I had the same exact problem last night. Brand new FEC100, one week old, (my second unit I own, moved the first one to the ranch), but I caught it about 5 hours into the cook. 13 1/2 pound brisket so I figured around 19 hours at 224. At six hours it jumped quickly to 170 internal and when I went to the smoker it had popped the high temp breaker. Found charred pellets in the auger. I reset the breaker and started over. Worked fine but the brisket was done in 14 hours and the drip pan had a lot of liquid and normal grease in it. Gave the brisket to the in-laws and they loved it but compared to many others it was not as moist. Guess the high spike in temp dried it out a bit. This was cooking in the exact location as my other smoker has been for a year. Very wind protected. The only thing I had different was put a large wind cover as seen in many FEC post on that night. I have used it on my other FEC with no problems. I was using CS pellets too. Prior to this cook I seasoned the unit for 3 hours at 224 and 3 at 274 with no problems. I have a lot of faith in these smokers and just wonder what happened. One more thing, my other one year old smoker has a different controller programing number and I assume my new one has the latest and greatest? From the other post about newer units having the same problem I am wonder if its a glitch in the controller?