Smoking Emergency - Flame Boss Fan Stopped Running

[baumgar]

Hello, I set up my new Flame Boss 300 and hooked it up to my WSM for the first time. Perhaps my mistake was setting up the Flame Boss before I had the WSM all put together, while I was still putting the coals on the ring? At any rate, the Flame Boss fan has had 0 output for an hour now. Current readings are:

Set Temp: 225
Pit Temp: 296
Fan Output: 0

I've tried turning off and back on the Flame Boss, unhooking and rehooking up the fan motor. Nothing changes - do I just wait? Is the temperate differential too big? Help?

 

[SmokinAl]

The reason the fan is off is because the pit temp is above the set temp. When the temp comes down to below 225 the fan will come on.
It sounds to me like you just built too big a fire. I fill the charcoal ring with a combo of charcoal & wood chunks, then put about 10-12 lit briquettes on top of the pile in the middle. Then let the Guru take over.
Here is a photo of how it looks when I start it up.

Hope this helps!
Al

 

[baumgar]

Wow, thanks. It never occurred to me that the Flame Boss fan didnt cool down the temperate - if anything I thought that would be the only thing it would do. Fan = cooling, right? LOL. So I guess I'm going to have to really change the way I fill up my WSM 22.5. My current method is to fill the charcoal ring all the way to the top with unlit charcoal, then light a chimney worth of briquettes and put those on top. So too many lit briquettes?

 

[Gwanger]

The reason the fan is off is because the pit temp is above the set temp. When the temp comes down to below 225 the fan will come on.
It sounds to me like you just built too big a fire. I fill the charcoal ring with a combo of charcoal & wood chunks, then put about 10-12 lit briquettes on top of the pile in the middle. Then let the Guru take over.
Here is a photo of how it looks when I start it up.
View attachment 362723
Hope this helps!
Al

I have had same problem.put meat thermo in spot for pit probe. Fan should run, I f pit probe is bad fan won't run. I had to get new pit probe

 

[buckaholic84]

The fan will not cool hot coals like it cools you on a hot day. Air to fire=bigger fire. Your fan is not broken it is shutting down all air intake to try and get your temp down to your set point. Do a search on the minion method for next time and you'll be good to go

 

[baumgar]

So I've been doing Minion method, and that's what got me in trouble. http://virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html Charcoal chamber filled to the top with unlit charcoal, with 1 chimney of lit charcoal on top. Is that too much? Also, I've been waiting 10 minutes before putting the WSM back together. Should I reassemble immediately? The challenge I have had using this method has been temperatures that start in the 300-340 range, and take a long time to go down. Silly me, I thought the Flame Boss would help with this problem...

 

[buckaholic84]

That's too much lit charcoal to start.....Start with 8-12 lit coals....I fill my chamber all the way up then pull 10 or so out from the center, light them in a chimney and dump them back in the same spot....If you start with less lit the flame boss should be able to control it and keep temps stable

 

[buckaholic84]

With charcoal it's easier to raise temp then lower temp

 

[SmokinAl]

If you start the fire like my photo shows your pit controller will take over & raise the temp to the set temp. it may over shoot it the first few times, but if it's like my BBQ Guru DigiQ DX2 it learns how your smoker reacts & gets better at controlling the temp each time you use it. The biggest mistake you can make is to put too many lit briquettes on the pile when you start it up. Now this also depends on the temp where you are located. It would make a big difference in how many coals to start with if you were in Wisconsin, or Florida. That is why we encourage the new members to at least put what part of the country you live in. I don't need your address, but SE Michigan or Southern California would be just fine.
Al

 

[daveomak]

ALSO.... Be sure the only air getting INTO your smoker is from the flame boss.... Leaking air will screw up the control.. You need an air tight smoker for it to work properly....

 

[baumgar]

So just to make sure, close up all the air vents? The Flame Boss manual just said to close the top one.

 

[Gwanger]

So just to make sure, close up all the air vents? The Flame Boss manual just said to close the top one.

only combustion air needed is supplied by fan, flame boss wants you to close chimney to 1/4 open.Hope you will not go thru any more problems, you can call Flame boss and they will be happy to help you I have dealt with them and they are the best. I had problems with no fan running and if pit probe is defective the fan does not run.plugging meat thermo in pit probe socket the fan will run,This will tell you if your fan is working properly. I was sent new pit probe and problems were solved.

 

[Gwanger]

buamgar- you might need adapter for your WSM I had to go with the universal adapter for my big offset, different smokers take different adapters check out Flame boss on u tube

 

[baumgar]

Second try today - realizing that ~15 briquettes barely is one layer deep in my Weber chimney. I dont think I've ever lit so few coals before! I was probably using 40 or 50 easy before!

 

[daveomak]

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html

"https://www.youtube.com/embed/m6bit_h--lg"

 

[baumgar]

Thanks for the video. I'll have to try that can trick next time to get my cubes closer to the coals.

 

[baumgar]

Today's smoking went great - it was great to watch the temperature hover above and below the 225 temp I set. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[buckaholic84]

Glad to see it went well and your unit is working correctly