Common pellet cooker issues

[Bob Swaskoski]

This was posted on Facebook. Pellet issues, flameouts, burn back, WiFi and application problems; all brands can be susceptible.

 

[Eugene B]

Yep. Even though the WSF has a short auger, and they did a lot with their shut down process to prevent this, I will vacuum the auger out every so often to clear out dust that settles. Not hard to do and the shop vac is a regular accessory around pellet cooler.

 

[BFletcher]

Can the auger channel become that heavily engulfed with sawdust in any way aside from the pellets being compromised? And how would you vacuum the entire auger channel, anyway? Would priming it without feeding new pellets clear the dust?

 

[Jon Tofte]

Pellet grills, regardless of brand, need regular cleaning. With a small shop vac it isn’t all that hard. Weber seems to have raised unrealistic expectations at the SmokeFire launch, but the care it requires looks to be at least similar to other pellet grills.

 

[Eugene B]

WSF reverses on every shut down. The one time I cleaned the auger just a while back while switching from Weber pellets to LJ, it was fairly easy to vacuum everything out. Before and after below.

 

[Bruno]

I bought a dedicated shop vac to clean my smokefire and it’s been fun to clean.

 

[Shane - glitchy]

Usually the problem in the OP pictures are from pellets that got damp somehow. They then disintegrate very easily. I've been running pellet grills for about 10 years now and (knock hard on wood) have never had this happen yet. I don't clean my pellets and have never vacuumed out an auger. I'm careful with pellet storage though and don't do silly things like pour all of the dust from the bottom of the bag into the hopper, but I do see some dust fall in when the pellets pour sometimes.

There are mechanical pieces to pellet grills, eventually there will be an issue or two, but it's not a regular occurrence for most people with a little common sense. Pellet grills have a lot of smart users, but they also attract a lot of people with no grilling experience whatsoever because of their advertised simplicity.

 

[Lew Newby]

From the pictures we don't know if there was a lot of pellet dust in the bag of pellets or if the pellets were subjected to moisture. With all of the auger mods is it possible that the Auger is breaking pellets at the hopper feed chute? I've never had that problem with either of my pellet grills.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Since I've had my Camp Chef which I got in December. Because of the weather I've only been able to use it a few times. But seeing the pictures I will for sure check the pellet's for moisture damage. Even though it's covered we've been having a lot of rain and wind.
Glad I looked at this thread.

 

[Lew Newby]

Rich, I've had sudden thunderstorms drench my Camp Chef during a cook but, surprisingly, the pellet hopper lid kept all moisture out and I didn't get water in the cook chamber. I keep my pellets in the bag in my garage in humid Florid and I haven't had a moisture problem. Looking more at the pictures the dust there looks just like what I find in the bottom of a bag of pellets.

Does it look like that to anyone else?