FEC-100 Fire Issues

Was the replacement control board a FE46? Mine is a FE67. Not sure what the difference is but it fixed my issues. Have you tried a single stage cook? It may be smothering the embers when it ramps up. I know it's not a fix but it may help while you troubleshoot.

One thing you might check is the pellets.

While I use BBQers Delight, I have had a couple bags that have had "long" pellets and it has caused some problems, such as, bridging in the bottom of the hopper and not letting them to drop correctly. It has also caused them to fluctuate the temps some.

You do have the stainless steel firepot?

Have used CookShack pellets, BBQer's delight, cooking pellets and Fast Eddy . Makes no noticeable difference in performance.

I'll recheck the version number of the controller this weekend once the smoker is unloaded.

Have the stainless fire pot.

quote:

Originally posted by cal:

You do have the stainless steel firepot?

New 10/2014 FEC Should have a SS Firepot. CS figured that out pretty quick.

Are you vacuuming it out every cook?

It sounds like an airflow issue. I doubt the elbow & cap will help (I too have them). If you have the 46 ask to try the 67 control board. You may burn more pellets but you'll sleep a lot better! I've been there (see prior posts). The good news is it's under warranty & CS won't give up until it's fixed.

The smoker is cleaned after every use. This includes vacuuming out the fire pot and laying foil on the floor and the drip tray.

If anyone can (the more the better) measure the fan voltage at all 3 speeds and post them here since this appears to be an airflow or controller issue. The output voltage of the transformer is adjustable, so the fan voltage can be increased (as a group, not individually).

Mine are with the replacement board:
2.36VDC at low speed
4.62 at medium
8.83 on high

Was this a grease fire?
Were the shields in correct position?
Was the cooker level?

I know these seem like silly questions, but if the grease is draining correctly. there should be little to burn.

I've got 7 packers on now. Should be off in about 3 1/2 hours. Ran them all night at 224.

RandyE

Cooker is level. All but the last cook the smoker was on concrete.
Have never had a grease fire.
Both fires occured when the fire died down where new pellets took a very long time to ignite. Once lite, the fire pot is full of pellets. Both fires occured with the controller set to 180°
The times it lost fire completely the fire pit was overflowing with pellets. Have lost fire at 180°, 224°, and 250°.

I'm so sorry for your trouble. I know you must be very frustrated. Cook shack will fix this. It sounds like somehow the controller might have gotten mixed up with one of the models that automatically re-ignites on a flare out. I don't remember the number, but when new, I had a 46, then they sent me that one because I was having some flare outs when smoking bacon and such low, then finally got me the 67 and I'm happy. This was known to be a fire hazard and I don't think they put them in the units any more. Cook shack wants you to have success with your unit more than you do. They will make it right and you will have a wonderful machine.

It's on FIRE!
Have not used our FEC since the last fire at the Practice competition in March. At least it's consistant, because we had another FIRE this past weekend at a competition. The fire happen again when the controller went from the cook phase @ 180° after being on for 7 hours to hold @ 250°.
We were monitoring the cook with a Stoker. The Stokers fire alarm went off at 3:00am. By the time we got to the smoker (we were sleeping so it took a few minutes) it was not pretty. The smoker was off now. When I opened the door the flames were lapping around the drip tray and had burnt one of the Stoker temp sensor wires into. We found the fire pot over flowing with pellets, and the ramp as well. Everything was burning including the pellets on the ramp, on the floor and the end of the auger. Thank goodness we were cook the large meats in pans, I could not imagine want a grease fire would look like and don't want to know. This was our first time using the FEC smoker enhancer, it had flames coming out of it as well (filled it with a chunk of cherry and hickory pellets). Quickly grabbed a leather glove to remove the smoker enhancer. It was so hot I quickly dropped it. I closed the door. My son quickly gathered tools to start clean up and salvage. In a few minutes he managed the remove most of the pellets. After letting the smoker cool, we reset the safety switch and if you can believe it salvaged the large meats and finished the cook at 250°-300°. On Monday I'll again reach out to CookShack service.

I have my Left Hand version pulled from my Comp Trailer. It is now living in my restaurant and cooking every day. The first thing I show any cook is the drip tray. I show them how important it is to place the tray to drain into the gutter tray. And be sure there is a gap between the heat shield and the drip pan. They can use it til I can afford to get an FEC 120 to take its place......Good luck

I have 3 FEC 100's and I had a few issues on 2 of them when they were new. I have had issues only twice with the newest one and both times I was smoking at low temp with a light load (like 20# of meat) on a pretty hot day.

There has been some discussion on here about a new "shiny" smoker not controlling temp as well as one that is darker due to seasoning. Not sure I understand the "scientific process" of what is causing that but I think there could be something to that since I haven't ever had this issue with a well seasoned unit and they do seem to control better after they are broke in good. A couple loads of like 10 pork butts should do the trick on that

My next thought is possibly due to higher than normal temp swings on a unit that isn't seasoned up very well, then factoring in warm weather and smaller load, if the smoker temp overshoots to much it can be quite a while before the thing is going to call for pellets. In the event the fire snuffs itself out due to no fuel, when it does start calling for pellets it can pour quite a few in and then with a couple of programs they have out, the hot rod reignites when the temp gets down to 140 and by then you have a bunch of fuel available to ignite big time.

Is it usually in HOLD mode when this happens? How big of a load do you usually have on it? Could the smoke enhancer be adding enough heat to add to the flame out issue by not calling for pellets in time to keep the fire going? Does it still flame out at lower outside temps (like 50F or lower)? After startup, how big is your temp swing? Mine is usually no more than 15F from top to bottom. Is your inside still very shiny or are you past that due to the fires?

I assume the HOLD mode programming operates exactly the same as the cook mode?? Is it possible there is a different algorithm??

I'd like to see a pic of the inside of your unit.

Good luck and please keep us posted

CookShack has decided to replace the unit.