Stupid questions about new Pit Boss from a concerned noob

[diversification]

Hi all, I've got what I imagine are probably some stupid, overly-worried questions, but if by some chance one of these things ends up mattering, I'm going to be pissed at myself for not asking. I've never owned a smoker or done any smoking, so I'm in brand new territory.

I just went out and bought a Pit Boss Platinum Laredo 1000 pellet grill, and assembled it. Included are pictures of the unit and corresponding questions. I'd really appreciate having a few sets of eyes on this to make sure my concerns are either unfounded or whether they're something I need to address.

1. A lot of the seams in the firebox are caulked (mostly bottom-half of the firebox, but there are a few on the top half too.) It seems like there are a decent amount of gaps in the caulk, and I'm not sure if that matters. If it does, should I try to re-caulk those areas myself, or should I call Pit Boss customer support? If I should just do it myself, does anyone know what product I should use?

2. Do I need to be concerned about this spot on the top-edge of the fire pot? It sorta looks like rust, but it's tough to say for sure. Not sure if it matters.

3. These welds are inside the auger chamber, so I couldn't get a great pick of them b/c of the guard. They looked a bit suspect to me, and it almost looks like the metal is already gapped. The welds right across the way from these looked notably better. Is this something that I should worry about?

4. The bottom grates have some of the enamel chipped off of them right at the one end. Will this expedite rusting and degradation of the grates? Enough to be concerning?

I'm hoping this is all just me being overly concerned, but I figured I should ask the experts anyway.


Thanks!

 

[TNJAKE]

There shouldn't be caulk anywhere I don't believe. Did you buy it already assembled? If so maybe someone bought it, modified it, then returned it. Pitboss customer support is outstanding so I'd give them a call to verify the caulking. If it were me I'd return it. When I buy something I don't like to start out with problems from the get go. It has a 5yr warranty so if you don't return it I'd definitely get new grates and get the hopper situation corrected

 

[tx smoker]

When I buy something I don't like to start out with problems from the get go

I gotta agree with Jake on this one. If you're uncomfortable with it right out of the gate it could be a long and painful journey.

Please see this thread. It is right above yours in the "New Threads" section

Finally taking the Pit Boss Pro to the Dump

I done! I replaced the controls (Savannah) , auger, fan, ignitor three times, added a diffuser and finally I'm over this piece of #*@! Last night I was fininishing up a batch of bacon and once more, the smoke came rolling up out of the hopper as the box temp went down. I refuse to take this...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

This might shed a little light on things for you.

Robert

 

[diversification]

There shouldn't be caulk anywhere I don't believe. Did you buy it already assembled? If so maybe someone bought it, modified it, then returned it. Pitboss customer support is outstanding so I'd give them a call to verify the caulking. If it were me I'd return it. When I buy something I don't like to start out with problems from the get go. It has a 5yr warranty so if you don't return it I'd definitely get new grates and get the hopper situation corrected

No it's brand new, and a friend grabbed one too and I believe I saw the caulk in his as well. Didn't check the coverage though. I'll give them a call and update with my findings.

Regarding the "don't like to start out" comment, I would definitely agree when it comes to things where I understand the way something should be, and dislike it b/c it's off. In this case, I have literally no clue, which is why I'm asking you guys in hopes that you'll be able to glance quickly at the pictures and say "issue" or "not issue." I have a tendancy to go over things with a fine tooth comb and try to find anything that may be off. It pays off sometimes when I find an actual issue, but a lot of the times I've simply picked out something that's completely fine due to my inexperience. I still find it to be a valuable exercise though, and it helps me learn and get up to speed a bit more quickly.

So based on your response, am I understanding correctly that you think the weld does look off? Again, all I'm really basing this on is a vague comparison to the other side.

 

[diversification]

I gotta agree with Jake on this one. If you're uncomfortable with it right out of the gate it could be a long and painful journey.

Please see this thread. It is right above yours in the "New Threads" section

Finally taking the Pit Boss Pro to the Dump

I done! I replaced the controls (Savannah) , auger, fan, ignitor three times, added a diffuser and finally I'm over this piece of #*@! Last night I was fininishing up a batch of bacon and once more, the smoke came rolling up out of the hopper as the box temp went down. I refuse to take this...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

This might shed a little light on things for you.

Robert

I responded to Jake, which addresses the idea of me being uncomfortable. As far as that thread goes, is that not an entirely different unit? I guess I'm not entirely following what light I'm supposed to be picking up here. Are you indicating that all Pit Boss smokers are junk or something along those lines?

 

[TNJAKE]

No it's brand new, and a friend grabbed one too and I believe I saw the caulk in his as well. Didn't check the coverage though. I'll give them a call and update with my findings.

Regarding the "don't like to start out" comment, I would definitely agree when it comes to things where I understand the way something should be, and dislike it b/c it's off. In this case, I have literally no clue, which is why I'm asking you guys in hopes that you'll be able to glance quickly at the pictures and say "issue" or "not issue." I have a tendancy to go over things with a fine tooth comb and try to find anything that may be off. It pays off sometimes when I find an actual issue, but a lot of the times I've simply picked out something that's completely fine due to my inexperience. I still find it to be a valuable exercise though, and it helps me learn and get up to speed a bit more quickly.

So based on your response, am I understanding correctly that you think the weld does look off? Again, all I'm really basing this on is a vague comparison to the other side.

By "weld in the auger chamber" do you mean the pellet Hopper on the side?

 

[TNJAKE]

I responded to Jake, which addresses the idea of me being uncomfortable. As far as that thread goes, is that not an entirely different unit? I guess I'm not entirely following what light I'm supposed to be picking up here. Are you indicating that all Pit Boss smokers are junk or something along those lines?

I have a pitboss Austin xl. It's almost 4yr old with hundreds of cooks. I've never had a problem with it.

 

[diversification]

By "weld in the auger chamber" do you mean the pellet Hopper on the side?

Yes that's what I meant.

I have a pitboss Austin xl. It's almost 4yr old with hundreds of cooks. I've never had a problem with it.

Well that's encouraging then. I believe that was one of the other Pit Boss units that was there. I've seen some decent reviews of the one I got, so I'm thinking the design and so on is probably good enough.

I'll call Pit Boss and run those concerns by them and see what I get back.

 

[TNJAKE]

Yes that's what I meant.


Well that's encouraging then. I believe that was one of the other Pit Boss units that was there. I've seen some decent reviews of the one I got, so I'm thinking the design and so on is probably good enough.

I'll call Pit Boss and run those concerns by them and see what I get back.

That weld in the hopper wouldn't concern me. It's only made to hold pellets so there's not alot that can go wrong there. I'd definitely let them replace the chipped grates. It will be fast and free. Where in the smoker is the caulking? I can't tell from the picture.

Btw. Remove that grate in the hopper. It's not needed and makes it a pain to push all the pellets down off the side. You'll thank me later. It's just a safety feature to keep dump people from sticking their fingers into the auger lol

 

[diversification]

That weld in the hopper wouldn't concern me. It's only made to hold pellets so there's not alot that can go wrong there. I'd definitely let them replace the chipped grates. It will be fast and free. Where in the smoker is the caulking? I can't tell from the picture.

Btw. Remove that grate in the hopper. It's not needed and makes it a pain to push all the pellets down off the side. You'll thank me later. It's just a safety feature to keep dump people from sticking their fingers into the auger lol

Well, to you certainly were right about the great service. I called them and they quickly said they'd like to send me new grates, and a tube of the high heat caulk they use so I can fill in the gaps. The caulk is inside the fire box along a lot of the bottom seams. My guess is that it's to prevent grease and such from leaking out but they didn't really specify.

The rust on the burner pit they said not to worry about because it's going to rust anyway, as it's not stainless steel, and they advised me to just sand it a bit, and then season the entire thing. If it gets bad enough that it develops holes, they said it's a part that can be replaced, but I doubt that will be necessary, but rust isn't covered under the warranty, apparently.

Unfortunately, after my call, I found a much more concerning issue - there are several sizeable rust spots on the interior of the firebox where it's supposed to be powder coated. I didn't see them til I stuck my head all the way inside the firebox and glanced back towards the opening. I took a few pictures, and sent them along to support again, and will call tomorrow to see what my options are. (Anyone know anything about powder coating stuff? Is it pretty easy?) I'll update with what they say about the rust.

Anyway, as far as removing that hopper grate goes, I was planning to, but unfortunately they concealed two of the screws behind another metal piece. Seems like I'd need to take the hopper mostly apart to get at it, unfortunately. I'll inspect it again to see, but the risk of damaging electronics may not be worth it, in which case I'll have to figure out something thin that'll let me give the pellets a quick stir.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I have the PB1150 and it's been flawless so far. Nothing in your pics would bother me. If you want to add to any of the caulked areas use a 3M hi-temp sealant and I'd do it before I cooked on it. Just to make sure it sticks.

 

[WaterRat]

My PB 440 has caulk at the ends where the barrel meets the end caps. It's barely noticeable and I assume it is to prevent grease leakage. Yours, pardon me, looks like a really shitty caulking job. Not a fan of the rust spots where it should be coated nor the chipped grates either. In your second pic of the grates, you can already see missing powder coat on the grate holder where the grate rubbed it. The whole thing looks like a lemon to me, I'd take it back for a new one. And as they said, the spot of rust on the burn pot is no biggie (just leave it if you keep the thing, which I wouldn't).

 

[diversification]

My PB 440 has caulk at the ends where the barrel meets the end caps. It's barely noticeable and I assume it is to prevent grease leakage. Yours, pardon me, looks like a really shitty caulking job. Not a fan of the rust spots where it should be coated nor the chipped grates either. In your second pic of the grates, you can already see missing powder coat on the grate holder where the grate rubbed it. The whole thing looks like a lemon to me, I'd take it back for a new one. And as they said, the spot of rust on the burn pot is no biggie (just leave it if you keep the thing, which I wouldn't).

I agree, it doesn't look great. The good news is they're sending me the new grates, and they're sending me a tube of the caulk they use to touch up the problem areas. I'm ok with those two solutions. The area that looks like the grate rubbed off powder coat is [thankfully] just some leftover Styrofoam from the packing that I had not vacuumed out yet.

As far as the rust spots go, the solutions discussed were either (1) take the item back to walmart and exchange it, or (2) sand it down, paint with high-heat paint, burn-off, then season. They originally tried to replace the entire unit, but because it's a Walmart-only grill, only Walmart has them in stock. They insured me that Walmart would take it back, and if they refused, Pit Boss would intervene and force them to do so. While I certainly appreciated this option, I already have the grill all the way put together, and I don't own a pickup or anything that could take in without dissembling. The box is also a bit of a mess at this point. Further, my local store doesn't have any more of these grills, and the next closest store is 45m to an hour away down a 65mph thruway.

I think I'm going to do some searching and see what others do to rehab rust spots. Pit Boss recommended sanding / painting / burning off / seasoning, but I'm wondering about using some sort of rust-reformer instead of sanding. If not, then sanding / painting does sound like a decent option, especially since I've never used the grill, so no grease in present yet. Hopefully I can find some pointers on handling this in the best way possible.

Overall, I think things should work out ok.

 

[Airsick]

Run Forrest, Run! I'm divorcing my Pit Boss Pro. First the temp swings were too much so I replaced the controller with a PID from Savannah. Temps still were a problem so I raised the thermocouple higher. Still not right. Bought a heavy heat diffuser which helped. In the meantime to supposedly make the new controller work better I replaced the auger and fan. During the last two years I've replaced the ignitor three times, and the auger bolt twice. It got so bad that I kept the Pit Boss tools handy for a quick repair job. All this was going on even though I emptied the hopper, ran the auger clean, and vaccumed the thing after each smoke.
I'm going to replace with either a RecTeq or Camp Chef. I hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[diversification]

Run Forrest, Run! I'm divorcing my Pit Boss Pro. First the temp swings were too much so I replaced the controller with a PID from Savannah. Temps still were a problem so I raised the thermocouple higher. Still not right. Bought a heavy heat diffuser which helped. In the meantime to supposedly make the new controller work better I replaced the auger and fan. During the last two years I've replaced the ignitor three times, and the auger bolt twice. It got so bad that I kept the Pit Boss tools handy for a quick repair job. All this was going on even though I emptied the hopper, ran the auger clean, and vaccumed the thing after each smoke.
I'm going to replace with either a RecTeq or Camp Chef. I hope you have better luck than I did.

Sounds like a lot of people really love their Pit Boss units, and the more I'm reading, the more it seems like these issues I'm mentioning are easily resolvable. If I have issues with temp swings, the auger, etc, I'll probably try to return the unit. Short of that though, I think I'll probably be ok.

 

[diversification]

I think I'm going to do some searching and see what others do to rehab rust spots. Pit Boss recommended sanding / painting / burning off / seasoning, but I'm wondering about using some sort of rust-reformer instead of sanding. If not, then sanding / painting does sound like a decent option, especially since I've never used the grill, so no grease in present yet. Hopefully I can find some pointers on handling this in the best way possible.

Well, it sounds like I should definitely NOT use high heat paint inside the grill even for a touch-up like this, so I'll abandon that plan, and just sand or brush it, and then season if that's the way I decide to go with it.

 

[WaterRat]

I agree, it doesn't look great. The good news is they're sending me the new grates, and they're sending me a tube of the caulk they use to touch up the problem areas. I'm ok with those two solutions. The area that looks like the grate rubbed off powder coat is [thankfully] just some leftover Styrofoam from the packing that I had not vacuumed out yet.

As far as the rust spots go, the solutions discussed were either (1) take the item back to walmart and exchange it, or (2) sand it down, paint with high-heat paint, burn-off, then season. They originally tried to replace the entire unit, but because it's a Walmart-only grill, only Walmart has them in stock. They insured me that Walmart would take it back, and if they refused, Pit Boss would intervene and force them to do so. While I certainly appreciated this option, I already have the grill all the way put together, and I don't own a pickup or anything that could take in without dissembling. The box is also a bit of a mess at this point. Further, my local store doesn't have any more of these grills, and the next closest store is 45m to an hour away down a 65mph thruway.

I think I'm going to do some searching and see what others do to rehab rust spots. Pit Boss recommended sanding / painting / burning off / seasoning, but I'm wondering about using some sort of rust-reformer instead of sanding. If not, then sanding / painting does sound like a decent option, especially since I've never used the grill, so no grease in present yet. Hopefully I can find some pointers on handling this in the best way possible.

Overall, I think things should work out ok.

Sounds good if you're OK with it, especially if it will be such a hassel to return. Seems mostly cosmetic, just a bummer on a brand new unit. Good luck!