FEC 100 problems

dixie,

If you read through the forum, you'll find your issues aren't typical.

100% CS wants you satisfied, so call them up direct. Customer Services does not monitor the forum for support issues, they want to help you out.

I've never seen an issue with an auger breaking that fast, in fact I've never heard of an auger breaking but the shear pin breaks (on purpose) and it's a simple replacement of the pin/cotter pin holding it in.

The original IQ did used to relight, so you'll have to ask CS about that if it's a feature coming back, BUT in 6 years of use, with 4 different FE's I've never had a flame out. I've had them not start, but I never walk away until I'm sure the fire has started.

As for Warranty Obligation, see my comment above. The forum isn't the place to get resolution, it's calling CS direct. If you're really not getting help, ask for John or Stuart.

Russ

Wow, sorry to hear about the problems. Mine has done pretty well. I have had fire outs (very few) when running very low temps. Talk to Bill at Cookshack, he is great. Yes, It is much easier for me to install a part than it is to send the entire 400 pound smoker back. I actually want to learn more about it. What if it has a simple problem at a competition like an auger pin or a fan? I want to be able to fix it. It is really a simple machine when it comes down to it. The most complicated piece is the controller board. They have several versions of the controller board: the 46, the 60 and now the 67. I understand one of them was supposed to re-light when the temp fell below 130, but the powers that be felt that could lead to a fire hazard.

BBQ is about patience. Learn your smoker, understand it. Mine actually works much better now than when it was new. Bad welds happen, but the good outweigh the bad! I received my FEC in December and I've ran about 400 pounds of pellets thru mine with minimal issues. Considering the low temps I usually am running, that represents over 800-1000 hours of smoking time and hundreds of pounds of product -- Darn near wore a couple of my racks out from cleaning them.

I've owned a masterbuilt and am sure that in the one miserable year it was in my possession, I never got a thousand hours out of it. Not to mention the four ECUs, and various other parts and then the final straw as the wires burned up and caught on fire all the time with ZERO service from the company. If it had not been for the good graces of Sam’s Club where I purchased the blessed thing, I'd been out double the purchase price just trying to buy controllers every time they went out.

I must say, I thought the FEC 100 was a little more work/hassle then my electric smoker: that is until, I cranked out 40 racks of Saint Louis Ribs in one load, garnering rave reviews from everyone. Or a 90-100 pound load of butts and briskets with hardly any attention by me. The FEC 100 manages gallons of grease very efficiently -- Try that masterbuilt, or weber, or bradley. Everything I've made has been top notch. Three weeks ago, I did 50 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts at one time. it was incredible. Jerky galore! Sausage, homemade Smoked Bacon, the list is endless.

With cookshack, you're in a family. I feel at home on the forum and calling their offices or customer service always brings me peace of mind.
The FEC 100 is not the smoker for everyone. If it's not your cup of tea (or pellets), put-er back in the crate and send it back and get something simpler. But as for me and my house, we will use the FEC.

Appreciate the comments, guys. It looks like some of you have had very good luck with the 100.

Since my post I have been told by Cookshack that the current FEC100 will not re-light itself. They took out this feature (if it ever had it) because they are worried about the machine continuing to dump pellets into the fire pot and then when full having the unit re-light itself, maybe creating too big a fire.

This strikes me as not a real concern. The auger does not add pellets that quickly, and if the ignitor were set to come on periodically, there would be no fire hazard and the flame out problem would be solved.

When mine flamed out it ran for 6 hours with the auger continuing to cycle on and off. In the morning, the fire pot WAS full of pellets. But that was 6 hrs!

Now I see that there are dozens of comments from FEC100 users about the machine flaming out, and various suggestions about Oh, its just the wind, or you're using the wrong stack, or don't put a vent cover on the stack, etc. In fairness this is not about "learning the machine;" its about a feature this machine is lacking with its current controller: auto-restarting.

There are two simple solutions to this flame-out problem so that the user is not dependent on exactly how much wind comes up at 2 am; or how tall the stack is:

It would be a very simple thing to program the unit to have the ignitor turn on for 30 secs every hour, just to make sure pellets are burning. Other pellet cookers like the Memphis, the Royalls, and I think the Country Cookers do this--I think I read that one of them has its ignitor turn on every 15 minutes or so thruout the cook. This is a simple solution; having the ignitor turn on when the fire pot is burning hurts nothing; and it avoids the numerous flame-out complaints I see in the forum.

Second, and the ultimate solution, is to update the controller so that it senses when the temp is dropping even tho the auger is turning. It could be set for say 10 degrees below set temp to fire the ignitor. There is no fire hazard to this procedure. If the auger has pellets, it will re-light; it the hopper is empty, the ignitor ignites nothing. No fire hazard.

This brings up another related point I see in the forums. Lots of users experience excessive temp variations. In just the short time I have had mine, it has had temps go up 40-50 degrees above the set temp. This is ridiculous. It is supposed to be microprocessor controlled. The solution to this is to have the controller act quicker: when the temp rises 2 degrees above the set temp the unit should turn off the auger and wait a few minutes, til the temp starts to fall say 2 degrees below the set temp, then start the auger again. By having the auger act more quickly (perhaps with more "on" and "off" cycles, but shorter ones) temp would be controlled better. And this may prevent the unit from flaming out too. With my unit, the auger just keeps chugging along, going on and off in relatively regular beats. When I saw the temp was 40 degrees above the set temp on an earlier cook, the auger was still cycling on and off; the controller should have turned it off and waited.

This tells me this is a rather primitive machine, and maybe works fine if you stay nearby and monitor it. But it looks like a lot of others have had problems especially trying unattended cooks.

We should try to encourage Cookshack to update the controller to solve this problem, and make the update available to current IQ4 owners.

First of all, let me say I'm sorry to hear about your problems. A new smoker should work from the get go, but as in all electronic equipment, there will be a few problems from time to time and I'm very sorry it was you.

I'm hoping to be on the comp trail very soon and to be truthful, I wouldn't want a FEC that had the igniter coming on every few minutes. Since I'll be using a battery and inverter, I'd be afraid of using too much power up.

As far as the auger being able to start and stop so quick, I think you're forgetting about how this could be accomplished with the variable speed fan these primitive smokers operate with. Sounds good in theory, but just wondering if it would be at all possible? Different pellet types,kinds, and ash content would seem to me hard to take into consideration.

Mine is well broke in and other then startup or opening the door, mine says within 8* of set temp. I'm totally happy about this and I'm learning how to help with that part of it,ie.. dumping the extra heat.

I'm thinking of buying a dual probe therm like the maverick ET732, so I can set a high and low limit. It would come in handy at night if their was a flare out, but so far I've not had that problem...(knock on wood)!

Like I said originally,SORRY to hear about the broken wield.I hope you get your problems solved quickly and to your satisfaction.

Mine has more temp swings on a little load. Get a couple of racks in her and she's fine. I did have more swings when it was new. Most of my flareouts occured due to trying to lower the temp below 180 in the FEC when it was not warmed up properly. I remember one frustrating morning when it was 11 degrees, trying to do some homemade bacon low and slow. I should have warmed it up to 200 for 10 min, then gradually worked down to 150 or so. If I do that, she smokes like a champ.

Dixiecal,

I apologize that you have had issues with your unit. We have had programs for the units that have relight software in them. However we have seen too many issues with those and do not have them in the units today. Plus a majority of the FEC100s are used in competations where it is illegal for them to have the unit relight with electricity if meat is in the unit.

I am a little puzzled with your comments on our warranty. We had two service companies lined up to repair the auger on your unit and you canceled both of them. Cookshack has always and will always stand behind our equipment. We are happy to take this unit back and refund your money if it is not what you were expecting. We have a 30 day money back guarantee for this very reason.

quote:

Originally posted by Stuart:
Dixiecal,

I apologize that you have had issues with your unit. We have had programs for the units that have relight software in them. However we have seen too many issues with those and do not have them in the units today. Plus a majority of the FEC100s are used in competations where it is illegal for them to have the unit relight with electricity if meat is in the unit.

I am a little puzzled with your comments on our warranty. We had two service companies lined up to repair the auger on your unit and you canceled both of them. Cookshack has always and will always stand behind our equipment. We are happy to take this unit back and refund your money if it is not what you were expecting. We have a 30 day money back guarantee for this very reason.

Well said and not to be funny but if your going to spend $4-5,000 on anything some research may be advisable (finding out after about flameouts and fires etc etc etc is a bit late don't you think). I am sorry for your issues and I would be dam mad too but call Cookshack, get it fixed. If you don't like it send it back and get your money back!
Posting and saying it should do this and it should do that is useless because it does not do any of that and by posting it will not make them redesign their software\controller.
Cheers and best of luck,
Tech

Well after reading this I am more than a little concerned. I purchased a new FEC 100 a little over 2 months ago. I smoke butts and brisket for our concession trailer about every night (at least 5 nights a week) and then do some babyback ribs through the day. I was having problems with flameouts on over 75% of my cooks. After having to babysit it for endless nights I finally called and they sent me the FE46 control(came with the FE60) board which will reignite the burner if it gets below 130. Problem is it takes so long for the temp to drop that far that it creates an inferno when it does light again because it keeps feeding pellets the whole time. I burnt the door gasket about clear off and the door got so hot it warped the darn thing. It will always eventually trip the high temp relay which leaves the thing in lights out mode until you press the reset button. After throwing the new board in they sent me and trying a new auger and drive motor with no difference they finally sent me a new one which I got today. I loaded it up this evening with about 70# of butts after preheating it to 240 then resetting it to 226 when loading to avoid a huge temp swing, it ran fine for the first 5 hours or so. Just got up to check it and the dam thing was out and setting there at 92 degrees!

Don't know what the answer for this is but my patience is wearing very thin. Turns out great product when it works but I am getting the feeling there is a major flaw in this machine.

As for the comments about the program to relight when the temp drops to far... Don't do it. You will end up with a bunch of charred burnt meat from when it relights the pile of pellets that have dumped into the the pot while waiting for the hot rod to relight. And it will just overheat and trip the high temp relay anyway at that time.

I have always had traeger grills and love cooking with pellets. I hope there is an acceptable answer to resolve this as I really want it to work out. I simply can't stay up all night and baby sit it though. This is the whole reason I went with this machine. To somewhat be able to set it and forget it!

If anyone has had this issue and has came up with a good solution please get it on here. They did try and talk me into an electric smoker but I don't have an extra 1500 Watts of power to spare when we are running on a generator.

Sorry if I sound a little cross as I shouldn't be since their customer service has been great, but I am at the point where this is costing me alot of valuable sleep and our business is starting to suffer a little since we have had several days that I haven't had meat ready for the noon rush that we serve.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance........

What is the new board they sent you? I now have a 67 controller, which seems to stay lit very well. The only thing is that is has trouble maintaining very low temps, as it feeds more pellets at the low temp. No problems though.

First smoker came with the FE60 program which they replaced with the FE46 board which would relight if temp got below 130. It would always trip the high temp safety though since there were so many pellets built up in the pot when it would relight. The new unit I got yesterday does have the FE67 program but it went out as well 5 hours into my first cook with about 65# of butts on it. I have the unit in my garage without any stack or elbow on the vent. Using cookshacks hickory pellets in it that came with the smoker. Set point of 226 F. Temp seems to be swinging more than my first one but I know sometimes they do when they are new. Maverick has had anywhere from 210 to 268 on it clipped on the second shelf from the top toward the front right. Has stayed lit since about 12:30 AM but I about freaked out when 5 hours into first use it did the same thing as the first one I had.

Keeping my fingers crossed.........

I really had a lot of fluctuations when mine was new and some flare outs. But it has subsided for the most part. I do a lot of low temp smokes, 160-180 for jerky and sausage and bacon. With the 60 controller, My biggest problem was after the 200 degree warm-up letting the temp drop to 150 or so without it going out. With the 67 controller, It seems to pour more pellets to it at idle speed to keep it going more. This seems to mean more smoke, but sometimes it is difficult to stabilize at lower temp. I've just had it in four days, but has smoked over 30 hour already with it. Last night, overnight with pork butts, started at 180 for four hours then up to 226 then finished at 300, no problems. Shut er off about 10 this morning, pulled the butts, cleaned the firepot and pulled the top layer of foil off the grease slide and loaded er with 45 pounds of SL ribs at 180 for 1.5 hours, and boosted it up to 226. She's holding steady.

I did clean it good after my first 700 or so hours (a sin I know). I pulled the screws out of the side of the firepot and cleaned the airway well. It had a lot of buildup which may have been restricting airflow. This was no doubt caused by my reaching in and trying to remove ash with my fingers and pushing it down thru the air vents in the pot. Some of it had hardened but I got it all out. I'm sure this would have not happened if I would have vacuumed it each time.

We'll see how the ribs come out. I'm loading 26 bakers in now on top of the ribs.

When you say "it has subsided for the most part" do you mean it goes out like one time per 30 uses or like 1 time per 3 uses. I feel if it goes out and leaves you hanging out to dry more than one time in 100 that is unacceptable. I paid good money for this and I expect it to be reliable or it may be time to go to plan B (which I really don't have at this point). If it is "just the nature of the machine" as some have hinted at, then I am disappointed and will have to go with plan B. I am somewhat mechanically minded and feel there should be a logical explanation of why my first unit had so many issues. If that can be explained and I can be assured that this one is different, then we roll on. If not, it is going to be a huge pellet bill, but I will probably go back to the Traeger's.

Is there such a thing as these units being to well insulated? If they weren't so tight, the fire would have to burn hotter to maintain temp and we probably wouldn't be seeing the fire go out???

To be continued.......

Funny you should ask. The thing just went out on me with my ribs on an the pot full of pellets. I just removed my cover and it was a windy day, I think it blew out. I've never, that I can remember had a problem with my cover on. I think the wind gets in there and blows it out, probally comes in the intake and the cover helps. Just my opinion. The oklahoma boys might be able to comment on the wind more. Here in SC, we have calm breezes most of the time. By the way, Severe thundestorm for four hours last night. Strong Wind gust, pouring rain and lightning. I had the cover zipped up tight and cooked all the way thru it without a problem.

if there is a updated board and auger to be had shouldnt they send it out to everybody ? or do you have to ask ?

why do they do like that?

I don't think there was anything wrong with the auger and motor. He suspected it might have been catching if it wasn't straight. I rolled it across a table like a pool cue and it was fine when I took it out.

The board with the FE46 program isn't a good idea either as above mentioned. Bad if it goes out but much worse if it relights with a pot full of pellets.

What are everyone's thoughts on the wind issue? I don't cover mine when it's in the garage but almost always do when it's on the back of our trailer. Seemed to flame out about the same in both scenarios for me. Calm or windy, covered or not covered, no difference.

From time to time we modify the programming in the units. Over the years this has been for a variety of reasons usually customers asking for changes that we can accomidate. We have used the FE60 program for several years without any issues. However recently we found that occansionally there is a bug in the program that can cause the auger to stop. We don't see if very often but it can happen. We have since updated the program to remove the bug. Most who are cooking with the FE60 program will never have a problem. If they do we are more than happy to replace the board.

The auger is the same auger that we have used the past 10 years.

Most of the issues we see with flame outs are caused by airflow. If there is any restiction on the flue you will get flame outs, smoke coming out of the hopper and things like that. Flame outs can also be caused by large drops in temperature. For instance if you are cooking at 300 degrees and then drop the unit into hold at 140 there is a good chance that the unit will flame out on the way down to the 140 degrees.

We are more than happy to help anyone who is having issues. Please feel free to give me a call.

How do I determine which IQ board I have installed on my FEC100? Coming up on two years of heavy use without a single issue but just curious.

Mine will flash the number when it is powered up. Use to not know what it meant, but hey, I'm learning something new every day around here.

When you first turn the unit on or hit the reset button it will give you a FE code. That is the software that the controller is using.

I've only had mine a few months and it is a FE60 so the FE67 must be very new!
I have had no issues with my unit. 2 days ago I went from 350 to 190 with no issues (I did watch it because that is a big drop and eventually I helped it by opening the door for 5 mins)

Thanks gents!

Well just a heads up down at the office.... new unit ran fine Wed. night and Thursday through the day and was 6 hours into cook lined out at 11 PM at 226 when went to bed. Just checked it here at 3 AM and flamed out sitting there at 106 degrees w pot full of pellets......same scenario, in garage w no wind tonight.

I will give you guys a call and see what you think today but also very open to other users resolutions to this issue.

Just wondering if you vacuum the fire pot after every use?

take it out of the garage, mine works fine in an open air environment, make sure you vacuum the firepot after EACH use it will help with the fire out problem as well

A couple of times, I have had problems with not in putting a time setting for the cook. And just used the automatic setting, and the unit ran out of time during the cook. Then it went to the hold temp which much lower, and as stated earlier it can go go ut out while dropping to the much lower temp.

If I remember right, the chicken setting is three hours and the brisket setting is 10 hours.


RandyE

I do have a shop vac that I always sweep the pot and bottom out after each use. I don't use the presets. Always ramp up the time to at least 15:00 so that's not the issue.

Thanks for the suggestions.... keep em coming and maybe we will find the correct one.

I've had mine for about a year and have yet to have a problem that was the fault of the unit
I will also say that I have seen Stuart drop what he was doing on more than one occasion to provide some "customer service" so I know he will do everything he can to make it right for you.

This really has me wondering about the power supply. Is your garage on the same breaker box as the house? If not, are you running an air conditioner or something else that would cause a small glitch/surge in the power supply?

Spoke with Tony today and we are going to try some things on Monday. He says they are pretty touchy on air flow and although it is in the garage there still may be some pressure differential going on when there is even a slight breeze. His first thoughts were to try a special flue, can't remember for sure but I think a high wind flue?

Will have to wait till Monday to see what we figure out but I will sure post if we do find something in case there are others fighting the same battle.

BTW, 20 amp circuit on 3 or 4 plugins in the garage and usually nothing else on the circuit (especially at night) when the smoker is running.

I bought my 1st FE100 over 4 years ago & have not had any flame out issues. I recently bought my 2nd FE100 from a friend who needed cash. The unit is just over a year old. This weekend cooking @ a competition with both FEs I had the flame out issue happen twice with the newer unit! Both units were in the same conditions. The 1st time we noticed huge smoke & discovered the pot overfull. The 2nd time it overfilled but not as much smoke. We vacuum the pots after each cook. i will be cooking a contest again this coming weekend. Will post a report when we return. thanks

Not all FEC are created equal ... be very carefull when buying a used unit. If they worked as advertised why would anyone ever sell one.

quote:

Originally posted by DoRagQ:
I bought my 1st FE100 over 4 years ago & have not had any flame out issues. I recently bought my 2nd FE100 from a friend who needed cash. The unit is just over a year old. This weekend cooking @ a competition with both FEs I had the flame out issue happen twice with the newer unit! Both units were in the same conditions. The 1st time we noticed huge smoke & discovered the pot overfull. The 2nd time it overfilled but not as much smoke. We vacuum the pots after each cook. i will be cooking a contest again this coming weekend. Will post a report when we return. thanks

quote:

Originally posted by Smokers Purgatory:
Not all FEC are created equal ... be very carefull when buying a used unit. If they worked as advertised why would anyone ever sell one.

I think the warning is a good one, make sure the unit works. We've certainly seen people posting pictures of ones they bought that were NOT cared for and there was something wrong with them.

Always test it before you buy it.

Yes but mine looks brand new and I could not in good conscience sell it to anyone. Its not the condition of the unit. It weather you are getting a good unit like yours ... or a problem child like ours.

Well I see a lot of people are having the same flameout problem that I had. I just had it again, when the unit went to "Hold" temp. It had finished a cook at 210 and I just left the "Hold" temp on the default setting of 140. I left for a couple hrs and when I got back, the fire was out and the pot was full of pellets. I'm going to try to set the "Hold" temp at 150 from now on and see if it does better. When it runs, I get good smoke flow so I don't think this is an air flow problem. It may be a matter of how long the unit waits for the temp to go down--maybe it waits too long, and the fire goes out in the meantime.

If I recall correctly, and sometimes I don't my FEC-100 will continue to drop a few pellets every once in a while during the time the temp is dropping from cook to hold. I assume this is to keep the fire from burning out while the temp drops, which can take a while. Does yours do this?

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Reply

Gosh that flame out problem sounds like a nightmare. Sorry your having trouble. I must have an oldy but goody. I bought mine fec100 in Dec. 06 and I have had 0 problems and I hope it stays that way. Good luck to you.