Smokefire Stealth EPX4 won't reach more than 250C/480F


 
Y

Yngve Nordby

New member
Hi, and greetings from Norway :)

My EPX4 won't reach 600F/315C. I used to have an EX6 2nd gen which had no problems reaching 315C/600F, but had all sorts of other problems so I got a replacement EPX4 Stealth from Weber in August -23. But this won't beyond 250C/480F. It has on two occasions reached 315C/600F, but that took almost an hour. The old EX6 reached 315C/600F in 15-20 minutes with no problems.

I have been troubleshooting with customers support, and they say they are having problems with their pellets for the past few months now. They say it's caused by bad pellets manufacturing and does not go beyond 270C/520F. But I have been using all sorts of fresh pellets, both Weber from bags and boxes, and another high quality brand (The Missing Link) since I got the EPX4 back in August -23, before they had their pellets problems. All these pellets were good on the EX6. Are you having problems with Weber pellets reaching maximum temperatures?
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum. I have an EX6 and had the same issue a couple of times. The most recent time was last week when I tried a high heat burn off before cleaning. I blame it on the pellets. I've never used Weber pellets so I can't say anything good or bad about them.

Recently, I have been using up pellets stored in my shed in containers. Not sure if they have absorbed any moister, they still kind of snap when I break them. I just bought a new bag of pellets that I'm going fire up this weekend to see if that solves the issue.

95% of my cooks are under 400F so I'm not sure if hitting 600F is even something for me to be concerned about.

When I saw that you were from Norway, I imagine you standing next to the SmokeFire in the winter surrounded by snow. Lol.

What do you like cooking on the grill? 🍻
 
Bob, thank you for your kind welcome and reply :)

I do cook all year around, in snow, in sun, as long as it doesn't rain. Love to grill meats and fish. Previously, the EX6 that got to 600F was superb for pizzas at high temperatures, as well as searing off steaks. The EPX4 can't handle this, and is a great loss as that was what I used the grill the most for.

I must have burned at least 10 different bags and boxes of different fresh high quality pellets where none of them preformed as good as on the EX6. And I have not heard from anybody else that reaching high temperatures is impossible nowadays with the Weber pellets. So I'm having a hard time settling with Webers explanation that no Smokefire reaches 600F these days using their pellets.
 
Well I had a similar issue with my Z Grills 1100 2B, a while back. Turned out to be pellets issue. Was with Costco's Kirkland ones. They would run just fine until I tried to punch over 400F. They would crank right up until 380 then struggle and finally make 400 but no matter what no over. I cleaned them out, dumped some Smoke House brand in there. and it would do the same only up to 450 or so. (for the record top speed on both my pellet cookers is 500F). But then too, my ambient was awfully cold (under 20F here).
 
The couple of times I couldn't hit 600 it was with Pit Boss & Smokehouse from Sam's. The smokehouse pellets have a lot of long pellets and some are very light in color. They get the job done 99% of the time but would not get me to 600F recently.
 
Bob Erdman said:
The couple of times I couldn't hit 600 it was with Pit Boss & Smokehouse from Sam's. The smokehouse pellets have a lot of long pellets and some are very light in color. They get the job done 99% of the time but would not get me to 600F recently.
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Wow! This is so very weird. Every bag of SH pellets I have, (whether from Sam's or the 50/50 blend I bought at Menards) has no "long" pellets. They're all very short (less than 10mm length). Most are more like "pebbles" than pellets
 
I used to have problems with long pellets stacking in the EX6 hopper, causing it to flame out as the pellets were not fed into the auger. Don't have that problem with the EPX4 Stealth but these pellets are not that long.
 
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@Yngve Nordby has this always been the case? My Broil King 500, did exactly the same. Just wouldn't get over 260'C. BK try replacing hot rod, temperature sensor. In the end replaced the grill. It was suspected it was the controller. Apparently, they have a problem with one on four with controllers. Unless pellets are damp, I can't see them making a 60-70'C difference.
 
It's pretty amazing how much difference the pellets can make. In my case the pellets did not show any outward signs of being damp. Yet by switching over to fresh ones that had not been stored in the grill hopper (even though under a cover) it was enough to make the grill behave normally.
 
LMichaels said:
It's pretty amazing how much difference the pellets can make. In my case the pellets did not show any outward signs of being damp. Yet by switching over to fresh ones that had not been stored in the grill hopper (even though under a cover) it was enough to make the grill behave normally.
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I've got the hopper 2/3rds full and haven't taken the cover off for 3 weeks and we have had significant rainfall. Also, I considered using weather stripping to make a gasket for the hopper lid but I don't see the value as moisture can find its way in through other openings.
 
LMichaels said:
It's pretty amazing how much difference the pellets can make. In my case the pellets did not show any outward signs of being damp. Yet by switching over to fresh ones that had not been stored in the grill hopper (even though under a cover) it was enough to make the grill behave normally.
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I'm new to pellet grills, but if you leave them in the hopper, they will get exposed to the atmospheric conditions. I always keep my Digestive Biscuits in a biscuit tin, otherwise they will be too soft for dunkin!
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
I've got the hopper 2/3rds full and haven't taken the cover off for 3 weeks and we have had significant rainfall. Also, I considered using weather stripping to make a gasket for the hopper lid but I don't see the value as moisture can find its way in through other openings.
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Yeah the gasketing does not help. but, I think what makes it worse is when you get tons of moisture in the atmosphere, plus with severe temp swings like we get I think it's the metal walls of the hopper moisture condenses in there and the pellets absorb it. So, what I have been doing (at least on the outdoor grill Big Z) is only keeping just enough pellets in it to have it start and then I only add enough to keep it cooking. So far that has been working
 
LMichaels said:
Yeah the gasketing does not help. but, I think what makes it worse is when you get tons of moisture in the atmosphere, plus with severe temp swings like we get I think it's the metal walls of the hopper moisture condenses in there and the pellets absorb it. So, what I have been doing (at least on the outdoor grill Big Z) is only keeping just enough pellets in it to have it start and then I only add enough to keep it cooking. So far that has been working
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That's how I roll too. I also need to get better containers for my spare pellets, I don't think my kitty litter pails seal tight enough. I'm going to get a couple more 5 gallon pails with lids that seal tighter.
 
So far, I just keep the pellets in their respective bags on the garage floor. It's dry and doesn't get much colder than about 40 degrees on the coldest days here. A couple of Homer buckets with lids are in order though.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
So far, I just keep the pellets in their respective bags on the garage floor. It's dry and doesn't get much colder than about 40 degrees on the coldest days here. A couple of Homer buckets with lids are in order though.
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It's what I thought about my garage as well, but I ended up tossing 2 bags of pellets in the trash because of severe condensation and the pellets getting ruined. If you park a car in there, it will be a problem
 
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