New EX6 for Christmas, got one cook out of it!


 
C

Corey S

TVWBB Fan
Hello All, I Started thinking about getting a pellet grill earlier this year. Being a huge Weber charcoal fan, I was pleased to see that Weber had developed their own pellet grill. However I was hesitant to buy one early on after seeing all the poor early reviews.
I live in a part of AZ that is extremely hot in the summer, firing up a charcoal kettle, or the WSM, is not very pleasant experience in the extreme summer heat. I thought that a pellet grill might be the answer for a more pleasant experience to cook in our summer heat by eliminating the charcoal start up process.
I looked again at the reviews on the Weber SmokeFire grills later this year and saw improving reviews, and a lot more satisfied people than their were early on.
So I took a leap of Faith, and decided to ask for one for Christmas this year, thinking that by now Weber would have a handle on the problems with the GEN 2 models.
So My new Gen 2 EX6 was delivered on Christmas eve, I carefully assemble it on Christmas day after all the AM family stuff was done, and on saturday a box of accessories arrived along with a bag of Grill Master Blend pellets. I performed the recommended burn in procedure yesterday AM, and made plans for my first cook on this new machine. Baked potatoes, Grilled veggies, and Rib Eye Steaks were on the menu. This thing was great, performed flawlessly, made a great meal, I could see myself falling in love with this thing.
I still had 3 racks of Spare Ribs in the freezer that I refused to do on the WSM back in the summer, so I decided I would do them (get them out of my freezer) today on the new pellet machine. I refilled the pellet hopper, and cleaned out the ash from the last night, I cut the spares St Louis style, and made up a batch of Wolfe Rub for them. Ready to go I stepped outside, plugged in the EX6, turned it on set at 200 degrees and stepped back inside for a moment. When I came back out (Ready to start smoking the ribs) it was off !... Dead, no display no sound, just dead, I unplugged it, plugged it in again, and turned it on again, and got nothing. I tried my extension cord on something else, and it was fine. The controller just up and died, during start up on only its second cook!, not happy about that at all.
I had such high hopes for this thing, I am very very disappointed right now. Fortunately I had two bags of kingsford, a bag of apple wood chunks, a bag of cherry wood chunks, and my trusty 22" WSM on hand. So dinner will still be served about an hour or so late, but whatever...
I trust that Weber Customer Service will make this right and send me out a new controller for it without delay. Regardless, it is still very disappointing to have this thing fail so quickly, and after all I have read about unit throughout the year , I have a very bad feeling right now about what the future holds for me and my relationship with this new cooker.
 
Corey S said:
Hello All, I Started thinking about getting a pellet grill earlier this year. Being a huge Weber charcoal fan, I was pleased to see that Weber had developed their own pellet grill. However I was hesitant to buy one early on after seeing all the poor early reviews.
I live in a part of AZ that is extremely hot in the summer, firing up a charcoal kettle, or the WSM, is not very pleasant experience in the extreme summer heat. I thought that a pellet grill might be the answer for a more pleasant experience to cook in our summer heat by eliminating the charcoal start up process.
I looked again at the reviews on the Weber SmokeFire grills later this year and saw improving reviews, and a lot more satisfied people than their were early on.
So I took a leap of Faith, and decided to ask for one for Christmas this year, thinking that by now Weber would have a handle on the problems with the GEN 2 models.
So My new Gen 2 EX6 was delivered on Christmas eve, I carefully assemble it on Christmas day after all the AM family stuff was done, and on saturday a box of accessories arrived along with a bag of Grill Master Blend pellets. I performed the recommended burn in procedure yesterday AM, and made plans for my first cook on this new machine. Baked potatoes, Grilled veggies, and Rib Eye Steaks were on the menu. This thing was great, performed flawlessly, made a great meal, I could see myself falling in love with this thing.
I still had 3 racks of Spare Ribs in the freezer that I refused to do on the WSM back in the summer, so I decided I would do them (get them out of my freezer) today on the new pellet machine. I refilled the pellet hopper, and cleaned out the ash from the last night, I cut the spares St Louis style, and made up a batch of Wolfe Rub for them. Ready to go I stepped outside, plugged in the EX6, turned it on set at 200 degrees and stepped back inside for a moment. When I came back out (Ready to start smoking the ribs) it was off !... Dead, no display no sound, just dead, I unplugged it, plugged it in again, and turned it on again, and got nothing. I tried my extension cord on something else, and it was fine. The controller just up and died, during start up on only its second cook!, not happy about that at all.
I had such high hopes for this thing, I am very very disappointed right now. Fortunately I had two bags of kingsford, a bag of apple wood chunks, a bag of cherry wood chunks, and my trusty 22" WSM on hand. So dinner will still be served about an hour or so late, but whatever...
I trust that Weber Customer Service will make this right and send me out a new controller for it without delay. Regardless, it is still very disappointing to have this thing fail so quickly, and after all I have read about unit throughout the year , I have a very bad feeling right now about what the future holds for me and my relationship with this new cooker.
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I hate hearing that. Good luck with Weber they are the best customer service going.
I’ve had nothing but great cooks ever since I installed the new welded auger.
 
Bummer. I assume you're confident that the power cord is fully-seated in the SmokeFire's socket. I once lost power on another smoker because the plug was seated just enough not to fall out yet not enough to make the electrical connection.

Beyond that, have you referred to the owner's manual troubleshooting section and checked the fuse? Of course, if the fuse did blow then you'll probably want to know why that happened.

Good luck!

1609113873094.png
 
BFletcher said:
Bummer. I assume you're confident that the power cord is fully-seated in the SmokeFire's socket. I once lost power on another smoker because the plug was seated just enough not to fall out yet not enough to make the electrical connection.

Beyond that, have you referred to the owner's manual troubleshooting section and checked the fuse? Of course, if the fuse did blow then you'll probably want to know why that happened.

Good luck!

View attachment 20192
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Thank You, that fuse will be the next thing I am going to check, first chance I get after this cook is over, Just now foiled up the ribs to go for the next two hours or so.
I did check the power supply cable connection by the switch, unplugged it, plugged it back in etc, still nothing.
At that point I had to quit fiddling with it, and figure out pretty quick what I was going to do with the 3 racks of ribs I had ready to smoke,
and here I have a dead pellet grill....
Thank God for the trusty old WSM, and havings the supplies on hand to fire it up in record time. I usually plan that out, not today though.
 
The fuse was my first guess, too. Obviously saving your cook had to come first, but I would for sure check that. Also, I don't think these things like extension cords, so at least try plugging it in directly to see if anything happens. I am still thinking the fuse, though.
 
I agree with Jon on the extension cords. Never 16 ga or 18 ga or longer than 25ft. !4ga is good and 12ga is even better. All 3 wire cords.
 
Just FYI, I did not use an ordinary light duty ext. cord, it was a 9' heavy duty extension cord designed for appliances, I've had it quite a while, I believe it is 12ga.
I have no reservations about the ext. cord, I formerly ran a 10,000 BTU window A/C on this same cord for over 3 years, and it was on the same 15 amp circuit with all my computer rigs (which worried me) but I never had any issues.
With that said, Yes, I Agree, an extension cord is not Ideal, I did plug it directly into the outlet without an ext cord, and it was still dead.
I ordered some fuses tonight, they should be here on Wednesday.
Total supposition here: This AM when I cleaned out the ash from last night, I noticed a small pile of pellets at the end of the shute against the end of the auger, I thought nothing of it as I suspect they were just the next pellets in line when I shut down last night.
Perhaps they jammed up the auger today at start up? and caused enough of an overload to pop the fuse ? Who Knows.
 
Corey S said:
Just FYI, I did not use an ordinary light duty ext. cord, it was a 9' heavy duty extension cord designed for appliances, I've had it quite a while, I believe it is 12ga.
I have no reservations about the ext. cord, I formerly ran a 10,000 BTU window A/C on this same cord for over 3 years, and it was on the same 15 amp circuit with all my computer rigs (which worried me) but I never had any issues.
With that said, Yes, I Agree, an extension cord is not Ideal, I did plug it directly into the outlet without an ext cord, and it was still dead.
I ordered some fuses tonight, they should be here on Wednesday.
Total supposition here: This AM when I cleaned out the ash from last night, I noticed a small pile of pellets at the end of the shute against the end of the auger, I thought nothing of it as I suspect they were just the next pellets in line when I shut down last night.
Perhaps they jammed up the auger today at start up? and caused enough of an overload to pop the fuse ? Who Knows.
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I don’t believe it was the pellets, they are always there.
I know a few guys who had the fuse issue. I know I should order some in just hoping that never happens.
 
BFletcher said:
Bummer. I assume you're confident that the power cord is fully-seated in the SmokeFire's socket. I once lost power on another smoker because the plug was seated just enough not to fall out yet not enough to make the electrical connection.

Beyond that, have you referred to the owner's manual troubleshooting section and checked the fuse? Of course, if the fuse did blow then you'll probably want to know why that happened.

Good luck!

View attachment 20192
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Thank you for adding information to the pool. Great post. We should all have a pouch of fuses ready. Course what the cause was needs to be determined and solved first.
Question: 1.6 amp fuse for a 5 amp system?
 
Corey S said:
Just FYI, I did not use an ordinary light duty ext. cord, it was a 9' heavy duty extension cord designed for appliances, I've had it quite a while, I believe it is 12ga.
I have no reservations about the ext. cord, I formerly ran a 10,000 BTU window A/C on this same cord for over 3 years, and it was on the same 15 amp circuit with all my computer rigs (which worried me) but I never had any issues.
With that said, Yes, I Agree, an extension cord is not Ideal, I did plug it directly into the outlet without an ext cord, and it was still dead.
I ordered some fuses tonight, they should be here on Wednesday.
Total supposition here: This AM when I cleaned out the ash from last night, I noticed a small pile of pellets at the end of the shute against the end of the auger, I thought nothing of it as I suspect they were just the next pellets in line when I shut down last night.
Perhaps they jammed up the auger today at start up? and caused enough of an overload to pop the fuse ? Who Knows.
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Corey:
The cord definitely isn't the issue then. Hope the issue is easy to resolve with tech support.
 
IIRC, apparently, there is a misprint in the manual. Various forums have thrown this back and forth multiple times. In addition, Weber CS has given contradictory and incorrect information. And then there is 120/240 countries involved. And the Weber web site does not have any info listed. Just be careful. And I do not have the answer or a backup for my grill. I should act.
 
BFletcher said:
This question came up a couple months ago here: https://tvwbb.com/threads/ex6-power-supply-fuse-anyone-have-a-source.83017/#post-918769

Another user suggested it would be 1.6A at 250v or 5A at 120V. That's not what I remember from when I studied theory decades ago but my memory is failing me.

I don't have a SmokeFire, so I don't know what is stamped on the fuse cartridge.
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Same here. My memory is fading faster than a 50 amp fuse.
Iirc current is the key factor.
 
No dog in this one but, it’s good to have the basics as back up! The electrical aspect is my biggest dislike of most of these units. I used to love sitting around outside playing music and having people say , “You need an amp!” (They obviously weren’t paying attention.) I’d just reply with,”If I plug it in, I’m stuck to it and “the man” can charge me for it!”
Way off topic but, you catch the drift.
 
Ok, Received a batch of new fuses yesterday, replaced the fuse, and it is still dead. No display, No sounds, Just darkness.
Just for giggles, before I contact Weber, I am going to dig through my boxes of computer supplies / components and try a different power supply cable, (never had one fail ever before) gonna do it only because a lot of posters here seem to have suspicions of power supply cables!
Next step Is Weber Customer Service, soon as I get a minute.

I agree that there is a lot of confusion / mis-information regarding the fuses on these things. In a post above BFletcher posted a page from the manual regarding fuse replacement, that page makes reference to two different fuses ? Now, The same troubleshooting page in my current manual that came with my EX6, (I am assuming it is current?) shows the exact same diagram, but the verbiage has changed removing reference to the 5a 120v fuse, I closely examined the original fuse I removed from my EX6, and I can confirm it indeed shipped to me with a 6a 250v fuse installed

Not being an electronics Guru I am not going to question why Weber chose to use a 250v rated fuse on a US 120v power system? regardless the fuse does not appear to be the problem in my EX6 anyway. So I am gonna let that one go.
 
Corey S said:
Not being an electronics Guru I am not going to question why Weber chose to use a 250v rated fuse on a US 120v power system? regardless the fuse does not appear to be the problem in my EX6 anyway. So I am gonna let that one go.
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As long as the current rating of the fuse is correct, using a 250V fuse in a 120V system is no problem, it’s actually a good idea since the risk of arcing when the fuse blows is reduced. But don’t do it the other way around!
 
MikaelB said:
As long as the current rating of the fuse is correct, using a 250V fuse in a 120V system is no problem, it’s actually a good idea since the risk of arcing when the fuse blows is reduced. But don’t do it the other way around!
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Thank You, Good info to know. So there was likely some wisdom in that choice for Weber.
We have an electrician who works for the company that I work for, I was intending to ask him what his thoughts were about the 250v VS: 120v fuse You saved me from troubling him with yet another question.
 
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