EX4 Experience


 
Shane I don't have a block list either I think people are posting so much stuff sometimes its hard to keep up with it. You go to add something and you missed 4 posts or posted something that was answered twice already without even knowing it. Like Lew not sure since I have joined here that I have ever seen anything like it.
 
Shane F:
I certainly understand your frustration with the ex4. The SmokeFire issues seem fairly well defined at this point and they are not yet available everywhere. I couldn't justify spending $1K for a smoker that I would at most use maybe a dozen times a year mostly just to do ribs. I went for a pellet grill at half that cost and retain my 2007 Genesis which is a workhorse. I rebuilt a similar 2007 for my son and have one I bought for parts. That is how much I like that design with the E-W burners. Not keen on the N-S burner configuration. I'm afraid the SmokeFire will be on a product recall in the next few months.
 
Dan Leighton said:
Shane F:
I certainly understand your frustration with the ex4. The SmokeFire issues seem fairly well defined at this point and they are not yet available everywhere. I couldn't justify spending $1K for a smoker that I would at most use maybe a dozen times a year mostly just to do ribs. I went for a pellet grill at half that cost and retain my 2007 Genesis which is a workhorse. I rebuilt a similar 2007 for my son and have one I bought for parts. That is how much I like that design with the E-W burners. Not keen on the N-S burner configuration. I'm afraid the SmokeFire will be on a product recall in the next few months.
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Like you, I went with a lower priced Camp Chef and keeping my daily driver Weber's. I've only used the Camp Chef six times and all have been successful cooks. The up side is I don't think I've done six cooks in the winter in the last six years, so it's exceeding my expectations. Never thought I'd do a 9 hour L&S pork shoulder cook in 20-30 degree weather. Only had to go out to check the pellet level a couple of times. No chasing temps in the wind like the WSM.
 
I cleaned the grill last night and decided to fire it up just to see how it was running. There was a good amount of ash and grease to clean. Cleaning will need to be done every 2-3 cooks by the looks of it.

I set the temp to 300 and it started up fine but the temp wasn't rising very quickly, so I bumped the set temp to 500 and it took off. After it hit 400, I set the temp back down to 300 to see how it would adjust. At this time I was also installing the handle light that I removed from my genesis, so the lid was open briefly. I noticed the temps fall pretty quickly, but didn't think much of it as I had the lid up. I close the lid and let it do it's thing. A few minutes pass and I bring up the app and the temp is showing 135. Better go look.

The grill is cooled off. I can hear pellets dropping, but no heat, no flame. I pull the grates, the covers and find a flood of pellets down the slide, covering the burn pot and falling to the bottom of the grill. I put the grill in shutdown mode, but then decided to just turn it off. As I understand it, the system blast heat to burn the remaining pellets during shutdown and I didn't need that. So I cleaned up the pellets and turned it back on.

When it restarted, it had an error for not completing the shutdown process. I started the shutdown process and it just basically ran the auger backwards and said it was complete.

I started it back up and it fired up and ran fine up to 450. Since it was hot, I decided to put some frozen apple tarts in and see how it would handle them. The instructions said 400 for 20 mins. So, I set the temp to 400 and waited for the temp to settle. The temp dropped to 335 and seemed to just hang there. I went out to see if it was still running and it was. It just wouldn't climb in temp, so I set it to 420. It took off and climbed to 420 and stayed. I turned it back down to 400 and it dropped back down to 350 and looked like it wasn't going to recover. So, I adjust back to 420 and it took off to 420 and stayed. Just odd.

I ended up cooking them at 420 and it took 25 mins although it was recommended for 400 for 18-20 mins. I was cooking on the upper level. Maybe that affected the time it took to cook???

Not giving up yet, wish I had more time to cook so that I had a better idea on the quality and performance. With all the negative comments, I wonder why Weber isn't responding.
 
Keep us updated Todd, I too wish I had more time to cook, I’m going to bug the hell out of you guys when I retire and I’m rocking SmokeFire 3 or 4.
 
Todd J said:
I cleaned the grill last night and decided to fire it up just to see how it was running. There was a good amount of ash and grease to clean. Cleaning will need to be done every 2-3 cooks by the looks of it.

I set the temp to 300 and it started up fine but the temp wasn't rising very quickly, so I bumped the set temp to 500 and it took off. After it hit 400, I set the temp back down to 300 to see how it would adjust. At this time I was also installing the handle light that I removed from my genesis, so the lid was open briefly. I noticed the temps fall pretty quickly, but didn't think much of it as I had the lid up. I close the lid and let it do it's thing. A few minutes pass and I bring up the app and the temp is showing 135. Better go look.

The grill is cooled off. I can hear pellets dropping, but no heat, no flame. I pull the grates, the covers and find a flood of pellets down the slide, covering the burn pot and falling to the bottom of the grill. I put the grill in shutdown mode, but then decided to just turn it off. As I understand it, the system blast heat to burn the remaining pellets during shutdown and I didn't need that. So I cleaned up the pellets and turned it back on.

When it restarted, it had an error for not completing the shutdown process. I started the shutdown process and it just basically ran the auger backwards and said it was complete.

I started it back up and it fired up and ran fine up to 450. Since it was hot, I decided to put some frozen apple tarts in and see how it would handle them. The instructions said 400 for 20 mins. So, I set the temp to 400 and waited for the temp to settle. The temp dropped to 335 and seemed to just hang there. I went out to see if it was still running and it was. It just wouldn't climb in temp, so I set it to 420. It took off and climbed to 420 and stayed. I turned it back down to 400 and it dropped back down to 350 and looked like it wasn't going to recover. So, I adjust back to 420 and it took off to 420 and stayed. Just odd.

I ended up cooking them at 420 and it took 25 mins although it was recommended for 400 for 18-20 mins. I was cooking on the upper level. Maybe that affected the time it took to cook???

Not giving up yet, wish I had more time to cook so that I had a better idea on the quality and performance. With all the negative comments, I wonder why Weber isn't responding.
Click to expand...

Looks like the fan is at high speed for the high temp. Maybe a failure of software when cooler or the temp probe is off
 
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