in the pellets can delay their ignition where a problem can arise....
Sounds like you were operating the smoker on a low heat also... When operating at the "low" end of the temperature range of the unit, ANY imperfection in fuel or operation can cause a problem... wind gusts, high humidity, long, really long pellets causing a jam in the auger feed....
When I had my jam up the other day, the pellets piled up in the burn pit until it reached the pellet tube and continued to burn up into the tube.... I "thought" I cleaned everything out... Fired it up and noticed pellets were "jumping" over the pellets burn pit and into the stove itself... Cleaned out the pile of pellets in front of the burn pit.... The pile returned.... Come to find out, by looking CLOSELY at the pellet tube, there was a ridge of "pitch and tars" on the extreme lower end of the tube where the pellets had piled up.... As the pellets slid down the tube, they took off like they were on a ski jump ramp and ended up inside the stove and totally missed the burn pot... Hell, I had pellets burning everywhere.....
I know that has nothing to do with your pellet smoker ... BUT... the point is.... check EVERYTHING... and learn from it...

 

[bregent]

>The fire had died down in the pellet burn pot, while the pellets kept feeding.

That doesn't sound like it. When running in shut down mode, the auger stops immediately, and only the fan runs to ensure all pellets are completely burned.

To the OP, did you happen to have the hopper lid open? Check the fan and make sure it is pushing enough air to the fire pot.

 

[daveomak]

Did you look inside at the pellet pot at any time prior to you doing the shut down mode ????
Maybe what I described had already happened... That's the only way for the pellets to burn up into the auger tube...

 

[MechE31]

Pellets are pit boss brand, the only ones locally available at a decent price.

There was adequate airflow from the fan when I had it apart.

I did open the hopper lid briefly before starting the shut down. I was trying to finish the pellets in the hopper so I was forcing them to the auger. The hopper was essentially empty when the fire started.

I did note that after there were unburned pellets in the pot after shutting down from the short verification smoke post fire, which was roughly 10 minutes after start up finished. I've never noticed that on any previous smoke, it's just been Ash. I wonder if the auger is continuing to run after shutdown? I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[ross77]

Why were you trying to finish the pellets in the hopper by forcing them to the auger? I leave mine in until the next cook.

 

[MechE31]

I wanted to change pellet flavor for my next smoke. The SE doesn't have a pellet dump and a significant amount get trapped on the ramp and flat area.

 

[ross77]

Get a small plastic scoop.

 

[markh024]

I wanted to change pellet flavor for my next smoke. The SE doesn't have a pellet dump and a significant amount get trapped on the ramp and flat area.

As a fellow Camp Chef owner, I have to say this is the one thing that erks me. Their hopper needs to be redesigned for this very reason. I use a kabob skewer to push them around when it gets low. I'll probably just end up taking off the grate inside it though. Other than that, I love the grill.

 

[daveomak]

Take pictures of the pellets... If there are extra long pellets in the mix, long pellets will "bridge" and stop the pellet feed cycle... That will cause problems...

 

[gmc2003]

Can you dry cycle your auger to get the pellet's out? Granted not a cook stove, but on my heating pellet stove I can cycle my auger to get any pellets out without turning the igniter on. Pellet just drop harmlessly to the cool burn pot.

Chris

 

[markh024]

Yes GMC, it has a "FEED" option. used on initial filling of pellets or if you need to clear the auger.