Pit Boss Issues

[Quiganomics]

So when we moved into the new house, there was a Pit Boss PB820PS1 left here is like new condition. I cleaned it up and gave it to my daughter to use. Since running it, I've noticed the following two issues:

1. Lots of smoke pushing up through the pellet hopper. No fire or flame issues, just smoke from within the cook chamber. The exhaust is fully open, so this is confusing.

2. When the pellet hopper is full, only the pellets above the hole for the auger drop down, and it creates a tunnel, eventually leading the Pit Boss to believe it's out of pellets. This is pretty irritating as it forced you to have to go out and stir the pellets every hour of risk it flaming out. So at this point, we can't really use it for an overnight smoke.


I've never been one for pellet grills, I'm an offset guy with my easy button being a CharGriller Gravity. However, I did have a Z-Grill pellet grill that I sold when we moved that I rarely used but didn't exhibit any of these issues. Any guesses what's going on?

-Shaun

 

[Jim_C]

I may be simple minded, but if the outer part of the chute is not sliding, perhaps there's a bit of friction on the slopes. I'd consider a dry kitchen sponge and running it up and down the side slopes of the chute. Something to break up the "gunk" on the slopes to improve the slide. I would stay away from anything abrasive, and I'd be reticent to apply liquid to the slopes of the chute, but perhaps the dry sponge could dislodge the gunk and improve the slide.