Help this happened twice yesterday

[Geneds]

Pit boss classic. Haven't had it long . Yesterday I tried to smoke a full packer and the pot over filled twice. This is my first pellet grill and will be disappointed if this a norm .

 

[TNJAKE]

I have an Austin xl. I had that happen once almost 4yr ago. It's not normal no but it does happen for a couple reasons. One maybe the ash pot was full of ash before you fired it up. Two you could have a controller issue that is causing it to continue to feed pellets. Three you might not be starting the grill and shutting it down properly. And four which was my issue.......sometimes it just happens lol. If it's a common problem though then it's a problem. Give pitboss a call. Their customer service and 5yr warranty is awesome

 

[JWFokker]

As mentioned make sure the ash is cleaned out of the firepot, start up with the cook chamber open, set it to 300-350F, close when the first cloud of smoke dissipates, allow to preheat for 15 min before turning down to whatever temp you normally smoke at. If you're going really low, drop the temp in two steps rather than jumping from 300+ to 200F or lower. Check the p-setting to make sure the feed rate isn't too fast or too slow.

How long had the cooker been running when it malfunctioned? Did this happen in the middle or soon after startup?

 

[dkoiro]

This happens to me too. Invariably, it's sometime between 2am and 4am in an overnight smoke, so I can't rely upon the smoker for overnights anymore.

Last night, it happened after burning well for 4 hours, kept running for another 3 hours (maybe), I woke up and found the smoker temp at 75F. Something told me I should have popped my turkey in my electric for the overnight, but it at least hit 167 internal at around 2am.

Next step for me is to find a 2-port wireless thermometer that alarms at low temp, not just high temp like the one I have now. I'll call PB myself, but if it's running smooth for 6 hours, what are they going to say?

 

[RCAlan]

This happens to me too. Invariably, it's sometime between 2am and 4am in an overnight smoke, so I can't rely upon the smoker for overnights anymore.

Last night, it happened after burning well for 4 hours, kept running for another 3 hours (maybe), I woke up and found the smoker temp at 75F. Something told me I should have popped my turkey in my electric for the overnight, but it at least hit 167 internal at around 2am.

Next step for me is to find a 2-port wireless thermometer that alarms at low temp, not just high temp like the one I have now. I'll call PB myself, but if it's running smooth for 6 hours, what are they going to say?

I have 2 questions that should be helpful in figuring out why your Pit Boss Classic had a flame out.

1. Did you clean the burn pot out completely of pellet ash before you started your cook?
2. What was your grills set temp at the time of the flame out?

Lastly, how did you start up your grill? What steps did you do? I’m pretty sure, if you call Pit Bosses customer service for assistance, they’ll ask you the very same questions.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[dkoiro]

1. Did you clean the burn pot out completely of pellet ash before you started your cook?
2. What was your grills set temp at the time of the flame out?

Lastly, how did you start up your grill? What steps did you do? I’m pretty sure, if you call Pit Bosses customer service for assistance, they’ll ask you the very same questions.

1. yes (and it ran for 4 hours without issue before the fail)
2. 200F

I start the grill with the sear shield closed, lid open, set the grill to "smoke", and wait for the smoke to kick up, then I set temp at 350 and shut the lid. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get up to 350, then I'll pop in the goods and this time I dropped the temp to Smoke for a couple hours. I have the stack open 1/2"-3/4", I don't mess with it (almost never). Ran temp up to 200 after those couple hours and left it there all night.

 

[RCAlan]

1. yes (and it ran for 4 hours without issue before the fail)
2. 200F

I start the grill with the sear shield closed, lid open, set the grill to "smoke", and wait for the smoke to kick up, then I set temp at 350 and shut the lid. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get up to 350, then I'll pop in the goods and this time I dropped the temp to Smoke for a couple hours. I have the stack open 1/2"-3/4", I don't mess with it (almost never). Ran temp up to 200 after those couple hours and left it there all night.

During your start up, allow your grill to preheat for at least 15-20mins and then drop the temp down. When going from 350* degrees, on down to 200* degrees or even lower to Smoke mode, allow a step down in temperature adjustment, like 250* to be set. Allow your grills controller to settle and stabilize their for 10-15 mins and then you should be able to set the controllers temp to 200* degrees or Smoke mode. I think your grills flame out began when you dropped the temp from 350* degrees, on down to Smoke mode in one temperature change… That and or it could be just a bad bag of pellets…. On your next bbq, try a different bag or even brand of pellets and also be careful when dropping your grills temp that much at one time. If the flameout issue still occurs after trying those tips, then it must be the something going on with your grills controller. If that’s the case, You should reach out to PB Customer Service and see if they are still offering the updated controller for your grill that has WiFi. It was a Non PID Controller upgrade that had a lot of the bugs from the previous generation controller corrected as well as WiFi, or if possible, upgrade to a PID Controller. SmokeDaddyinc has a very nice PID Controller for your grill. I completely understand your frustration…. Good luck and I hope everything gets figured out.

__________________

Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[JWFokker]

This happens to me too. Invariably, it's sometime between 2am and 4am in an overnight smoke, so I can't rely upon the smoker for overnights anymore.

Last night, it happened after burning well for 4 hours, kept running for another 3 hours (maybe), I woke up and found the smoker temp at 75F. Something told me I should have popped my turkey in my electric for the overnight, but it at least hit 167 internal at around 2am.

Next step for me is to find a 2-port wireless thermometer that alarms at low temp, not just high temp like the one I have now. I'll call PB myself, but if it's running smooth for 6 hours, what are they going to say?

What model do you have? I wouldn't trust any pellet burner with a outdated timer based controller to run that low for an overnight smoke, but if you have a newer PID controller that's a different story.