New Pitt Boss 820 heating element shutting down.

[Flybowman]

Hey Smokers, I have a new Pitt Boss Pro 820. I followed all the start up and pre heat instructions and tried to smoke a pork butt. Everything worked great until the heating element shut down about 2 hours in. I took the guts out, cleaned the heating pot, and restarted it. another couple of hours in it did the same thing. Did it all one more time and it stayed going about 5 hours. Shut down again , I gave up and I finished it in the oven. I tried to do a meatloaf last night and once again shut down after an hour or so. Has anybody had a similar problem. I talked to Pit Boss customer service but he had no idea, wants me to try and time test the auger off and on sequence. I'm a little skeptical that thats the issue so I just thought I'd ask. Thanks for any help, Mike

 

[mike243]

The heating element only stays on long enuff to get the fire going then it shuts down. did you do a precook burn in followed by cleaning the fire pot? , when it shut down was nothing running ? burn pot empty or full of pellets not burned?

 

[TNJAKE]

The flame rod doesn't stay on or even turn on once the pellets in the pot are lit. Only comes on at start up. Are you saying the fire is going out during your cooks?

 

[Chasdev]

Do you/did you get all the pellets out of the feed auger after the last cook?
You have to (unless you are cooking again right away) or the pellets can swell up and jam the feed chute.

 

[bill1]

It it indeed true that the small, stubby-pencil-sized, electrically-powered heating element in your pellet grill only comes on initially to ignite the wooden pellets. After that, ALL heating & cooking power comes from the wooden pellets--electricity is only used for the fan, auger motor, and control electronics. So the element turning off after a matter of minutes is totally normal. So I'm a bit curious: how do you know it's going off? That would normally take some pretty advanced diagnostics.

If the real problem is your fire goes out, I think Customer Service is following a good diagnostic plan. First, verify the auger is reliably providing pellets to the crucible. It sounds like your heating element is getting the fire started, so that's not an issue. Then the next most likely culprit is the fan is not supplying the air you need to build up a roaring fire. Do you hear the fan--it should make a pretty loud noise on start up? A faulty connection to the fan that causes it to lose power every couple hours could be your problem.

What temperature are you at? (If you're in Smoke Mode only, there's a totally different diagnostic path we'll go down.) If you're running reliably for 1-2 hours at a time, that eliminates a lot of failure modes. Is the problem only at the lowest (200F?) setting or at 250-300 settings too? Do you have the exhaust open (ensure the threaded cap on the top is fully open)? Are your pellets falling reliably into the auger? (I don't recommend leaving the hopper lid open all the time, but opening it every few minutes to ensure pellets are dropping down nicely is a good idea at this point.)

 

[Flybowman]

The flame rod doesn't stay on or even turn on once the pellets in the pot are lit. Only comes on at start up. Are you saying the fire is going out during your cooks?

Yes it is going out every few hours.

 

[Flybowman]

The heating element only stays on long enuff to get the fire going then it shuts down. did you do a precook burn in followed by cleaning the fire pot? , when it shut down was nothing running ? burn pot empty or full of pellets not burned?

I did do the pre cook burn and also cleaned out the fire pot. when it shuts down the auger and the fan continue to run. The first few times it went out the fire pot was very full of unburned pellets and overflowing into the bottom of the grill.. The last time I tried to restart without cleaning it out, and it restarted but smoked a ton so I shut it down. I haven't had a chance to take it apart but I'm guessing the smoke was coming from an overfilled pot.

 

[Flybowman]

It it indeed true that the small, stubby-pencil-sized, electrically-powered heating element in your pellet grill only comes on initially to ignite the wooden pellets. After that, ALL heating & cooking power comes from the wooden pellets--electricity is only used for the fan, auger motor, and control electronics. So the element turning off after a matter of minutes is totally normal. So I'm a bit curious: how do you know it's going off? That would normally take some pretty advanced diagnostics.

If the real problem is your fire goes out, I think Customer Service is following a good diagnostic plan. First, verify the auger is reliably providing pellets to the crucible. It sounds like your heating element is getting the fire started, so that's not an issue. Then the next most likely culprit is the fan is not supplying the air you need to build up a roaring fire. Do you hear the fan--it should make a pretty loud noise on start up? A faulty connection to the fan that causes it to lose power every couple hours could be your problem.

What temperature are you at? (If you're in Smoke Mode only, there's a totally different diagnostic path we'll go down.) If you're running reliably for 1-2 hours at a time, that eliminates a lot of failure modes. Is the problem only at the lowest (200F?) setting or at 250-300 settings too? Do you have the exhaust open (ensure the threaded cap on the top is fully open)? Are your pellets falling reliably into the auger? (I don't recommend leaving the hopper lid open all the time, but opening it every few minutes to ensure pellets are dropping down nicely is a good idea at this point.)

First of all I should tell you that I have always used an electric Master Built smoker in the past so I definitely don't know what I'm doing.with the Pellet grill. I have however been following the manual to a tee. So let me answer your questions in order, I don't actually know that the element is going out I just assumed that it was. it makes sense that it only comes on once so that must not be the issue. the auger continues to run because it fills and in fact overfills the pot. The fan continues to run as well, at least it sounds like it is. I was smoking a pork butt the first time at 225, the second time was a meatloaf and that temp was 250. I did not pay attention to the exhaust opening and I just checked it to find that it was only open a little bit, Is that enough to shut down the burn ?

 

[Flybowman]

The flame rod doesn't stay on or even turn on once the pellets in the pot are lit. Only comes on at start up. Are you saying the fire is going out during your cooks?

Yes it is going out after an hour or two.

 

[Flybowman]

Do you/did you get all the pellets out of the feed auger after the last cook?
You have to (unless you are cooking again right away) or the pellets can swell up and jam the feed chute.

I didn't clean out the auger as this all started with the very first use.

 

[RCAlan]

Hey Smokers, I have a new Pitt Boss Pro 820. I followed all the start up and pre heat instructions and tried to smoke a pork butt. Everything worked great until the heating element shut down about 2 hours in. I took the guts out, cleaned the heating pot, and restarted it. another couple of hours in it did the same thing. Did it all one more time and it stayed going about 5 hours. Shut down again , I gave up and I finished it in the oven. I tried to do a meatloaf last night and once again shut down after an hour or so. Has anybody had a similar problem. I talked to Pit Boss customer service but he had no idea, wants me to try and time test the auger off and on sequence. I'm a little skeptical that thats the issue so I just thought I'd ask. Thanks for any help, Mike

If your pellet grill is flaming out during a cook, there are a few things that could be causing it and should be checked.

1. What brand of pellets are you using and does it’s quality appears to be compromised in any way? Whatever brand you’re using now, I would dump it out and try a different high quality brand just to eliminate the pellets as the possible cause of the flameouts.


2. I know you stated that this was your first cook, but always vacuum out the fire pot of ash from prior cooks... Even the ash from the initial burn in procedures. The best and easiest way to clean out the fire pot and the rest of your grill is to use a Shop Vac.


3. I know the Pit Boss Pro Series 820 owners manual does not say to preheat your grill, but I would preheat it for at least 20 mins. At start up, set your grills P-setting to P4/factory default... and once the pellets have ignition and the smoke has cleared, set your grill to 300* degrees for 20 mins and allow the temp to settle and stabilize at 300* . After the 20 min. preheat and the temp is stable, now set your grill to your desired temp. When I first got my Pit Boss Austin XL a few years back, I thought I could just turn it on and Set it and Forget it... Not the case... After suffering a near dangerous flame out, I went back and read the owners manual again, but this time, not taking any shortcuts in the proper understanding and operation of the grill. I always preheat for 20 mins and I always shop vac the fire pot after every cook. I never had a flameout since and it’s going on over 2 years.


4. I would also remove the hopper casing/cover and check/inspect for any obstructions to the auger motor and fan motor. Sometimes pellets can be logged/found in the strangest places.


5. Lastly, what type of extension cord are you using? 10 or 12 gauge extension cords are the best and can handle the voltage much better then a 15 gauge or higher extension cord can.

I hope the tips and info helps and good luck.


Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[Flybowman]

Thanks for the help RC. The Pitt Boss manual I have actually does say to preheat to 350 which I did. In fact I followed the instructions to the letter. After talking with several different folks from the forums I'm thinking I may not have had the vent open far enough as it was barely cracked. I'm so used to my electric Masterbuilt which I actually could just set and forget. New learning curve on this one. I didn't realize that you were supposed to clean the pot each time, thats good to know. I'll clean it up, open up the vent, and give it another try . Thanks again. Mike

 

[mike243]

I am wondering if you started with a full pellet bin? possibly a pellet bridge that stopped the fire then broke loose after it flamed out. I have never in over 2 years emptied my bin or ran all of the pellets out unless I was changing flavors. dont be afraid to have left over pellets in the bin when you are thru cooking

 

[bill1]

If after flame-out, you're overflowing your auger with pellets, you're probably getting plenty of pellets...your controller just doesn't know the fire went out and thinks you need more fuel. (Mike's theory that you get a bridge, you starve for pellets, your fire goes out, then the bridge clears and you start feeding pellets again but it's "too late"...is not an impossible scenario but you seem to have it happen repeatedly and unlikely events don't happen repeatedly.) And the fan sound is pretty unmistakable, so it sounds like your fan is pretty reliable. But I'd try again with the exhaust cap fully screwed out. I don't own that model so can't say for sure, but your fan may be beating the air up nicely with the blades but if it has no place to go you're still not getting enough O2 to keep the fire going. And I didn't hear what temp setting you're having the problems at, but I'd stick with a middle setting for now...it's harder for these to keep a fire going cooler than hotter. If none of this is helping, keep bugging Customer Service.

 

[Flybowman]

If after flame-out, you're overflowing your auger with pellets, you're probably getting plenty of pellets...your controller just doesn't know the fire went out and thinks you need more fuel. (Mike's theory that you get a bridge, you starve for pellets, your fire goes out, then the bridge clears and you start feeding pellets again but it's "too late"...is not an impossible scenario but you seem to have it happen repeatedly and unlikely events don't happen repeatedly.) And the fan sound is pretty unmistakable, so it sounds like your fan is pretty reliable. But I'd try again with the exhaust cap fully screwed out. I don't own that model so can't say for sure, but your fan may be beating the air up nicely with the blades but if it has no place to go you're still not getting enough O2 to keep the fire going. And I didn't hear what temp setting you're having the problems at, but I'd stick with a middle setting for now...it's harder for these to keep a fire going cooler than hotter. If none of this is helping, keep bugging Customer Service.

Thanks Bill, I'm gonna try a couple of chickens this evening with the cap wide open and see what happens.

 

[Flybowman]

I am wondering if you started with a full pellet bin? possibly a pellet bridge that stopped the fire then broke loose after it flamed out. I have never in over 2 years emptied my bin or ran all of the pellets out unless I was changing flavors. dont be afraid to have left over pellets in the bin when you are thru cooking

The pellet bin was just about full Mike, checked it each time and evened out the slope just to make sure. never came close to running low. Thanks for the suggestion though.
.

 

[bill1]

Thanks Bill, I'm gonna try a couple of chickens this evening with the cap wide open and see what happens.

Good choice. You don't want to be lower than 250 or 275 for chicken anyway. That will be a test of my other concern that your model just doesn't do well with low setpoints.

 

[mike243]

I know on my Austin you cant screw the lid down enuf to choke it down any