If your smoking today...check the ash build up.

[schlotz]

Hadn't smoked since early July. Surely I could get at least one more smoke in before getting the ash vac out. Smoker fired up so on went the ribs for dinner. Half hour later I go an check and the temp was only 145º. Shut it down, pulled everything out and sure enough the pot had enough ash in it to stop the igniter from doing its job. Grabbed the ash vac cursing to whole way that I should have cleaned it out BEFORE starting the ribs. With it all back together the smoker is now doing its thing. Dinner will be closer to 7:30 vs 6:30. I guess a few more beers might be in order .

 

[JLinza]

Nothing a couple more beers won't fix

 

[akjeff]

I've gotten into the habit of dumping the pellet bin at the end of each cook, and letting it run until the auger tube is empty. Then vacuuming out the ash before every cook. A bit of a pain, but no more moisture swelled pellets in the auger, a clean empty fire pot, and fresh dry pellets at the start every cook.

 

[schlotz]

I do the first part religiously to ensure an auger never gets cemented in by wet pellets that decompose and turn into a brick but haven't been so good about the ash vac up front.

 

[chopsaw]

Good habit to get into .
One of the features of the SmokeFire is a slotted burn pot bottom . As it burns the bulk of the ash falls into the clean out tray . Pull the tray out the front and dump it .
This is the burn pot after a long brisket cook .

 

[akjeff]

Good habit to get into .
One of the features of the SmokeFire is a slotted burn pot bottom . As it burns the bulk of the ash falls into the clean out tray . Pull the tray out the front and dump it .
This is the burn pot after a long brisket cook .
View attachment 740274

That's a great feature!

 

[sandyut]

Good habit to get into .
One of the features of the SmokeFire is a slotted burn pot bottom . As it burns the bulk of the ash falls into the clean out tray . Pull the tray out the front and dump it .
This is the burn pot after a long brisket cook .
View attachment 740274

Agreed, good engineering on that feature for sure.

I usually do a full cleaning every 3 cooks unless they are really short.