New to pellet smokers, know what I want, who has it??

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Hijack73

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Aug 9, 2020
1,042
1,140
SC, just a smidge from Charlotte
Looking for a PID that will refire on a flameout. I know they all tend to run a decent steqdy temp, and that they all make these less expensive models work properly.

I'm an old make some fire, control it by adding fuel and if she fires up a little hot, no worries.

Now this new tool fires up hot, and runs great on the P setting (I can keep it 205ish all night long) but 225 runs me up to 250-260 down to 200, cycles like this 90 mins to 2 hours then flames out. If I'm awake and the low temp alarm goes off I usually just make sure pellets aren't overflowing the fire pit, remove my brisket, and turn the power off and on to refire but sometimes it takes a few minutes to wake me up and by then I've got to break it all down and clean out the pot because it's just got too many pellets.


All I care about is one that lets me run, change temp (go higher) run, change temp (go lower) and not flame out. Stock controller for me runs fine until I change temps. If I set it on 250 which I like to do after the smoke setting runs a few hours, because I want to get the meat into the safe zone temp wise, then back it down to 225 I get a flame out almost every time. I also get flame outs on 225 every 3-4 hours, sometimes sooner. It's hot, it's humid, but this thing should run 225. So irritating. I don't care that 225 actually means 220-250, because that's how my old smoker ran and I learned to make good meat on it. I mind that it burns out.

Do any of the popular add-ons send power to the ignitor if it runs below say 180ish? I think that would solve my headache and get it back burning before a pile accumulates that will go up like Vesuvius.

PB 820 Lowe's model.
 
Howdy. I have a PB Austin XL. Love it. I've got 400-500 smokes on mine. I've had one flame out. You shouldn't be having them constantly like you are. I'd contact customer service and let them know. You have a 5yr warranty and the service is great. My brother has your model and doesn't have issues with flameout either. I agree with you on the temp swings. 20° high or low isn't an issue when smoking meat. Stick burners, your oven, electric smokers all have swings. I definitely understand the want for pid though. As Steff said Savannah stoker sells pid for your model as well as the adapter plate so it doesn't leave a giant opening where your old controller was. Will work great for you. Like I said earlier though you shouldn't be having the issue you are having so frequently. Always make sure your ash pot is clean before a long smoke.
 
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The Savannah Stoker is a Great Controller and i currently have it installed on my Pellet Grill, I love all the extensive features that it gives me control of. My favorite features are Cycle Time, Auto Tune to achieve that Blue Smoke and programmable shut down Temp to prevent hopper smoldering through the auger. No Crazy Temp Swings and once you have it dialed in, the grill will smoke to Perfection.

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Got a pic of your install? How'd you mod the hopper to take the vertical controller? Did you change anything else? Auger, etc?
The Pellet Grill that I modified was the Grilla Chimp and I used my old water softener cover as the Base to place it on the grill due to it's Depth to give me the clearance that I needed and I used all stock parts that came with my Grilla Chimp Pellet Stove. I purchased the controller direct from the Savannah Stoker Website and all adjustments that I made were possible because of Arthur Held who gives amazing advice on how to tune up your pellet stove to achieve that great BLUE SMOKE.
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The link below is his you tube channel that is dedicated to the Savannah Stoker and you can also join the Facebook Forum as well.

 

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Got a pic of your install? How'd you mod the hopper to take the vertical controller? Did you change anything else? Auger, etc?
No changes other than the controller and rtd. Factory temp prob would have worked with it but I used the new one that came with the SS. I measured and cut a hole with a jigsaw. I meant to add a piece of abs plastic to the leftover space but never got around to it.
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