Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 - one year in

[912smoker]

Just wanted to give a final update. After going through masterbuilt warranty and trying to get the flare ups figured out the final solution is no solution. Nothing has fixed it. I was smoking some chicken leg quarters at 225° and watched the grill like a hawk with a separate wireless thermometer to monitor internal grill temps. Once I saw is starting to rapidly rise I opened the lid to see that the flare up strated in the back right corner. My best guess is that when the fan ramps up to give more heat it blows hot embers in and igniting any rendered fat. Again I want to say that my grill is clean and gets taken care of, it was put together properly, and I'm not some random idiot who doesn't know how to use this thing.

I've never had that problem with the 1050.
I always use a pan with a rack for smoking chicken so.have no drippings. Grilled legs and breast @450° last weekend with no flare ups.
Is your 800 sitting level ? Is the grease pooling on that side?


Keith

 

[HurleyBoysBBQ]

Yeah the grill is level and no grease is pooling. I've taken pictures of everything like that to send to masterbuilt. There isn't an obvious answer, other than I got a lemon somehow and I'm stuck with it.

 

[TH-n-PA]

Post pics here.

 

[USNA85]

I had been wanting one of these gravity feed side-boxes for a while as they seem to be the perfect mix of ease/automation and great smoke. My wife got me the MB800 for an early Father's Day present and I LOVED it - for the first smoke. The second cook was for Father's Day and it wouldn't even turn on. As noted often above, their customer service will replace the parts, but don't work weekends and take 14 days to ship the parts! After multiple back-and-forth emails trying to troubleshoot, which took days to get through, they shipped a new controller. Three weeks later, it arrives. But no dice, it doesn't fix the problem. Turns out, it was a faulty power cord (when was the last time you had a faulty power cord that wasn't a USB cord???). They sent a new one and I was, apparently, back in business. It will smoke okay, but the fan appears to not run properly - I can't get temperatures high enough to grill!

Several people have discussed bypassing the switches (which could be the problem) or using some sort of switch cleaner/lubricant. I'd love to know how you bypassed the switches and what people have found to be the best cleaner. Also, is there a 3rd party controller that may be better than the one that comes with the unit?

Thank you in advance!

 

[912smoker]

Hate you had trouble with the power cord and I wouldn't have guessed that one.
I think the heat issues are related to the switches. I use an electronic contact cleaner from any auto parts store. A quick spay then working them for 30 secs or so manually and I've had no switch failures at all. It has been only the hood that was a problem before the cleaning.
Haven't had any controller problems and it's used a lot for almost 2 yrs.
Others on here has done the bypass but not me.
Hope this helps and good luck !

Keith

 

[USNA85]

Hate you had trouble with the power cord and I wouldn't have guessed that one.
I think the heat issues are related to the switches. I use an electronic contact cleaner from any auto parts store. A quick spay then working them for 30 secs or so manually and I've had no switch failures at all. It has been only the hood that was a problem before the cleaning.
Haven't had any controller problems and it's used a lot for almost 2 yrs.
Others on here has done the bypass but not me.
Hope this helps and good luck !

Keith

Thank you, Keith. I think I'll tighten up the smoke box with better seals and try some contact cleaner to see if that works.

I am also trying to find a third party controller that allows me to directly control the fan as opposed to it being managed through the MB controller... Any hints on this one would be appreciated!

 

[912smoker]

What do you mean by tighten up the smokebox ? Have you adjusted the latch ?

Keith

 

[USNA85]

I do need to adjust the latch, but i am talking about making a better fire-proof seal with the cord seal we use for our wood burning stove. That rubber seal seems awful flimsy and susceptible to high temperature. Maybe i'm just borrowing trouble?

 

[912smoker]

I add a double folded layer of foil between the hopper and the hopper lid. This helps keep the heat from lid.

Keith

 

[USNA85]

Great idea - and cheaper than my solution!

 

[Smokin Okie]

I add a double folded layer of foil between the hopper and the hopper lid. This helps keep the heat from lid.

Keith

What do you think of this mod from LSS ? Not only protects the lid but provides a better seal ?

Hopper Cover | LSS Mods Custom Smoker & Grill Parts

New and improved hopper cover attaches directly to your hopper lid eliminating the need to grab a hot...

www.lss-mods.com

 

[912smoker]

Looks like a good solution and a fair price but I haven't tried any of the mods. Some on here have and maybe they'll drop in and give a review.

Keith

 

[Smokin Okie]

I'm seriously thinking about placing the order.

I got the LSS drip pan mod. Its pricey cuz I had to get the manifold cover for the brackets to work. But I really like being able to put a drip pan under the bottom grate. It does change temps inside the cook chamber and I'm still learning exactly what it does, but it puts my mind to ease about grease flare ups. And the manifold cover does make it easy to cover the manifold with foil.

https://www.lss-mods.com/product_details.phtml/drip_pan_brackets_holds_2_pans

 

[mcokevin]

I am also trying to find a third party controller that allows me to directly control the fan as opposed to it being managed through the MB controller... Any hints on this one would be appreciated!

I am not sure why you would want to control the fan directly. The entire ability to "set it and forget it" relies on the PID controller. I strongly recommend you not go down the road of controlling the fan directly.

The results could be anywhere from wildly inconsistent cook temps to burning down your house because you forgot the fan was on and continuing to fuel the fire with additional oxygen. Best case you're going to be sat next to your smoker for the entirety of your smoke making minute adjustments to keep the temp in range.

Bypassing the switches is dangerous enough (I've shorted one of mine), but can be managed as long as you are the only one using your smoker. Bypassing the PID controller is another level of risk. Please do not do this!

 

[bill1]

USNA85 didn't exactly say he wanted to bypass the factory controller completely and use only fully manual control but just that 3rd-party controllers would become available giving him/her some knobs to twirl. Which the Free Market is probably going to do. But they'll need to worry about legal liability too so any customer adjustments they permit will presumably be somewhat safe.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I'm not sure I completely understand the question, but early , right after the GF's came out, there were some here in this forum who replaced the MB controller with a Fireboard.

 

[912smoker]

USNA85 didn't exactly say he wanted to bypass the factory controller completely and use only fully manual control but just that 3rd-party controllers would become available giving him/her some knobs to twirl. Which the Free Market is probably going to do. But they'll need to worry about legal liability too so any customer adjustments they permit will presumably be somewhat safe.

There mentioned a controller in this video. Hope this helps.


Keith

 

[USNA85]

I am not sure why you would want to control the fan directly. The entire ability to "set it and forget it" relies on the PID controller. I strongly recommend you not go down the road of controlling the fan directly.

The results could be anywhere from wildly inconsistent cook temps to burning down your house because you forgot the fan was on and continuing to fuel the fire with additional oxygen. Best case you're going to be sat next to your smoker for the entirety of your smoke making minute adjustments to keep the temp in range.

Bypassing the switches is dangerous enough (I've shorted one of mine), but can be managed as long as you are the only one using your smoker. Bypassing the PID controller is another level of risk. Please do not do this!

Thank you for the thoughts. First, I do not use it too close to the house, so I'm not going to burn down the house. Second, I don't think you really can "fire and forget" (a phrase for all of those military folks on this page!) with this grill. Third, I would, ultimately, want something I can monitor and control remotely, kinda like you're supposed to be able to do now with the temperature...

 

[USNA85]

I'm seriously thinking about placing the order.

I got the LSS drip pan mod. Its pricey cuz I had to get the manifold cover for the brackets to work. But I really like being able to put a drip pan under the bottom grate. It does change temps inside the cook chamber and I'm still learning exactly what it does, but it puts my mind to ease about grease flare ups. And the manifold cover does make it easy to cover the manifold with foil.

https://www.lss-mods.com/product_details.phtml/drip_pan_brackets_holds_2_pans

Thank you! I will look this up.

 

[USNA85]

I'm not sure I completely understand the question, but early , right after the GF's came out, there were some here in this forum who replaced the MB controller with a Fireboard.

Thank you for this hint too!