Dave's Smokefire EX6 Experiences

[Andy Erickson]

So, I know I expressed some optimism regarding Weber's ability to get this right eventually. After reading more about pellet grills and the issues and even just the amount of work that goes into using them, I gotta say I'm probably just out on pellet grills in full. In my mind the whole idea of using a pellet grill should be to make it easier than actually burning/tending wood and/or charcoal to smoke your food. Between the issues that all pellet smokers seem to have, combined with the amount of work involved in cleaning them, and on top of it all add in the much higher price points than other traditional smokers.... I just don't see what the benefit is for using this medium at all.

While I have confidence that Weber can/will put their heads together and probably get most of this all figured out eventually, I guess my lingering question is still a huge WHY? Why would they even try to get into this market and why go through all of this at all? My suspicion is that it's purely a corporate decision to have a presence in the market (which I always felt was the same reason behind the Summit Charcoal), but as a huge fan I'd rather them just bask in the confidence of knowing they have already mastered this whole BBQ and grilling thing and don't need to venture into the "gimicky" world of compressed sawdust burning. lol. That's the way I'd frame it, at least.

My original hope was that Weber would lure me into the market, but sadly they have probably only reinforced my decision to not enter it.

So, I guess my question is to you folks that are in the pellet market (Weber or otherwise) why have you chosen to do the pellet thing? I mean, a propane or electric cabinet smoker would accomplish the "set it and forget it" goal and you don't have to deal with all of the stuff that goes with the pellet smokers, and you would probably spend way less money on fuel. Again, just wondering if I'm missing something here.

Same boat as you. My weber performer and WSM have given me no problems whatsoever and I'm going to stick with what works and is tried and true. Everytime I look into Pellet smokers I see a ton of technology and problems that come with it. A big no thanks from me.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

The divider may effectively cut capacity due to the placement of the low pellets sensor. I would expect the short side to drain faster than the long side. Does the software shut down the grill at X minutes after the sensor detects low pellets? If it does, some pellets could be taped over the sensor to prevent shut down, but one would lose the functionality of that feature.

At this point I'm not really concerned about the low pellet sensor. I've never had one in any other pellet smoker and only ran out of pellets once in about the last 10 years. The pellet sensor to me is useless right now if the smoker won't feed pellets correctly. I don't mind going out every 3-4 hours to shift the pellets around, which I normally do on my other pellet smokers. I just don't want the thing to flame out due to lack of pellet feeding.

 

[BobJ]

I don't mind going out every 3-4 hours to shift the pellets around, which I normally do on my other pellet smokers.

The main reason for me wanting a pellet smoker is so I don't have to get up every few hours at night to check the WSM. Isn't the point of a pellet smoker to make smoking set and forget?

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

The main reason for me wanting a pellet smoker is so I don't have to get up every few hours at night to check the WSM. Isn't the point of a pellet smoker to make smoking set and forget?

I've never had a pellet smoker I've considered set it and forget it. With that said, some are better at that than others. Even when I'm doing a cook, I still like to check on it from time to time. I don't do too many overnight cooks, so maybe it's never been a big issue for me.

 

[Todd J]

This was on one of the Facebook groups.

This is on behalf of Weber Grills. They are unable to post directly on our page due to being categorized as a Business Page. We will see if we can get that fixed but in the meantime here is their first post

Hello @Weber SmokeFire Insiders - We appreciate your passion and want you to feel confident grilling with our products.

We stand behind you and are here to ensure you have the best grilling experience possible.

We have heard the concerns raised here, and we are enjoying all the success stories as well. We are going to address the questions with detailed instruction videos and Q&A that will be available in the coming days.

In the immediate time period, please continue to call or email our U.S.-based customer service team for assistance with specific questions about your grill – we’re working hard to get you grilling quickly.

1-800-446-1071

support@weberstephen.com

 

[J Grotz]

The main reason for me wanting a pellet smoker is so I don't have to get up every few hours at night to check the WSM. Isn't the point of a pellet smoker to make smoking set and forget?

Get an ATC for your WSM. Less expensive than a new pellet smoker.

 

[Bob Swaskoski]

This was on one of the Facebook groups.

This is on behalf of Weber Grills. They are unable to post directly on our page due to being categorized as a Business Page. We will see if we can get that fixed but in the meantime here is their first post

Hello @Weber SmokeFire Insiders - We appreciate your passion and want you to feel confident grilling with our products.

We stand behind you and are here to ensure you have the best grilling experience possible.

We have heard the concerns raised here, and we are enjoying all the success stories as well. We are going to address the questions with detailed instruction videos and Q&A that will be available in the coming days.

In the immediate time period, please continue to call or email our U.S.-based customer service team for assistance with specific questions about your grill – we’re working hard to get you grilling quickly.

1-800-446-1071

support@weberstephen.com

WOW! Talk about being tone deaf....this is not the time to be in denial Weber. Videos and Q&A/FAQ will not fix the design flaws and poorly developed software.

 

[J Grotz]

...
Hello @Weber SmokeFire Insiders - We appreciate your passion and want you to feel confident grilling with our products.

We stand behind you and are here to ensure you have the best grilling experience possible.

We have heard the concerns raised here, and we are enjoying all the success stories as well. We are going to address the questions with detailed instruction videos and Q&A that will be available in the coming days.

In the immediate time period, please continue to call or email our U.S.-based customer service team for assistance with specific questions about your grill – we’re working hard to get you grilling quickly.
...

In other words, all of the problems are 100% user error.

 

[Jason in CA]

This was on one of the Facebook groups.

This is on behalf of Weber Grills. They are unable to post directly on our page due to being categorized as a Business Page. We will see if we can get that fixed but in the meantime here is their first post

Hello @Weber SmokeFire Insiders - We appreciate your passion and want you to feel confident grilling with our products.

We stand behind you and are here to ensure you have the best grilling experience possible.

We have heard the concerns raised here, and we are enjoying all the success stories as well. We are going to address the questions with detailed instruction videos and Q&A that will be available in the coming days.

In the immediate time period, please continue to call or email our U.S.-based customer service team for assistance with specific questions about your grill – we’re working hard to get you grilling quickly.

1-800-446-1071

support@weberstephen.com

I told you they were working on a copy paste corporate bla bla bla BS response. and after seeing the few videos they put up yesterday I was joking about that being there go to for support but holy cow.

WOW! Talk about being tone deaf....this is not the time to be in denial Weber. Videos and Q&A/FAQ will not fix the design flaws and poorly developed software.

I think people (well at least me and I'm a people ) might have more respect for them at this point if they just came out and said sorry everybody Fd up.

 

[LarrySTX]

Whether the divider works or not, I am once again am impressed with your ingenuity. Would be way cool if an additional vertical surface was enough to keep the pellets flowing. Are you planning to try the divider in different locations if the first option doesn't work?

 

[Chris Allingham]

Get an ATC for your WSM. Less expensive than a new pellet smoker.

I was going to say the same thing. Buy a ThermoWorks Signals plus the optional Billows temp controller or something similar. Get it setup and running smoothly by 11PM and the thing will alarm on your smartphone if you develop a low or high temp situation overnight. Nighty night, sleep tight!

 

[Chris Allingham]

I want to see their explanation about the ash and burning embers and how users are supposed to adjust for that.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Whether the divider works or not, I am once again am impressed with your ingenuity. Would be way cool if an additional vertical surface was enough to keep the pellets flowing. Are you planning to try the divider in different locations if the first option doesn't work?

Thanks. This kind of stuff is fun, though I will admit the community has hit more issues with this than I was expecting. I didn't think Weber would have beat out Traeger for issues, but I think they did.

Yes I will. I'm going to take a guess of depth, position and possibly angle when applying it. I'm going to drain the Weber pellets and pour the Cookinpellets Perfect Mix pellets back in, since they are larger and gave me a number of issues. The cost point of the pellets I have are far more expense from Weber, so if I'm burning them for the sake of testing, I'm going to dig up the pellets I need to use due to age or cheaper price.

If the divider doesn't work initially, I'll reposition it a couple more times. If that doesn't work, then I'll consider it a bust. Like I mentioned earlier, I do have the UHMW tape showing up as well and I also bought some replacement stainless self tappers with lower profile heads. There are all kinds of things in the hopper assembly for pellets to get hung up on. I have another $50 worth of stuff showing up from Amazon as a result, including more electronics and hardware. I damn near ordered a Camp Chef Woodwind 36 Wifi with the Sidekick box, front shelf, and cover last night.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

I want to see their explanation about the ash and burning embers and how users are supposed to adjust for that.

There's a large gaping slot behind the front black panel which is installed and holds the ash box. A lot of ash comes out of there, along with the space around the ash pan. I've owned a lot of pellet smokers and I don't recall any of the other ones having a draft fan as powerful as the one in the Smokefire. The ash dropping through the bottom of the fire pot is also pretty unique. I don't know if another manufacturer does that or not?

From my testing, if you run the Smokefire on low and slow cooking, embers don't look to be an issue and blowing around ash is also reduced. The fan runs at a lower speed and the feed rate of the pellets is lower. When the Smokefire kicks into high gear is when it can agitate hot, partially burned pellets and blow them around. North of 325 or so, it starts picking up the pace.

I also plan to perform a smoke test by drafting smoke into the draft fan while the unit is off and seeing what the airflow looks like in the cooking chamber. As has been noticed, the amount of flame exiting the right side of the fire pot is significantly more than the left side. There's likely a reason for that due to the design of the innards of the fire pot assembly. I'll power the 24V fan off of a 24V power supply, so I can test without pellets or heat coming into play. I may not get to that until this weekend.

 

[J Grotz]

I want to see their explanation about the ash and burning embers and how users are supposed to adjust for that.

I went back to watch Harry Soo’s intro video. He claims (so I'm assuming that's what Weber told him) that 70% of the ash would end up in the ash drawer and only 30% in the cooker. All the pics and vids so far seem to show barely any ash in the drawer and lots of it in the cooker. Perhaps the fan was changed from prototype to retail model?

Dave, is the bottom of the cooker insufficiently sloped for the grease to run into the holes leading to the disposable tray? It does not appear (in videos and pics online) to have enough slope, especially when so much ash is accumulating in the bottom of the cooker and damming up the flow of grease.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

The slope is pretty minimal. On most pellet grills, you can run them on a downhill slope because they normally drain to one side. On the Smokefire, you can't do this. It needs to be leveled pretty well. I'll get some better shots this weekend when I tear the thing apart.

I could CNC plasma cut a piece of light gauge stainless to create a better slope towards the center to promote more aggressive grease drainage. I don't really want to though, but I do have the capability in my home shop. lol

 

[J Grotz]

The slope is pretty minimal. ...
I could CNC plasma cut a piece of light gauge stainless to create a better slope towards the center to promote more aggressive grease drainage. ...

What a weird thing to mess up. They've been using steep sloped grease trays in the Genesis gas grills for decades. Weber should put you on retainer. How the heck was this thing released to the public?

 

[Chris Allingham]

I could CNC plasma cut a piece of light gauge stainless...

You. Are. Too. Much.

 

[BobJ]

I was going to say the same thing. Buy a ThermoWorks Signals plus the optional Billows temp controller or something similar. Get it setup and running smoothly by 11PM and the thing will alarm on your smartphone if you develop a low or high temp situation overnight. Nighty night, sleep tight!

That is my other option, weighing to pros and cons of each. After all I've learned during this Smokefire fiasco, charcoal is looking better and better.

 

[ClintA.G.]

I have an EX6. Haven’t cooked in it due 85% ash coating the inside of the pit along with a significant amount outside the pit. On the burn in, i reached 600F but the flame was only shooting out of the right side of the fire pot with almost none to the left. Then tried a smoke test at 200F. I put the weber meat probe hung right next to the pit temp sensor. It looks like they are averaging or dampening the pit temp sensor as it will show 200F but the meat probe can move +/- 15F. The fan will run slow with pit temp showing 200F but the meat probe will show lower temp then the fan turns on full blast and blows ash everywhere. I took apart the pellet slide and fire pot assembly. There are slots cut that allow air directly into the ash box before surrounding the fire pot. The fire pot has holes drilled around the bottom of it but doesn’t sit flat so there is a 1/4” or more gap all the way around the bottom of it. It seems that when the fan is on max speed it is just going to force ash and embers up out the fire pot and blow them everywhere. Not sure how this was supposed to have ash fall downward into the ash box.
I would guess they are running a PID control loop of some sort and have a very poorly tuned algorithm. The fan should not only be very slow or hurricane when set to 200F.