Would you buy this?


 
Actually Tim, the nice thing about a powder coated one is as long as you keep it free of rust they're easier to refinish if the finish does become compromised. But porcelain you cannot. Though the porcelain is one strong factor that ALMOST had me pull the trigger on a SmokeFire
 
I called Weber yesterday but only got to talk to an automated voice. I asked to order the parts that I needed but the order had to be reviewed by support staff. I did get an email asking for some pictures and then another email later on that sounded like they might warranty the holders and the slide but they also asked for a receipt which I don't have. I explained to them that I bought it used from my friend. I don't expect any warranty replacement and don't have a problem paying for the parts that I need.

They supposedly send you an invoice and you have 24 hours to make the purchase. I go out of town tomorrow for a week so I may not be able to complete the purchase as I have a lot going on.

I was able to clean the inside pretty well so that should be good. The inside really wasn't very bad so he must have kept it fairly clean. He is pretty OCD about a lot of things. This grill sat on his back porch under a very deep inset so unless the rain and snow was coming in sideways, it would have stayed dried. He also gave me the Weber specific cover for the grill which he also used.

I think I saw online that the newer flavorizer bars are stainless steel as well as the bar holder. Neither of these are stainless in this grill. The four flavorizer bars are still in good shape and not rusted so they should be usable for a while. I still plan on getting a stainless steel set anyway.
 
LMichaels said:
Honestly if the friend was willing to do the warranty claim for you, I know I would have taken him up on that. But even paying for the stuff you still got a whopper of a deal
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Actually, he didn't want to mess with the warranty thing after I told him some of the stuff might still be under warranty. He said he would give me the information so that I could do it but pretty much all of the information he had was on the sticker under the lid. He got the grill new from his dad as a housewarming gift so he didn't have the receipt either.

I still feel like I did okay even if I have to spend a couple of hundred dollars on parts.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
Actually, he didn't want to mess with the warranty thing after I told him some of the stuff might still be under warranty. He said he would give me the information so that I could do it but pretty much all of the information he had was on the sticker under the lid. He got the grill new from his dad as a housewarming gift so he didn't have the receipt either.

I still feel like I did okay even if I have to spend a couple of hundred dollars on parts.
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Oh yeah you killed it there! THe only thing that would have been bad was if the electronics were an issue
 
LMichaels said:
Oh yeah you killed it there! THe only thing that would have been bad was if the electronics were an issue
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I don't think he has ever had problems with the electronics as far as the display is concerned. He used it this past Tuesday night at our card game. He said he has only had to replace the glow plug once since he has owned it. Reading the reviews on the Weber website, it seems like people are going through glow plugs like crazy with them not lasting very many cooks.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
I don't think he has ever had problems with the electronics as far as the display is concerned. He used it this past Tuesday night at our card game. He said he has only had to replace the glow plug once since he has owned it. Reading the reviews on the Weber website, it seems like people are going through glow plugs like crazy with them not lasting very many cooks.
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Wayne, don't give much credence to all of those posts about going through glow plugs. Every time someone posts about a flameout someone tells them to change the glow plug. Someone posts about not being able to get to 600 and someone says change the glow plug. The only problem that a bad glow plug causes is a failure to start. The plug is only on for time it takes to get a fire going and then it's deenergized until the next cook or the restart feature tries to recover from a flameout and energizes it for about 5 minutes. I'm still running the original glow plug and my grill arrived July 3, 2020. I would love to have a dollar for every good glow plug that Smokefire owners have thrown in the trash. :D
 
Lew Newby said:
Wayne, don't give much credence to all of those posts about going through glow plugs. Every time someone posts about a flameout someone tells them to change the glow plug. Someone posts about not being able to get to 600 and someone says change the glow plug. The only problem that a bad glow plug causes is a failure to start. The plug is only on for time it takes to get a fire going and then it's deenergized until the next cook or the restart feature tries to recover from a flameout and energizes it for about 5 minutes. I'm still running the original glow plug and my grill arrived July 3, 2020. I would love to have a dollar for every good glow plug that Smokefire owners have thrown in the trash. :D
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Thanks Lew. That is good to know.

I did get another email from Weber about the parts. No warranty coverage which I already figured. I wish my friend would have been more receptive about trying to get some of this stuff warrantied but after going through this process, I can see why. I wish it was like the old days when you could actually talk to someone in person and get stuff ordered immediately. This waiting for email responses is very tedious and time consuming. I only have 24 hours to order the parts once I get the order link. Hopefully I remember to check my email since I'm traveling all day today and will be busy all week. They sure don't make it easy.
 
So finally got back home from being out of town all week. It took me from last Friday until Tuesday to get all my parts ordered. The pellet slide, the extra Glow plug I bought, and the grease pan all were waiting for me today when I got home. The two flavorizer bar brackets just shipped and I'm still waiting for the large and the set of four flavorizer bars to ship. We head out again on Sunday for a week so hopefully everything will arrive by the time we get back home. Total cost for all of the parts were about $240 shipped so not bad. I will continue to use the original four flavorizer bars until they start rusting away and then put the new stainless steel ones in. I will probably still use the original large flavorizer bar until it is totally unusable.
 
I received all of the new parts except the flavorizer bars which won't ship out until mid September. Luckily the originals are still decent. I updated the software today and the app as well.

I still need to get some pellets but I'm not sure what brand to get. No place close to get Weber pellets. I bought a rack of ribs to cook so that will probably be my first cook.
 
Any pellets will work just fine. Cabelas has decent pellets, $10 for 20 lbs. my preference are Green Mountain pellets, they just have a KILLER flavor profile that I’ve not found with anything else.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
I still need to get some pellets but I'm not sure what brand to get. No place close to get Weber pellets.
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Do you have a WinCo near you? I buy 90% of my pellets there, I pay $6ish and/or $9ish for 20LBS bags. The difference between the $6 & $9, is flavored vs non-flavored. Like Larry, I also buy the Kirkland pellets at Costco, but I go weekly to WinCo whereas maybe monthly to Costco

You're going to love those ribs. Make sure you put a sheet of foil under them, it's easier to toss a sheet of foil vs scrubbing the grill
 
TimA said:
Any pellets will work just fine. Cabelas has decent pellets, $10 for 20 lbs. my preference are Green Mountain pellets, they just have a KILLER flavor profile that I’ve not found with anything else.
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I went to Bass Pro today and bought two bags of Cabelas pellets to try out. I've read that they are made out of the same factory as the Weber and Lumberjack pellets.
 
ChuckO said:
Do you have a WinCo near you? I buy 90% of my pellets there, I pay $6ish and/or $9ish for 20LBS bags. The difference between the $6 & $9, is flavored vs non-flavored. Like Larry, I also buy the Kirkland pellets at Costco, but I go weekly to WinCo whereas maybe monthly to Costco

You're going to love those ribs. Make sure you put a sheet of foil under them, it's easier to toss a sheet of foil vs scrubbing the grill
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No WinCo near me. I have never heard of them.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
I went to Bass Pro today and bought two bags of Cabelas pellets to try out. I've read that they are made out of the same factory as the Weber and Lumberjack pellets.
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I’ve heard the same but never confirmed myself. Which ones did you grab?
 
There are so many pellet options that it’s pretty hard to narrow down to just one or two. I think Cabella’s would likely be a good choice as would the Kirkland ones @LMichaels posted. Other good choices include Knotty Wood (sold at Home Depot or online), CookinPellets.com, Bear Mountain, Kingsford and Weber if you can find them. I am personally fond of Lumberjack. If you have a Rural King close enough, they carry Lumberjack, usually at great prices. Just stay far away from the Rural King house brand. A lot of very negative reviews…RK tried to dump Lumberjack and replace with selling their own pellets, but they have had to quickly backtrack after a lot of flak from customers.
 
Wayne Dimirsky said:
I went to Bass Pro today and bought two bags of Cabelas pellets to try out. I've read that they are made out of the same factory as the Weber and Lumberjack pellets.
Click to expand...

I've heard good things from a friend of mine, but haven't tried them. IIRC, they have free shipping over $50 and he buys several bags and gets them shipped.
 
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