Hopper Design


 
D

Darian Hofer

TVWBB Pro
I would still like to find the Weber Engineer that designed the pellet hopper, and the so called version 2 fix, and buy him/her a beer. I keep asking at all the fast food drive through restaurants. No luck so far. There was a reason no other company is using a similar design. I know there are some work arounds that help. I know, not a new rant, but it‘s still irritating.
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I'm with you. Just to make sure that the problematic design would wreak havoc on owners they put that finger guard at the choke point. DUHHH!!! I have an engineering education and I also find it incredible that they would release that design. I addressed the problem my way but I understand that some folks don't like the idea or feel that they shouldn't have to do such a thing. Despite the shortfalls I would never go back to a conventional design pellet grill. The food just tastes too darn good. .
 
Weber kind of copied the Recteq rear hopper design, but they went too far to make it stylish. The Recteq one is deeper front to back. It can sometimes do a little bridging, but nothing like what some have reported with the SmokeFire.

As has been said a number of times, the SmokeFIre seems to be a temperamental, high-strung race horse. She can well outrun her competitors when everything is working right. Just don't expect a steady pack horse that quietly does its job each day. It seems you have to be a lot more pro-active and patient. However, the results we have seen here do seem to justify the extra effort.
 
I’m the outlier, I love the hopper design and being in back. I tend to it enough it’s rarely an issue
 
Jon Tofte said:
Weber kind of copied the Recteq rear hopper design, but they went too far to make it stylish. The Recteq one is deeper front to back. It can sometimes do a little bridging, but nothing like what some have reported with the SmokeFire.

As has been said a number of times, the SmokeFIre seems to be a temperamental, high-strung race horse. She can well outrun her competitors when everything is working right. Just don't expect a steady pack horse that quietly does its job each day. It seems you have to be a lot more pro-active and patient. However, the results we have seen here do seem to justify the extra effort.
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As much as I would love to have a SmokeFire, that's the exact reason I don't have one, I have all the patients of a rattle snake on a hot rock.
Also, Murphy is a relative of mine that likes to visit me quite frequently.
 
TimA said:
I’m the outlier, I love the hopper design and being in back. I tend to it enough it’s rarely an issue
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Yea, it’s like driving a car with a 20 gallon gas tank that can just stop at any time so you have to keep topping it off.
It doesn’t bother me to push the pellets around while Im grilling. But it’s ridiculous to check a pellet smoker every couple hours on a low and slow cook. It might not bother you, but it’s definitely not a selling point.
 
The longest I went without fiddling with the hopper is 11 hours, to add more pellets. Now, I usually check the hopper during cooks, just because. Not been any issues as of yet. I did remove the finger guard on day one. Could the hopper design be better? Sure, but it was not a deal breaker for me. The issues with Gen 1 were.
 
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