Auger Not Turning


 
IT'S ALIVE!!!!

The new part arrived this morning. Took just a few minutes to swap out the control unit and she fired right up. Set a target temp of 400 and it got there without a hitch. Running through the shutdown now, so hopefully, this is the last of my problems for a good long time.


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Well, the holidays were filled with trials and tribulations. A day after posting that last pic, I decided I was going to do some pizzas. Nothing crazy, just store bought dough and basic toppings. I put stones on both racks (one on top to get some downward heat deflection) and started the grill with a 550F target temp. An hour later, I was only at 480. The dough was over-proofed at that point and the kids were hungry. So I sent them off to our local Italian restaurant to grab a couple wood fired pies. Next morning, another test fire with a 400F target and that went just fine. We had friends over a couple nights later and I was able to successfully grill salmon and chicken at 400. Maybe the previous cook was a hiccup? I had emailed Weber again and they suggested I clean the thermocouple and if that didn't work, they'd send a new one. I cleaned it and was able to get the temps to 550 in about 30 minutes, so I tried pizza again. This time, I got the temps to 550, but it took an hour and 5 minutes to get there. At least we ate pizza that night. Weber tells me all their grills are designed to get to at least 500 in 15 minutes or less, so they're sending a new thermocouple. Then, NY Eve day, I decided to do some smoked queso. I figured lower temps seem to be safe. I set the grill at 250 and assembled the queso in a dutch oven. The grill reached 250 very quickly and I put the queso on. 20 minutes later, I got a low temperature warning on the app. Temp had dropped to 130. I was able to shut it down normally and proceeded to finish the queso in the oven. Got around to writing Weber back about this latest issue last night. The guy I'm working with isn't in the office on Friday or Saturday, so I suspect I'll hear more on Monday.

If I can get to it today, I'm going to check the firebox and glow plug. Maybe try to replace the glow plug.
 
That's frustrating, I had a situation recently where the SF temp was all over the place and would not hold 325f without frequent stirring of the pellets in the hopper. That never happened before, I thought the problem was with the pellets, a lot were on the longer side, more than I usually see in a bag. Or not, a week later I did a cook with the same pellets without issue. Frustrating!

Jim, was your low temp warning a result of a flame out?
 
JimK said:
If I can get to it today, I'm going to check the firebox and glow plug. Maybe try to replace the glow plug.
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In addition, you might dump the pellets and put fresh pellets in. Make sure you scoop out the pellets in the auger assembly too. Don't throw the pellets away, keep them for another time if you have some place to keep them. If there's a Mr. Pickles near you, they will give you their 5-gallon buckets for free. They're food grade, so not only are they good for storing pellets that have been opened, they're also good for brining
 
Bob Erdman said:
Jim, was your low temp warning a result of a flame out?
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I suspect it was. Fan was still blowing and I could hear pellets dropping. Of course, I haven't had a chance to get in there yet. Maybe this afternoon. Otherwise, we'll be covered in snow by this time tomorrow.
 
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Braved the 25 degree temps and got out to tinker with the Smokefire this morning. 6-10" of snow coming tonight, so I didn't want to wait any longer. I found what I suspected, a fire pot overflowing with pellets. I assumed it was due to a bad glow plug. Note in the pic how much dust and ash there is in the grill. This was two cooks from the last cleaning - one was grilling some salmon and chicken and the other was the failed queso cook. I don't think there should be this much after just that. Anyway, I got everything vacuumed out and fired it up to see if the glow plug would light. Sure enough, it did; and pellets seemed to be feeding normally. I quickly put the diffuser, flavorizer bars and grates back in; then shut the lid and waited to see if it would get to temp (350 target in this case). It did and ran there for about 20 minutes before I shut it down. Shut down was without issue. I just don't know anymore. One cook, this thing is perfect and the next, complete failure. Not sure where to go at this point. Weber has sent me a new thermocouple to try out - that arrives tomorrow. With the impending weather, I won't get out to do that project for at least a few days.

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That is a lot of ash for two cooks. I suspect bad pellets, the ash may have smothered the pellets in the burn pot. Was there ash caking in the bottom of the burn pot too?

Thank god the fire went out while the auger was feeding more pellets. You don't want a burn back situation!
 
JimK said:
Braved the 25 degree temps and got out to tinker with the Smokefire this morning. 6-10" of snow coming tonight, so I didn't want to wait any longer. I found what I suspected, a fire pot overflowing with pellets. I assumed it was due to a bad glow plug. Note in the pic how much dust and ash there is in the grill. This was two cooks from the last cleaning - one was grilling some salmon and chicken and the other was the failed queso cook. I don't think there should be this much after just that. Anyway, I got everything vacuumed out and fired it up to see if the glow plug would light. Sure enough, it did; and pellets seemed to be feeding normally. I quickly put the diffuser, flavorizer bars and grates back in; then shut the lid and waited to see if it would get to temp (350 target in this case). It did and ran there for about 20 minutes before I shut it down. Shut down was without issue. I just don't know anymore. One cook, this thing is perfect and the next, complete failure. Not sure where to go at this point. Weber has sent me a new thermocouple to try out - that arrives tomorrow. With the impending weather, I won't get out to do that project for at least a few days.

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Once your grill is lit and the temperature is rising your glow plug never turns on again. Its only purpose is to start the fire in your burn pot at start up. Any other issues that cause the fire to die or temp issues has nothing to do with your glow plug.
Good luck.
 
Darian Hofer said:
Once your grill is lit and the temperature is rising your glow plug never turns on again. Its only purpose is to start the fire in your burn pot at start up. Any other issues that cause the fire to die or temp issues has nothing to do with your glow plug.
Good luck.
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Somewhat accurate, but not 100% accurate. I turned on my SF, and I used a torch to get the pellets burning and once they were burning and temperature rising, I pulled the torch and buttoned up the burn pot. After awhile, it did exactly what Jim is going through. I then replaced the Glow Plug with a brand new plug, and started it up again using the torch, and the SF ran great. A faulty Glow Plug does indeed affect how the SF operates, not just at start up
 
Darian Hofer said:
Once your grill is lit and the temperature is rising your glow plug never turns on again. Its only purpose is to start the fire in your burn pot at start up. Any other issues that cause the fire to die or temp issues has nothing to do with your glow plug.
Good luck.
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Doesn't the glow plug have a "program" that turns it on occasionally during a cook? I know my Member's Mark even though "lit" will briefly turn the plug on randomly. Z Grill as well. Even though neither actually "rely" on the plug, they still cycle it occasionally
 
Bob Erdman said:
That is a lot of ash for two cooks. I suspect bad pellets, the ash may have smothered the pellets in the burn pot. Was there ash caking in the bottom of the burn pot too?

Thank god the fire went out while the auger was feeding more pellets. You don't want a burn back situation!
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They were Weber pellets, stored in my garage. No caking of ash in the burn pot. I'm wondering if it didn't just feed pellets too fast and smother the fire.
 
According to my Weber rep: "For the grill, the glow plug would start the initial fire inside of the burn pot, then it's the pellets flowing that keep the temperature steady." Have to admit, I was a little surprised by that.

The thermocouple arrived a day early and I just read through the included instructions. Replacing that involves removal of the auger, motor, power supply and pellet hopper. That ain't happening any time soon. I'm 99.9% certain the thermocouple isn't the issue, as my infrared thermometer readings were within a few degrees of what the grill says temps are. Maybe when the weather is warmer.

Between what appears to be an over-feed of pellets leading to my last problem, and taking over an hour to come up to temp on my pizza cook, I'm suspecting there's an issue with controlling the rate at which pellets are feeding. Not sure how to cure that, as I've recently replaced both the motor and the controller.
 
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I am so living vicariously through ya'll. Granted, I spent several times as much on my smoker as most of you with pellet grills, but I have never had any sort of problem like these.
 
ChuckO said:
Somewhat accurate, but not 100% accurate. I turned on my SF, and I used a torch to get the pellets burning and once they were burning and temperature rising, I pulled the torch and buttoned up the burn pot. After awhile, it did exactly what Jim is going through. I then replaced the Glow Plug with a brand new plug, and started it up again using the torch, and the SF ran great. A faulty Glow Plug does indeed affect how the SF operates, not just at start up
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Your 1 time test/failure was a fluke. I ran my Smokefire with no glow plug installed after lighting with torch several times. And you can search previous posts from Lew stating the same. Glow plug only works at start up.
 
LMichaels said:
Doesn't the glow plug have a "program" that turns it on occasionally during a cook? I know my Member's Mark even though "lit" will briefly turn the plug on randomly. Z Grill as well. Even though neither actually "rely" on the plug, they still cycle it occasionally
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Both my Smokefire and Pitts and Spitts ran perfectly with no glow plug installed after being lit by torch.
How can you verify your glow plug briefly turns on occasionally during your cook?
 
My grills have indicator lamps, which light to tell you exactly what they're doing and when. So, I can watch the control panel and know what is being activated and when.
 
Darian Hofer said:
Your 1 time test/failure was a fluke
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Darian Hofer said:
And you can search previous posts from Lew stating the same. Glow plug only works at start up.
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You mean this thread?

Lew Newby

Thread 'News Flash, To Me, Smokefire Has Auto Relight.'

Since I bought my Smokefire in June 2020 I have thought that the Smokefire did not have auto relight. I was told that the glow plug only energizes during startup. It was pointed out that as of the software upgrade, April 2020, the grill has auto relight. Today I set up a test flameout and, sure enough - when the grill sent an alert that the temp had dropped, I checked the glowplug and it was bright red. Who knew?
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ChuckO said:
You mean this thread?

Lew Newby

Thread 'News Flash, To Me, Smokefire Has Auto Relight.'

Since I bought my Smokefire in June 2020 I have thought that the Smokefire did not have auto relight. I was told that the glow plug only energizes during startup. It was pointed out that as of the software upgrade, April 2020, the grill has auto relight. Today I set up a test flameout and, sure enough - when the grill sent an alert that the temp had dropped, I checked the glowplug and it was bright red. Who knew?
  • Like
Click to expand...

If the Smokefire fires up it’s not a glow plug issue. There is another issue with the grill that’s causing it not to hold temp, get to temp, or flame out completely. Jim is not trying to run at a super low temp so a relight should never be an issue IF the grill is running correctly.
 
Auto relight? Sounds like a recipe for disaster in the SF. I don't recall seeing, or reading, anything official from Weber indicating there was a relight feature on the SF. If it does auto relight, I think that could have contributed to my recent burn back incident. One things for certain, the SF can be fickle at times and you have know clue why unless it's obvious.
 
I spoke with Frank from Weber later in the day yesterday. He reiterated that the design is for the glow plug to light just during the first 5 minutes of the cook. Once lit, it's the pellet feed rate and fan that maintain the fire/temps. He didn't mention a relight feature (I didn't ask). I'll try to remember to ask next time we speak.

I told him the thermocouple arrived early, but that I wouldn't be getting to that for a while with the impending weather and cold, and the fact that I confirmed with my infrared thermometer that the current thermocouple seems to be reading accurately. He suggested holding off on that for now, but at least I have it, in case it starts to look like an issue. BTW, changing out the thermocouple involves removing the hopper, auger, motor and power supply. We are going to focus on pellets right now. I've been using Weber pellets, but they are a few months old (sent to me by Frank back in Sept or Oct and stored in the garage). He's sending a fresh bag. He suggested testing with them, and we'll take it from there if that doesn't work. He reassured me multiple times that he will get me back up and grilling one way or another. While the down time is frustrating, Weber is certainly trying to work through this and make sure they have a happy customer.
 
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