EX4 Not Starting


 
If you are getting caked up pellet debris on the bottom of your fire pot you might be getting drippings running down your feed ramp into the fire pot.
Make sure your feed ramp rests on top the V bar rack.
First real photo shows wrong way. The other 2 diagrams show it correctly installed.
IMG_1683.jpgIMG_1684.pngIMG_1685.png
 
I had a no start last Thursday. I've updated the firmware, checked the glow plug connection, I have a fresh bag or pellets in it, and everything was cleaned before this. Went four cooks before the no start after the cleaning and check. Fan blows air, not sure a way to tell if it is still blowing the same as brand new. Contemplating ordering a replacement and playing parts swap monkey.
 
Have you pulled your auger? My pin broke, I had similar results you're describing above. You'll have to dump all your pellets, pull off the back panel and remove the auger/motor to see if the pin has sheared off. If it has, the motor will spin like normal, but the auger won't
 
RStephen said:
I had a no start last Thursday. I've updated the firmware, checked the glow plug connection, I have a fresh bag or pellets in it, and everything was cleaned before this. Went four cooks before the no start after the cleaning and check. Fan blows air, not sure a way to tell if it is still blowing the same as brand new. Contemplating ordering a replacement and playing parts swap monkey.
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If I'm duplicating a thought that has already been shared, I have not caught myself up on all of this thread's posts but if my SF is powering up and the fan runs but the pellets don't ignite I'd check to see if the glow plug is functioning. This should be able to be accomplished by 1) connecting a watt meter inline with the power cord or 2) perhaps touching the tip of a thermometer probe to the glow plug or 3) the finger test

Edit: Well Chuck has a good point too... first, you need pellets in the pot.
 
The pot always has pellets in it when I open it up after a no start. When I cleaned it I made sure the entire auger was cleaned out. There wasn't many fines in it, but I wanted to make sure I got all the charcoal pellets out.

I don't remember anything sticking on the chute. I double check that before startup, but feel like I would've noticed grease on it.

I replaced the glow plug recently. Didn't think about it as a possible problem, maybe I got a bad one.
 
I'm not up on the error codes and I'm not here to say that if the glow plug doesn't get hot that it is bad or poorly connected but it can be a starting point before throwing parts at it. Or possibly even manually lighting the pellets to see what happens thereafter. I have no idea what role the thermocouple plays on ignition.
 
It's odd that the controller is not giving an E6 error code for the start up failure.

According to the manual, after the failure to start, it says to start the grill at 400 degrees to see if the glow plug is working.

Since yours seems to be working intermittently, I still suspect it's a controller issue. I would try a factory reset of the controller.
 
RStephen said:
I had a no start last Thursday. I've updated the firmware, checked the glow plug connection, I have a fresh bag or pellets in it, and everything was cleaned before this. Went four cooks before the no start after the cleaning and check. Fan blows air, not sure a way to tell if it is still blowing the same as brand new. Contemplating ordering a replacement and playing parts swap monkey.
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It’s possible that the glow plug ground is making intermittent contact. You can put a small hose clamp on it to fix that. I hope it works.IMG_0077.jpeg
 
Does that glow plug have only 1 wire? If so then definitely you could be seeing an intermittent ground issue. But, if it looks like this one (which is a generic type igniter rod most pellet grills use) then it would not be due to a ground as this type will work even if it's just "hanging" in there with no solid connection to the ground.
Having not seen the device used in the SF I don't know.

1693321016636.png
 
LMichaels said:
Does that glow plug have only 1 wire? If so then definitely you could be seeing an intermittent ground issue. But, if it looks like this one (which is a generic type igniter rod most pellet grills use) then it would not be due to a ground as this type will work even if it's just "hanging" in there with no solid connection to the ground.
Having not seen the device used in the SF I don't know.

View attachment 77973
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The Smokefire uses a glow plug, as seen in my picture. The hot rods are different.
 
Lew Newby said:
The Smokefire uses a glow plug, as seen in my picture. The hot rods are different.
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So single feed wire then? Would likely explain the need for a ground through the body of the grill. I think I read somewhere they adapted a plug from a diesel engine. Does it run on low DC voltage like 12V or so?
The ones most use are 110V AC switched through an SSR
 
LMichaels said:
So single feed wire then? Would likely explain the need for a ground through the body of the grill. I think I read somewhere they adapted a plug from a diesel engine. Does it run on low DC voltage like 12V or so?
The ones most use are 110V AC switched through an SSR
Click to expand...
It's a 24V glow plug. I suspect that the diesel engine talk is another Smokefire internet myth. The ground connection has been a common problem and a lot of Smokefires have the hose clamp hack. Weber redesigned the glow plug harness assembly
when they designed the Stealth version.
 
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