Smokefire Mod - Not Mine


 
Lew Newby

Lew Newby

R.I.P. 1/26/2024
With all of the bad publicity the Smokefire and folks who do own nor have used a Smokefire continue to spread the exaggerations to any and all I like seeing someone solve a weakness of the Smokefire. Owners determined to make it work for them came up with several ways to improve pellet flow once the pellet guard is removed. You can polish the long ramp in the hopper with steel wool. That's lots of work. You can wax it with car wax or you cn coat it with UHMW tape. They all make it slicker and the pellet feed problem almost disappears. A fella I know came up with a vibrator on the hopper and it works. I think you'll find this interesting and you could do it yourself if you wanted to. https://youtu.be/pSx6SQ0s9aI
 
Interesting. The timer really makes it, pushes it over the edge of “cool, but.....” to really no arguments. However, it being for Smokefire, it’s GUARANTEED to draw naysayers!

Strange world indeed. Thanks for sharing!
 
Lew, that’s a very ingenious solution he came up with, Though, why should anyone that buys a $1000-1200 product have to make any modifications to it in regards to basic functionality? A pellet grill should feed pellets properly out of the box, it’s expected included functionality. I would also be curious to see which is louder the concrete vibrator rattling the hopper or the SmokeFire fan. I bet his neighbors love being outside while he’s cooking.

I‘m all for great mods, don’t even mind when they improve stock functionality. I just don’t think they should be needed to make expected functionality work as expected.

That being said, with the finger guard removed and the ramp slicked up, I never had another flameout, so not totally sure he’s solving a real problem or not? If Weber wants to stop the hopper skepticism they need to redesign that finger guard as you know they aren’t telling people to remove it.
 
Didn’t slick anything up, removed the finger guard, never installed the new hopper and it goes long enough. It’s BBQ I don’t mind checking on things.
 
I posted it because it works. Bulky and noisy but it works. My smaller and quieter vibrator that I attached at top of the ramp didn’t work out. Someone will look at that and improve on it. My first pellet grill was a used Rec Tec and that’s when I heard about and saw the “cone of death” in the side mounted pellet hopper. Once I waxed the inside of the hopper I eliminated the cone. I hear you and others who say “Weber should have “ but I just want to keep my grill cooking. I’ll slick up my ramp and stir pellets in the hopper just as insurance. If Weber does a complete redesign and issues the Smokefire Premium (my terminology) then good on those that get it. My Gen 1 works for me.
 
You're right Lew, it absolutely does work. But I agree with Shane, his neighbors must hate it. Unless his neighbors are far away. Now I gotta buy some wax. Thank you Lew for the insight.
 
I hope Weber sees the video, I think it's a awesome mod and should easily be able to be retrofit into the Smokefire using existing screw holes to mount. Should also be able to be plugged into the controller to shake ..... Would solve the pellet Hopper issue . I only have two cooks so far, and the only issue was some pellets not dropping. Still got many days left to return it if necessary , but I'm hoping all goes well because this kicks my Masterbuilt digital electric smoker !!!
 
As I’ve said before, pellet feed is unreliable in many brands of pellet grills. While I made a couple of changes in my hopper Bruno hasn’t and just stirs his pellets now and then. With charcoal cookers we had to be aware of ash build up and charcoal quantity. Negatives about the Smokefire get blown out of proportion. The vibration is just another way to stir the pellets but it may be right for those that want hands off cooking. I posted it because it’s an interesting approach.
 
Lew Newby said:
As I’ve said before, pellet feed is unreliable in many brands of pellet grills. While I made a couple of changes in my hopper Bruno hasn’t and just stirs his pellets now and then. With charcoal cookers we had to be aware of ash build up and charcoal quantity. Negatives about the Smokefire get blown out of proportion. The vibration is just another way to stir the pellets but it may be right for those that want hands off cooking. I posted it because it’s an interesting approach.
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I’ve tried 10 different models of pellet grills and only have had one feed problem outside the SmokeFire and that was a Traeger Junior that stopped feeding when down to the last pound or two of pellets, which was kind of frustrating because the hopper only held 10-12 pounds of pellets to start with, but it was consistent. It has not been a problem at all on all the other models I’ve tried. Pellet delivery was very reliable as I did overnight cooks without worry. That’s not saying that just about any pellet grill could not have pellets bridge at some point, but it should be an extreme rarity.

The reason it is a focal point for the SmokeFire is because the SmokeFire will fail to feed at times with a full hopper if you don’t remove the finger guard. For a company like Weber that’s unacceptable, they are the outdoor cooking market leader and get everyone from seasoned veterans to noobs. A noob shouldn’t have to go to BBQ forums or Facebook to learn how to mod their grill just to avoid flameouts. Well, no one should really, it’s just us weirdos spent hours of our lives talking about grills, smokers, and food.

I wonder how many SmokeFires have been returned for feed issues alone? It would be very interesting to see the numbers. I see users on Facebook and another forum all the time talking about their grill mysteriously flaming out and coming out to find the bottom full of pellets and a cold grill. My take is the pellets bridged, flame went out, auger kept turning and finally the vibration broke the bridge and pellets started flowing into a flame less pot. Casual users don’t want to spent hours trying to figure out what happened nor do they probably want to remove parts Weber hasn’t told them to remove or wax their hopper. They definitely don’t want to rig up concrete vibrators. Sure, us weirdos might since the SmokeFire lays down the smoke and sears amazing for a pellet grill, but my neighbors just want their grill to work.
 
Shane, I hear you. Loud and clear.

Just as TVWBB is full of ideas for mods to the WSM I thought this would stimulate creative thinking and someone might come up with a better idea. We have several owners here that want to improve what we have because our grills produce great tasting food. I don’t cook with what Weber should have done. I cook with what I have.
 
Not needed on my E6, as I haven't had any feed issues through a variety of pellet brands. However, I could see something useful with this, maybe a little quieter and less aggressive, getting activated when the low pellet warning comes on. With the sensor on the short side of the hopper, my warning comes on when there are plenty of pellets on the longer side, and all still coming down and feeding just fine. Would be nice for the vibrator to activate and bring the pellet level back down, at least to deactivate the sensor so that its low pellet warning was more accurate. JMO.

Charlie
 
We lost power for 10 days a few winters ago. Thank goodness for the $20 yard sale Weber kettle. I don't even own a smart phone. This video is hilarious and it's literally every friend/family member I know with a pellet machine, at some level.

Why not just use a gas grill with some pellet smoke tubes? I just don't get it. All the tested reliability of a gas grill without electricity, electric motors, fans, computer control, wifi, diagnosis, noise, troubleshooting. . . .oh, man, c'mon. :) Sorry to the pellet enthusiasts, but, yeah . . .


 
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Life is full of choices, and thank god we don’t all make the same ones. Because really, why cook outside when you can cook in a nice cozy heated/air conditioned kitchen? Exactly.
 
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